Well its pesticides. A very interesting story today from Matt McGrath an environment correspondent at the BBC. He is writing following a Dutch study on the effects of a certain agrichemical on birds.
The BBC piece is here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28216810
So its neonicotinoids again, first linked to Bees now birds and folk are quite rightly asking questions about amphibians and other wildlife. You can bet that the manufacturers and farmers will discredit the report very quickly.
The thing is though just as with antibiotics it costs a small fortune to get a new agrichemical out there and I do believe that some are necessary if we are not to go hungry, but which and are they safe enough. So farmers are caught again how do they get the best yields, cover their costs and get some financial return enabling them to carry on in business, while ensuring that wildlife and more importantly humans are not effected by residues. Using older chemicals with possible different affects is no way forward, new methods of control chemical or otherwise are needed.
Its no good environmentalists saying ban it and manufacturers and farmers saying you cant, we need to work together to find out the truth about effects short term and long term. We also need to look at how we control pests and diseases by chemical or other means.
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