HIDDENCOSTSOFTOXICSEEDCOATINGS.PDFVIP

JUNE 2015 FACT SHEET HIDDEN COSTS OF TOXIC SEED COATINGS Insecticide Use on the Rise cientists have identified pesticides—specifically of California—are directly exposed to neonic insecticides a group of insecticides called neonicotinoids from corn, soybeans and cotton alone. S(abbreviated as “neonics”)—as likely to be an important cause of declining pollinator populations The total acreage of corn treated with insecticides is now and poor pollinator health. Neonics are the most widely 3 times higher than it was prior to neonic seed coatings. used insecticides in the world, and have been repeatedly For example, about 30 percent of corn acres/year were shown to have lethal and sub-lethal effects on beneficial estimated to have been treated with applied insecticides 1 insects. Neonics are also persistent in soil and are mobile during the decade prior to the introduction of neonic seed in water. Recent monitoring by the US Geological Survey coating in the mid-2000s. Now, about 80-100 percent is found neonics in most samples of Midwest streams.2 In exposed. addition to harming pollinators, the large and growing body of research on neonics raises concerns about adverse USDA incorrectly reports a reduction in corn acreage impacts on aquatic invertebrates,3 birds, and insects that treated with insecticides. The agency’s estimates, made protect our crops.4 without counting neonic seed