BEYOND PESTICIDES

Breaking News for our Parks for a Sustainable Future Program! The cities of Lakewood and Golden in Colorado launch organic land management demonstration sites at multiple city parks, following a successful program in Longmont with a focus on environmental and public health protection. The programs are a collaboration of the cities and the environmental organizations BEYOND PESTICIDES and People and Pollinators Action Network, partnered with Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage in underwriting horticultural consultation services and development of an organic land management plan that rely on methods and products that support microbial life in the soil. “We are excited to be working with the City of Lakewood and the City of Golden on organic land management practices that protect community health and the environment, including bees, butterflies, and birds, and support efforts to mitigate climate change and biodiversity decline. Organic practices eliminate fossil fuel petroleum-based products and sequester atmospheric carbon in the soil, combating the climate crisis.” — Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides. [Please see the photos from our featured sites, including the Link Recreation Center Baseball Field in Lakewood, which hosts a 99,700 sq. ft. high-traffic ballfield field for athletics and outdoor recreational youth programming!] ** Beyond Pesticides, through the Parks for Sustainable Future program, collaborates with communities nationwide to transition parks, playing fields, and public spaces to organic land management. The program provides in-depth training to assist community land managers in transitioning two public demonstration sites and the knowledge necessary to eventually transition all public areas in a locality to these safer practices. ↪️ Click here to learn more more about how to bring this program to your community: https://ow.ly/mRGo50SyO63 Press Release: https://ow.ly/evtG50SyO6q

Daily News: France, UK Elections Indicate Turning Point for Pesticide Regulation on the Global Stage National election results in the United Kingdom (UK) and France have shocked the world amidst concerns of a rising tide of right-wing authoritarianism in the European Parliament, trending toward an initially perceived as a conservative majority. UK citizens overwhelmingly voted for the center-left pollinator-friendly Labour Party, which won an unprecedented margin of 291 seats. France, meanwhile, faces an interesting future. While no party earned a clear majority to form a new government at the time of posting, there are opportunities to build on existing momentum with a broad coalition of elected officials. [France has previously demonstrated leadership in protecting the public from exposure, being the first European country to enforce a strict ban on use in public landscapes and private lawns routinely used by the public.] The European Union (EU) plays an integral leadership role in the production and distribution of pesticides to nations around the world. Recognizing the importance of EU member states in developing comprehensive policies, given the U.S. deferment to corporate interests, offers an opportunity for broader systemic change versus incremental inertia on the pesticide treadmill. 📌 For more information on the state of organic agriculture in the EU, please see BEYOND PESTICIDES' Daily News, "Planting the Seeds of Change: Why the European Union Struggles to Meet 2030 Organic Farming Target." https://ow.ly/P6Mf50SEBL4 Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/feHL50SEBL7

Daily News: Adding to Similar Findings, Organophosphate Insecticide Linked to Depression and Suicide, Farm to Home Exposure to organophosphorus pesticides is associated with increased suicidal thoughts, according to the latest study linking pesticide exposure to mental health conditions, including suicidal ideation (SI). Researchers from the 成都中医药大学 Chengdu University of TCM analyzed over 5,000 U.S. participants, modeling OP single and mixed exposures. While dimethylthiophosphate (DMTP) was found to be associated with SI alone with "notable individual exposure-response relationships," mixtures of other organophosphate metabolites were linked as well, with a more pronounced influence in men ages 20-40 and those over 60. [Organophosphates are cholinesterase inhibitors, meaning that they bind irreversibly to the active site of an essential enzyme for normal nerve impulse transmission, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), inactivating the enzyme. A decrease in AChE activity has links to higher depression scores observed in individuals with increased suicide risk.] *** Despite pressure from public health scientists and professionals, organophosphate insecticides continue to be used in the U.S. as agricultural communities remain at disproportionate risk of mental health concerns due to pesticide use, in addition to myriad neurodevelopmental, reproductive, and respiratory adverse health effects. BEYOND PESTICIDES’ Pesticide Induced Diseases Database (PIDD), tracks the most recent studies related to pesticide exposure. For more information on the multiple harms of pesticides, please see our pages on depression, suicide, brain and nervous system disorders, endocrine disruption, and cancer. https://ow.ly/tRK550SCxoP Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/LbPq50SCxoO

