INFORMATION FOR ACTION Pesticides & Pollinators There are a number of pesticides that when applied—either through seed ChemicalWATCH Stats — Neonicotinoids coating, drenching of the soil, or sprayed—enter the plant, move through CAS Registry Number: the vascular system and are expressed through pollen, nectar, or guttation • 105827-78-9 (imidacloprid) droplets. These “systemic” pesticides • 210880-92-5 (clothianidin) cause indiscriminate poisoning to in- • 153719-23-4 (thiamethoxam) sects, particularly pollinators, that for- • 111988-49-9 (thiacloprid) age through gardens, farms, roadsides, • 165252-70-0 (dinotefuran) parks, or meadows where these pesti- • 135410-20-7 (acetamiprid) cides have been used on the seed, seedling, or plant. • 150824-47-8 (nitenpyram) Chemical Class: Chloro-nicotinyl or nicotinoid Neonicotinoids1 Use: Broad spectrum insecticide in liquid, granular, and dust formulations, Neonicotinoids (neonics) are insecti- and seed coatings used for a wide range of insects, including soil insects, in cides similar to nicotine –that activate agricultural, garden, turf, and residential pest control. neuronal receptors and disrupt many Toxicity Rating: Moderately toxic sensory and cognitive processes in invertebrate organisms. The binding Signal Words: Caution, Warning of neonicotinoids to the receptor is irreversible in arthropods.2,3 Thus, they Health Effects: Linked to reproductive and mutagenic effects and is neurotoxic. are highly toxic to insects and other Environmental Effects: Highly toxic to bees and other beneficial insects, invertebrates. Neonics include the and toxic to upland game birds. Generally persistent in soils and can move into insecticides imidacloprid, thiacloprid, waterways and leach to groundwater. clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, nitenpyram, and dinotefuran. A chemi- cal cousin, sulfoxaflor, is similar to systemic pesticides translocate through- agricultural era are systemic, neonicoti- neonicotinoid pesticides—it acts on the out the plant, essentially making the noids have attracted substantial scientific nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) entire plant a pesticidal agent. and public scrutiny because their appear- in insects, and like neonicotinoids, it ance and proliferation in the market is a “systemic” insecticide. NOntarGET EFFECTS & coincided with dramatic die-offs and POLLInatORS decline of honey bees throughout the REGULatION & USE world. This decline has occurred, not Neonics are linked with the dramatic only through immediate bee deaths, Seeds of corn, soybeans, canola and decline of pollinators and other wildlife. but also through sublethal exposure others are widely coated with pesticides U.S. beekeepers lost an unsustainable causing changes in bee reproduction, before they are planted in an effort to 33% of their hives between 2016 and navigation, and foraging.4 poison soil pests, including insects and 2017. Bees, butterflies, birds, and a fungus, before and after germination. range of soil and aquatic organisms COntaMInatION The neonics are also applied to veg- essential to healthy ecological systems OF WaterwaYS etable and flower seedlings and plants, are imperiled by the use of these sys- including turf, as a soil drench, spray, temic and persistent pesticides. While Neonics are detected regularly5 in granule, or dust. Whether applied as several classes of pesticides introduced sampling of the nation’s waterways at a seed coating or to the plant, these since the outset of the chemical-intensive concentrations that exceed acute and 1 BEYOND PESTICIDES • 2017 • www.BeyondPesticides.org chronic toxicity values for sensitive organisms.6 Scientific knowledge Chemical WATCH Stats — Fipronil concerning the aquatic impacts of neo- nicotinoids is growing, and research CAS Registry Number: 120068-37-3 finds that neonicotinoids have direct and indirect impacts on aquatic Chemical Class: phenylpyrazole communities. Neonic contamination, Use: Broad-spectrum insecticide for pest control in gardens, turf, agriculture detected in rivers, streams, and lakes in and buildings in a range of liquid, granular, dust, and gel formulations and 29 states,7 poses detrimental effects to seed coatings. keystone aquatic organisms, resulting in a complex cascading impact on Toxicity Rating: Toxic ecosystems. Signal Words: Caution, Warning Fipronil Health Effects: Endocrine disruption, possible carcinogen, neurotoxic, and reproductive effects. Fipronil belongs to a chemical class Environmental Effects: Toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates, and other known as phenylpyrazoles and inhibits nontarget organisms, such as bees. the aminobutyric acid (GABA)-gated chloride channel, resulting in selective neurotoxicity in insects compared to 8 mammals. Other Insecticides ENDNOTES 1 See Cultivating Plants that Poison REGULatION & USE Synthetic pyrethroids have also been Bees, Butterflies, and Birds. 