Let’s give a round of applause to us, humans, who, once again, are the cause of another disastrous event.
In the past three months, Brazil has lost more than 500 million bees, mainly because of pesticides used and said to be containing substances which are banned in Europe, like neonicotinoids and fipronil.
The European Union implemented a near-total ban in April 2018 due to neonicotinoids as they can cause severe harm to bees. In the same year, Brazil did the opposite and lifted its pesticide restrictions.
According to Greenpeace’s Unearthed,193 Products in Brazil contain chemicals which are banned in the EU.
Since the country has come under the governments of Michel Temer and current president Jair Bolsonaro, there has been a dramatic spike in new environmentally hazardous pesticide products The countries pesticide use has gone up by a whopping 770 percent between 1990 and 2016, making Brazil one among the largest buyers of pesticides worldwide. Brazil is reliant on them thanks to their heavy reliance on agriculture.
500,000,000 bees died in Brazil this year, with most showing traces of Fipronil, an insecticide banned in the EU and a possible human carcinogen according to US EPA
— Assaad Razzouk (@AssaadRazzouk) August 20, 2019
That’s after President Bolsonaro allowed a record 290 pesticides, up 27% over last yearhttps://t.co/u3I6IxJf5q pic.twitter.com/E7pgvn6hjZ
The Pesticide Action Network has a list of highly hazardous pesticides which details their risks to both humans and the environment. Since Bolsonaro took office, nearly half the listed products have been approved for use in the country.
There are significant concerns for all wildlife and the environment thanks to Anvisa finding 20 percent of collected samples containing pesticide residue above the acceptable levels or containing pesticides which haven't been authorized.
The declining bee population is a major worry for agriculture and world wide food security. Bees pollinate 80% of our flowering crops and a Cornell University study estimated that honeybees pollinate $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the U.S annually. #WorldHoneyBeeDay pic.twitter.com/xMFunQSLG0
— Mike McGuire (@ilike_mike) August 18, 2019
Beekeepers in four Brazilian states have reported the mass bee deaths. According to Bloomberg, 400 million bees were found dead in Rio Grande do Sul alone, while 50 million were found in Santa Catarina, 45 million Mato Grosso do Sul, and seven million were discovered in São Paulo.
The vice president of the country’s Rio Grande do Sul beekeeping association said that in less than 48 hours of showing illness, his bee colony was gone.
WWF suggested that to help save bee populations, unused land needs to be better managed and turned into urban green spaces in order to help attract bees and thereby help ensure their safety and ability to grow stronger in population.
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