Daily News: It Is Really Hot. Will Insurance Companies and Congress Meet the Moment? Beyond the real-world adverse effects of the climate crisis—more intense and frequent fires, floods, hurricanes and more—the rising insurance premiums imposed by the insurance industry speak to the need for an urgent systemic response. While the events associated with climate are more accurately described as “human-made” rather than “natural” disasters, The Washington Post reported in 2023 that, “U.S. insurers have paid out $295.8 billion in natural disaster losses from 2020 to 2022, a record for a three-year period.” This has led to dramatic changes in the cost of insurance coverage and the decision of many carriers to deny coverage. According to the Post, “At least five large U.S. property insurers—including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway—have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles.” Why do homeowner insurers need to pick up the mantle of organic land management? The current patchwork of state insurance regulations means that either insurance companies leave the home insurance market in areas most directly affected by the climate crisis or raise prices. As the entire country bears the subsequent high and rising insurance costs—required for a mortgage—one does not have to live in a high-hazard area to personally face the financial impacts. The insurance industry has already recognized the reality of the climate crisis and the threat it represents. The question now is whether the insurance industry will join efforts that force a transition to organic practices and support policies—including in the Farm Bill— that facilitate this transition in Congress. There is a role for homeowner insurance underwriters to play by joining the campaign to transition all land management, including agricultural and nonagricultural lands, to organic practices. Please see today's Daily News post to learn more and take action below! ⤵️ 🌱 Regenerative agriculture must be organic. https://ow.ly/cvgq50SBBlB Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/M75250SBBly

Take Action: This is a CRISIS—for which there are solutions now! You probably have noticed that it's hot. Really hot. Climate change is a real crisis and requires serious action. Actually, climate change is one of multiple crises that are compounding one another. While climate change may be most apparent—128 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, heat waves in India, the U.S., and globally, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, another wildfire season, etc.—we are also facing crises in human disease and biodiversity collapse. Heat makes the health effects of pesticides more grave. Climate change is intensifying the impacts of habitat destruction and toxic chemicals on biodiversity. We cannot afford to let anyone capitalize on marketing schemes making false claims of climate change mitigation. >> Regenerative agriculture must be organic. https://ow.ly/fo4r50SASUv

Daily News: Study Captures Agronomists’ Advice to Farmers and Continued Reliance on Toxic Pesticides No one can deny that the dominant agricultural system developed in the 20th century is unsustainable and in escalating crisis from the combined effects of pesticide resistance, climate change, and resource overexploitation. The frontline members of this system are farmers. Any proposal for improvement that threatens their bottom lines is likely to encounter resistance, and any proposal that promises to improve the bottom line is more likely to be implemented. Thus there is a powerful incentive to accept suggestions from “crop advisors”—usually known as agronomists—a category that includes government extension agents, independent consultants usually paid directly by farmers, and those who work for agribusiness, particularly chemical companies. Iowa State University sociologist Katherine Dentzman, PhD, examines the relationships among agronomists, farmers and farming communities, conducting focus groups in Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest states to determine what pressures limit the types of advice agronomists give farmers. Findings show that many agronomists would prefer to provide more diverse and sustainable options for farmers by blending science and expertise with more traditional and experiential knowledge, but feel constrained by “structures based in the capitalist industrialized US agricultural system.” The aggressive investment in outreach and promotion by chemical companies creates the impression that pesticides remain the best way to deal with pesticide resistance. This ignores the fact that pesticide resistance is an inevitable result of natural selection, while the industry relies on serial development of products that will perforce have only short-term effectiveness, driving up investment costs and passing those on to farmers in a vicious "pesticide treadmill." In the face of this pressure, agroecology faces the daunting challenge of supporting farmers’ individual autonomy, trust in institutions and communities, and social justice, while also encouraging agronomists to combine local wisdom with reliable scientific information independent of corporate interests. Farmers—and good-faith advisors—cannot be left to depend on disingenuous sources of expertise. Agroecology, including the substitution of ecosystem benefits for pesticide use, will be strongest if developed from the bottom up. Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/aclj50SAvS8

