[NatureNS] Systemic pesticides in nursery plants

Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2013 21:53:18 -0300
From: David Patriquin <patriqui@dal.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca, Mary Macaulay <marymacaulay@hotmail.com>
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Interesting - shouldn't such plants be illegal under pesticide by-laws  
or provincial regulations restricting cosmetic pesticides?

It may not be a factor in pollinator decline, but the use of  
broad-leaf herbicides on lawns (including chelated iron products now  
permissible under most pesticide by-laws) certainly doesn't help. I  
have been disappointed to see the return of The Perfect Lawn after  
HRM, a holdout, relented and accepted use of chelated iron products  
for weed control in 2011.



Quoting Mary Macaulay <marymacaulay@hotmail.com>:

> This came out today- maybe a partial explanation of what we're  
> seeing in spite of local pesticide bans.
>
> Link to story below quote
>
> ?The pilot study confirms that many of the plants sold in nurseries  
> and garden stores across the U.S. have been pre-treated with  
> systemic neonicotinoid insecticides, making them potentially toxic  
> to pollinators,? said Timothy Brown, PhD, of the Pesticide Research  
> Institute. ?Unfortunately, these pesticides don?t break down  
> quickly?they remain in the plants and the soil and can continue to  
> affect pollinators for months to years
>
> http://ecowatch.com/2013/plants-sold-bee-friendly-pretreated-with-pesticides/
>
>
> Mary Macaulay, P.Eng.
> Executive Director
> Atlantic Concrete Association
> www.atlanticconcrete.ca
> Office: 902-443-4456
> Cell: 902-489-2000
> Fax: 902-404-8074
>
> On 2013-08-14, at 8:38 PM, "David & Alison Webster"  
> <dwebster@glinx.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,                                    Aug 14, 2013
>>   I wish to make a few additional comments about the Plos One  
>> paper; Pettis et al., 2013.
>>
>>   Firstly, so far as I know CCD relates to Honey Bees only and  
>> circumstances that may be involved with CCD are not relevant to  
>> insect populations in general.
>>
>>   This paper may turn out be valid. The real test is  
>> reproducibility. Will it be possible to obtain essentially the same  
>> results in each of 5 years using the same or different fields ?  
>> Time will tell.
>>
>> Yt, Dave Webster Kentville
>>
>>
>



David Patriquin
http://versicolor.ca

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