Speaker: Susan Chan Session: Pesticides and Antibiotics: What's in your Food?

1. Neonicotinoids
Context, History,
and the Way Forward

3. Pollination
Pollination Agent
• Wind
• Water
• Insects
• Other
Anther
Stigma

4. • WIND
• INSECTS:

7. Solitary bee laying an egg
on a pollen ball

8. Specialist Bees
Photo by Sheila Potter

9. Bumble Bees

10. Pre-1990s:
Carbamates/Organophosphates/Synthetic Pyrethroids

11. ½ of Pesticides used on Crops in
Ontario are Toxic to Honey Bees
High
52
35
15
Moderate
Low

12. Insecticide Use in Ontario 2008:
Region of Ontario
Tonnes of Insecticide
Applied
Tonnes of Herbicide
Applied
Southern Ontario
61.6
1,788.7
Western Ontario
26.8
1,152.5
Central Ontario
12.7
358.5
Eastern Ontario
3.9
443.9
Northern Ontario
0.9
31.9
http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/pesticide-use-appendix8.htm

13. SYSTEMIC INSECTICIDES

14. Neonicotinoids
•
•
•
•
•
•
Patentable
Toxic & Persistent
Systemic: IN not ON
Targeted (but wide spectrum)
Low Toxicity to Mammals
“Just in Case”

15. The Major Active Ingredients
•
•
•
•
Imidacloprid
Dinotefuran
Clothianidin
Thiamethoxam

16. Big Business
Turnover in million
US$ (2009)
Name
Company
Products
Imidacloprid
Bayer CropScience
Confidor, Admire,
Gaucho
1,091
Thiamethoxam
Syngenta
Actara, Platinum,
Cruiser
627
Clothianidin
Sumitomo
Chemical/Bayer
CropScience
Poncho, Dantosu,
Dantop
439
Acetamiprid
Nippon Soda
Mospilan, Assail,
ChipcoTristar
276
Thiacloprid
Bayer CropScience
Calypso
112
Dinotefuran
Mitsui Chemicals
Starkle, Safari,
Venom
Nitenpyram
Sumitomo
Chemical
Capstar, Bestguard
79
8

17. Neonicotinoids: Use in Ontario
•
•
•
•
•
Corn
Soyabean
Canola
Field Crops
Vegetables
•
•
•
•
•
Fruit
Turf
Herbs
Ornamentals
Trees

18. How Do Bees Come in Contact
with Neonicotinoids?

20. Toxicity & Bio-Accumulation
LD50: b=0
Toxic Effect = Dose x Timeb
Large dose
over a short
period of time
=
Small dose
over a long
period of time
Honey bee: b=5
Native bees ?

21. The Dark Side of Persistence…
1000 days : Clothianidin/Imidacloprid
Environmental Loading

22. Systemic…

23. Water Soluble…

24. Cross-Toxicity and
Immuno-suppression

25. Sept. 13, 2013, PMRA
Notice of Intent NOI2013-01
“…we have concluded that
current agricultural practices
related to the use of
neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seed
are not sustainable."

26. Integrated Pest
Management

27. ….the day IPM died
•
•
•
•
December 1990
35 OMAF field offices closed
All except 6 Ag. Rep positions in north axed
Replaced by internet and 1-800 number

28. "Let’s say I want to try a new seed this year. I go to the crop
guy at the feed store, well, of course he’ going to tell me to
’s
buy his product. When we had the OMAFRA office doing
research they gave an unbiased opinion.
"Now when we go for our seed, who do we have to rely on,"
Renaud wonders.
Renaud adds that OMAFRA is putting an end to "third party
research," leaving the companies actually making the product
to do their own research "rather than Guelph University." She
says it means for individual companies "your results can be
whatever you want them to be.”
--Ellie Renaud, Provincial Director in Leeds County for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
January 2000, Eastern Ontario AgriNews

29. PROPHYLACTIC
INSECTICIDES

30. RE
•
•
•
•
•
Registration
Reinstate
React
Realize
Research

31. The Good News

32. PMRA Call for Comments:
Notice of Intent NOI2013-01--Action to Protect Bees from
Exposure to Neonicotinoid Pesticides
13 September 2013
Please provide your comments to:
pmra.publications@hc-sc.gc.ca
by 12 December 2013,
and include the following information:
• Your full name and organization;
• Your phone number; and,
• Your complete mailing address or email address.