Daily News: Dozens of Pesticide Residues, Including Illegal Compounds, Found through BeeNet Project Can the health of pollinator hives serve as a nature-based indicator for pesticide residue drift? Apparently yes, according to researchers working in the Research Center for Agriculture and Environment in Bologna, Italy—a research institution within the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis (CREA Ricerca). Through the BeeNet Project (BeeNet - biomonitoraggio con le api) led by the Italian Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, researchers detected the presence of 63 different pesticide residues in hives across northern Italy; 15 are not approved for use in the European Union. The most commonly detected included six fungicides (captan, carbendazim, dimethomorph, folpet, metalaxyl, and tebuconazole) and one herbicide (pendimethalin). [BeeNet is a national monitoring project that tracks the health of honey bee and wild bee populations in agroecological systems across hundreds of stations nationwide.] *** The mounting scientific literature on pollinator decline, in part due to the inadequate regulation of toxic petrochemical-based pesticides, serves as a call to action to push forward land management, agricultural, and climate policy that aligns with organic principles centering on soil health, biodiversity, public health, worker protections, and economic security. 🐝 Please see BEYOND PESTICIDES' Pollinator Week page to discover actions we can take all year round, recognizing that pollinator protection starts with organic practices! https://ow.ly/iOS950SzKLg Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/ZGlI50SzKLf

Daily News: Neonicotinoid Insecticides Contribute to Honey Bee Vulnerability to Parasitic Varroa Mites While there has been debate on whether neonicotinoid (neonic) insecticides or Varroa mites (V. destructor) are more detrimental to the survival of bees, evidence suggests that neonicotinoids are not only harmful individually but can increase vulnerability to parasitism from mites in western honey bees (Apis mellifera). Led by Lewis Bartlett, Phd, from The University of Georgia—the study is allegedly “the first experimental field demonstration of how neonicotinoid exposure can increase V. destructor populations in honey bees and also demonstrates that colony genetic diversity cannot mitigate the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides.” The results indicate, to the surprise of the researchers, that genetic diversity did not significantly protect the bees when activity was enhanced by the insecticides. Notably, pollinators are severely impacted by neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides that share a common mode of action that affects the central nervous system of insects. Neonicotinoid residues accumulate in the pollen and nectar of treated plants and represent a risk to pollinators by causing paralysis and death upon exposure. 🐝 Protect pollinators today and be part of the organic solution by subscribing to BEYOND PESTICIDES' listserv for the latest cutting-edge science on the health and environmental hazards of pesticides: https://ow.ly/O69w50Sz6vP Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/AutT50Sz6vN

Daily News: Pesticide-Contaminated Cannabis in California Reveals Testing and Regulatory Failures In June, California cannabis regulators recalled a pesticide-tainted vape, one of the contaminated products identified in an investigation by Los Angeles Times and WeedWeek. The report reveals that the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has been aware of the presence of dangerous chemicals in legal cannabis sold to the public while uncovering alarming levels of the insecticide chlorfenapyr in legal cannabis products sold in state dispensaries. After purchasing cannabis products from licensed dispensaries across California, two accredited labs screened the samples for over 100 pesticides, more than the 66 chemicals required by the state. Out of 42 legal cannabis products tested, 25 show pesticide concentrations above allowed levels, with some products containing as many as two dozen different pesticides. [For example, chlorfenapyr—an insecticide not permitted on California cannabis—was discovered at over two thousand times a base limit of .03 part per million used to calculate exceedances for pesticides prohibited upon detection.] *** The illegal federal status of cannabis and the inability of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to register pesticides for use in cannabis production, offers a window for states. BEYOND PESTICIDES maintains that the best solution for states is to establish laws and/or regulations mandating an organic systems approach to cannabis production—for example, a requirement that growers and processors follow the dictates of national organic soil management standards—in alignment with the precautionary principle. Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/tF3450Sy821

Daily News: Take Action—Elimination of the Insecticide Is Both a Public Health and Ecosystem Issue [Please submit comments by Wednesday, July 31!] Acephate, an insecticide and member of the organophosphate (OP) family, is so toxic that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to ban all uses except the systemic injection into trees. With this remaining use, EPA is still not recognizing that systemic neonicotinoid pesticides can cause serious environmental harm to the ecosystem through indiscriminate poisoning of organisms. As BEYOND PESTICIDES points out, out, although the tree injection method does not pose excessive dietary or aggregate health risk, there are ecological risks that the agency has neglected. Rather than assessing the ecological risks of tree injection uses, the agency assumes that the use does not pose significant risk to nontarget organisms. On the contrary, the tree injection uses do pose serious risks to pollinator and certain bird species that cannot be mitigated and should therefore be included in the acephate cancellations. Take action today >> Submit a comment on acephate and tell EPA that no pesticide should be allowed to be used if the crop can be produced organically. https://ow.ly/utXl50Sx70i Daily News Blog Post: https://ow.ly/rhM250Sx70k