2016. http:// shown to impair bee learning and beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/ Fipronil is registered for use in the documents/SystemicsCited.pdf; Poisoned U.S. to control a variety of insects, foraging behavior. These include Waterways. http://beyondpesticides.org/ both indoor and outdoor, as well as bifenthrin, deltamethrin, fluvinate, and assets/media/documents/bp-37.1- permethrin. Studies also implicate en- PoisonedWaterways-cited3.pdf; and What for in-furrow root coating, seed treat- the Science Shows. http://beyondpesticides. ment, soil injection, and bait treatment, dosulfan and spinosad in bee decline org/programs/bee-protective-pollinators- 16 and spot treatment on pets. In an effort and colony collapse disorder (CCD). and-pesticides/what-the-science-shows. to mitigate ecological risks, the U.S. 2 Buckingham SD, et al. Imidacloprid actions Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The Decline of on insect neuronal acetylcholine receptors. converted the major outdoor use prod- The Journal of Experimental Biology. 1997; Pollinators: 200:2685-2692. Available at: http://jeb. ucts to restricted use classification, which Economic Effect biologists.org/content/200/21/2685.full. takes it off retail store shelves, but allows pdf. commercial applicators and farmers The economic impact associated with 3 Zhang A, et al. Insect Nicotinic Acetyl- to continue to apply it.9 the decline of bees and other insect choline Receptor: Conserved Neonicotinoid pollinators is also significant. Insect Specificity of [3H]Imidacloprid Binding Site. Journal of Neurochemistry. 2000; NOntarGET EFFECTS & pollination has been shown to enhance 75:1294-1303. Available at: http:// POLLInatORS crop yield, thus contributing to agri- onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j. cultural productivity by up to 71%, de- 1471-4159.2000.751294.x/pdf. Although EPA states that fipronil is pending on the crop.17 The total global 4 Wood, Thomas James and Goulson, non-systemic, evidence has found the economic valuation of pollination Dave, 2017. The Environmental Risks of chemical to undergo root uptake and services is estimated to be 9.5% of neonicotinoid pesticides: a review of the transport within plants.10 Fipronil and evidence post-2013. Environmental Science global food production value in 2005, and Pollution. Available at: http://www. its metabolites have also been detected or about $190 billion.18 In the U.S., the biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/ in the pollen of plants.11 Fipronil is 01/06/098897. value of crops directly reliant on insect relatively mobile in soils, degrades to pollinators is $15.12 billion (2009), 5 Hladik, M.L. and Kolpin, D.W., 2016, form persistent metabolites, and is a with the value attributed to honey bees First national-scale reconnaissance of pervasive water contaminant.12,13 It has neonicotinoid insecticides in streams across alone at $11.68 billion.19 Pollinator- been found to be toxic to nontarget the U.S.A., Environ. Chem., v. 13, pp. dependent crops are also a source 12–20. organisms, including honey bees14 of nutrients critical for human health, and various aquatic species.15 6 USEPA. 2017. Preliminary Aquatic Risk accounting for one-third of the human Assessment to Support the Registration diet in the U.S.20,21 The continuation Review of Imidacloprid. Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. of the pollinator decline therefore Washington, DC. threatens the stability of ecosystems, 7 USEPA. 2017. Preliminary Aquatic Risk the economy, human health, and the Assessment to Support the Registration food supply.22 Review of Imidacloprid. Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. Washington, DC. 2 BEYOND PESTICIDES • 2017 • www.BeyondPesticides.org 8 Cole LM, Nicholson RA, and Casida JE. 13 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). An 18 Gallai, N., Salles, J.-M., Settele, J., and Action of phenylpyrazole insecticides at the Overview Comparing Results from Two Vaissiére, B. E. 2009. Economic valuation GABA-gated chloride channel. Pesticide Decades of Monitoring for Pesticides in the of the vulnerability of world agriculture Biochemistry and Physiology. 1993;46:47- Nation’s Streams and Rivers, 1992–2001 confronted with pollinator decline. 54. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect. and 2002–2011. 2014. Available at: Ecological Economics;68(3): pp. 810-821. com/science/article/pii/ http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2014/5154. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect. S0048357583710357. com/science/article/pii/ 14 El Hassani AK, et al. Effects of sublethal S0921800908002942. 9 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doses of fipronil on the behavior of the (EPA). Fipronil Summary Document honeybee (Apis mellifera). 2005;82:30-39.