Kevin Hansen's blog

Great article in the Guardian by Damian Carrington:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/12/mps-insecticide-regula...

Quoted by Joan Walley MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC).

"European regulators seem to have turned a blind eye to data on the danger that one of the world's biggest selling pesticides could pose to bees and other pollinators," said Joan Walley MP, chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC). "Evidence seen by the committee raises serious questions about the integrity, transparency and effectiveness of EU pesticides regulation. Data available in the regulators' own assessment report shows it could be 10 times more persistent in soils than the European safety limit."

Quoted by Prof Dave Goulson, an ecologist at the University of Stirling

Pesticides associated to genetically modified foods (PAGMF), are engineered to tolerate herbicides such as glyphosate (GLYP) and gluphosinate (GLUF) or insecticides such as the bacterial toxin bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between maternal and fetal exposure, and to determine exposure levels of GLYP and its metabolite aminomethyl phosphoric acid (AMPA), GLUF and its metabolite 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (3-MPPA) and Cry1Ab protein (a Bt toxin) in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. Blood of thirty pregnant women (PW) and thirty-nine nonpregnant women (NPW) were studied. Serum GLYP and GLUF were detected in NPW and not detected in PW. Serum 3-MPPA and CryAb1 toxin were detected in PW, their fetuses and NPW. This is the first study to reveal the presence of circulating PAGMF in women with and without pregnancy, paving the way for a new field in reproductive toxicology including nutrition and utero-placental toxicities.

Three more countries have put additional pressure on nicotine pesticides, one of the leading suspects in the global honey bee die-offs:

Canada has asked for most of the nicotine pesticides to be re-evaluated - this is a huge step that slows pesticide manufacturers:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_decisions/rev2012-02/index-eng...

Brazil (Brasil) has forced Monsanto to pay about $7.5 BILLION in fines because its nicotine-pesticide-coated and GMO soya/soybeans were being used to force farmers not to save their own seeds - while paying a punitive 2% tax. Brazil's supreme court took action to protect farmers' rights to save seeds - and also restrict toxic seeds:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15747

France has banned Syngenta's canola/rapeseed brand because of honeybee losses to this toxic product. This ban was upheld by French courts:
http://www.farming.co.uk/news/article/6767

Locations

The process of planting can release large amounts of pesticides coated on seeds - as dust. Corn/maize is widely treated with a coating laced with toxins: neonicotinoid pesticides, fungicides and a host of other substances are physically stuck to the grains of corn. This is a brittle substance that breaks off and creates a large dust problem - a toxic dust.

The team of researchers at the University of Padua, Italy, led by Andrea Tapparo has found significant mortality to honeybees as a result of this exposure. This was closely related to the spring-planting die-off blamed in Germany for a honeybee catastrophe several years ago.

This article is accepted - and will be published in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) journal "Environmental Science and Technology."

We have read a pre-print - look for this one to be downloadable soon.

This study reflects a huge shift in ocean chemistry exacerbated by CO2 absorption. Higher acidity and changed chemistry in the oceans affects countless forms of life - including our own. Kevin

Researchers find unprecedented, man-made trends in oceans acidity
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Contact: Gisela E. Speidel, (808) 956-9252
Outreach Specialist, International Pacific Research Center
Tobias Friedrich, (808) 956-7385
Postdoctoral Fellow, International Pacific Research Center
Posted: Jan. 23, 2012

[Image] Simulated surface aragonite saturation (top) and atmospheric CO2 concentration in ppm (bottom)
[Image] Yellow tangs frolicking among corals. Courtesy D. Meadows, NOAA

Monsanto says won't sell GMO maize in France in 2012

Under pressure, Monsanto has withdrawn its GMO corn MON810 from France, as beekeepers, activists and farmers protested and repeatedly sued - and won - in court.

This comes on the heels of Bayer, Syngenta and other manufacturers of neonicotinoid pesticides withdrawing their products for use on almonds in California. Although at first GMO and pesticides seem different, they are in fact tightly corrrelated: seeds now routinely are GMO, and are simultaneously treated with nicotine-based pesticides and fungicides. The full article is here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-gmo-france-monsanto-idUSTRE...

Wise planning.

Four major counties in Southeast Florida in the US, including the heavily-populated Miami-Dade County area, understand what municipalities across the planet have already learned:

Climate change is already here.

Responsible government officials must take prudent measures to reduce risk and plan for uncertainties.

This is good governance.

Cheers,
Kevin

A major new study from Purdue University researchers highlights that honeybees face a long list of pesticide dangers near agriculture. Multiple toxic agents combined, via several simultaneous routes of exposure mean bees are in peril from many sources.

The complete article is open-access from PLos ONE, attached above (thanks PLos ONE and the authors for making this important article OPEN ACCESS!!!).

Toxic food.

I'm concerned that our food would be toxic in multiple ways simultaneously.

A great paper about good energy policy as the key to progress in jobs, economic health, and energy security - Kevin

Good Government Investments in Renewable Energy

Fair, Effective, and Efficient Tax Policy Is Key for Driving Renewable Energy Growth

By Richard W. Caperton
Center for American Progress

Budget deficits drove the conversation in Washington in 2011 with the daily news dominated by government shutdown threats, the “super committee,” continuing resolutions, and arcane budgeting practices. Unfortunately, this left Americans convinced
that government investments in the future are off the table because of large federal
budget deficits that need to be reduced.

Americans were misled.

This is truly insane.

The Bill of Rights and the US Constitution would be suspended by the new Defense Authorization Act. Jim Garrison describes it in his new editorial in The Huffington Post - this is a MUST READ:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-garrison/obamas-most-fateful-decis_b_1...

Here is an excerpt - with my emphases in bold:

Bee-Killing Pesticide Imidacloprid Voluntarily Withdrawn for Almonds