Pesticide Impacts on Beneficial Organisms

Pesticides, Human Health
and the Environment

Pesticide Impacts on Beneficial Organisms

The discussion of pesticide impacts on beneficial organisms in Pest Management at the Crossroads draws upon the database compiled in the early 1980s by Dr. Brian Croft and Karen Theiling at Oregon State University. No good sources are known of databases on the web on pesticides and beneficials. EPA has recently compiled an "Ecotoxicity" database that includes several hundred datapoints involving the toxicity of selected active ingredients on certain beneficials. This database could serve as a point of departure in developing an index or ranking system of pesticide impacts on beneficials. If anyone has recent datasets that they would be willing to share to help in this exercise, or knows of someone else compiling such data, please send Charles Benbrook mail.

LADYBIRD BEETLES (Ladybugs)

"Ladybug, Quickly Fly Away Home"! by Claire Gilbert, Ph.D., October 24, 1997 ..."The lifespan of ladybugs was reduced to half when they ate aphids that had fed on genetically altered potatoes in Scotland, according to a London Times article (10/22/97) by Science Editor, Nigel Hawkes. The ladybugs also laid fewer eggs."...

Excerpt from New Scientist article, November 1, 1997 "Call for a Spin Doctor". Scottish Crop Research Institute (Dundee, Scotland) and the Unversity of Cambridge research the effects of transgenic crops on a beneficial predator species.

PESTICIDE IMPACTS ON BEES

Pollinators in Peril from Science Vol. 279, March 6, 1998.

Our Forgotten Pollinators: Protecting the Birds and Bees By Mrill Ingram, Gary Nabhan and Stephen Buchmann. In Global Pesticide Campaigner, Volume 6:4 , December 1996. Pesticide Action Network North America, San Francisco, CA.

For good information about the vital services performed by bees, see the Pollination Home Page developed by Dave and Jan's Pollination Service in Hemingway, South Carolina. In an October 11, 1996 posting to the "Sustag-L" listserver, Dave Green documents recent problems getting state officials to enforce pesticide label directions and restrictions needed to protect bees. I offer this page as a place where people can share information on the impacts of pesticides on bees. Please send e-mail to benbrook@hillnet.com if you are aware of sources of data on pesticide toxicity and impacts on bees, or better yet, e-mail the information, or links, and I will post it. I am also interested in constructive steps people have taken to avoid problems with bees.

"Mother Nature" and wild bees rescuing us? The Forgotten Pollinators Campaign, Arizona

GMOs IMPACT ON BEES

Honeybees and genetically engineered canola oil , by Claire Gilbert, June, 1997
Economic impacts on growers and consumers are a recurrent issue in the debate over changes in pest management systems and the regulation of pesticides. Pesticide benefits assessments are used to justify retention of labels covering uses of high-risk pesticides. When a pesticide is moving through EPA's Special Review process, rarely does the agency count "negative" benefits, like impacts on bees or the triggering of secondary pests. I would be interested in any analyses or estimates of the costs associated with poor pollination as a result of pesticide impacts on bees. Is there much literature out there on this topic?

11/20/97