Researchers find new pesticides as harmful as DDT

An international task force that has been investigating the effects of certain pesticides has found they are as bad for the environment as insecticide DDT, now banned worldwide. Basel-based Syngenta, which produces the two chemicals concerned, says the study does not consider the broader benefits.

The team of 29 researchers from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was commissioned in 2011 to look into the effect of neonicotinoids and Fipronil on natural ecosystems.

They found that soil, plants, bodies of water and even groundwater contain concentrations of neonicotinoids harmful to many organisms and above legal limits in many parts of the world. The pesticides are commonly used to treat insect infestations on garden plants and crops.

Their four-year-long research project involved going over more than 800 peer-reviewed papers that have been published in the past two decades regarding the effects of the pesticides.

A spokesperson for Syngenta told swissinfo.ch that the publication is a “selective review of existing studies which highlighted the worst possible scenarios largely produced under unrealistic or laboratory conditions”.

Click here to read the complete article at swissinfo.ch