Proposed Ban on Neonicotinoid Pesticide

Question: What is the Proposed Ban on Neonicotinoid Pesticide ? Answer : Introducation The objective of the Health Canada is to regulate the harmful use of pesticide in agricultural land. I support the proposal of banning the use of neonicotinoid pesticide named imidacloprid. The primary reason behind this decision is harm of insects and ecosystem. This pesticide is mainly applied on the large number of the agricultural products such as crops, corn, soy, sugar and other trees. Risks associated with the application of pesticide are health hazard of fish, birds and other animals as it affects the food sources. As per health Canada, the bees are exposed to the risk from flowering crops, which contain pesticide above risk level. This pesticide is linked to the death of honeybees. As stated by Long (2012), the use of neonicotinoid pesticide creates colony collapse disorder especially for worker bees. As an effect, worker bees suddenly disappear from the hives containing various stages of brood and adequate food in the abandoned colonies. As worker bees play important role i n honey production and plant pollination, death of worker bees affects the mass production. The economic consequences of this bee loss are decrease in honey production. As a result, it may affect the income of the native people collected honey from the forest or regional areas. Loss of the income has serious economic burden on the subsistence people. Colony collapse disorder causes loss in agriculture and plant pollination. As discussed by Johnson (2016), neonicotinoid pesticide are soluble in water. Therefore, small amount of the pesticide applied on the seed are dissolved when in contact with the water in soil. Surrounding plants absorb theses water through their roots and the solutions spread into the tissues and foliage. Consequently, animals eating plants and fruits of those trees are exposed to life risk. Imidacloprid is also harmful for the aquatic animals. The soil water of the agricultural land mixed with the pesticide contaminates the nearby water body such as river or pond. Death of the aquatic insects disturbs the balance of the eco system by destructing the food sources of the fish. Imidacloprid also contaminate the ground water. It can be evaluated from the above analysis that elimination of the neonicotinoid pesticide would be good for the Canadian economy. Cimino et al. (2017) founded that this pesticide has serious health hazard for human such as chronic neonic exposure, adverse development of neurological outcomes, autism spectrum disorder, symptoms of memory loss. Although Health Canada did not find any impact on human health, ban of imidacloprid is justifies as far as ecosystem is concerned. As human is also a part of the eco system, any interruption in the eco system affects human life directly or indirectly. Therefore, farmers can use the organic pesticide as a supplement of the neonicotinoid pesticide. Rejection of toxic chemical used for agriculture can lead to the better food and healthier environment. References Cimino, A., Boyles, A., Thayer, K., Perry, M. (2017). Environmental Health Perspectives Effects of Neonicotinoid Pesticide Exposure on Human Health: A Systematic Review. Ehp.niehs.nih.gov. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp515/ Johnson, L. (2016). Ban on controversial pesticide proposed by Health Canada. cbc.ca. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/health-canada-imidacloprid-neonicotinoid-1.3864450 Long, C. (2012). Save the Bees Ban Neonicotinoid Pesticides - Honeybees and Beekeeping Blog. Mother Earth News. Retrieved 14 March 2017, from https://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/neonicotinoid-pesticides-zb0z1204zlon