Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is proposing that two neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, be phased out over the next three to five years.

Following special reviews, PMRA found that the pesticides are harmful to aquatic insects which are a major source of food for fish, birds and other animals.

The chemicals are widely used as seed treatments for the majority of canola grown in Western Canada. While the impact on bees is often mentioned in discussions on neonics, PMRA itself came out with a proposed decision in 2017 noting that the neonicotinoid seed treatments don’t negatively hurt pollinators, including bees.

“These seed treatments are used on canola to prevent the young plants from being eaten by flea beetles,” said Brian Innes, vice-president of public affairs with the Canola Council of Canada.

“We’re concerned about not having these products will have a significant impact on the canola industry,” said Innes adding “it will mean increased risks and reduced yields.”

It can be very hard to predict when the insect when flea beetles will strike a field and individual fields can be lost in as little as 36 hours, according to Innes. While foliar chemical applications are an option, the small window makes control difficult.

“If we remove the neonicotinoids, it forces people to use other alternatives,” said John Gavloski, extension entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture. There are trade-offs with other pesticides, he said, making it hard to determine the eventual impact on crop production.

Diamides are a group of chemicals that can also be used as a seed treatment against flea beetles, he said. They are not as water-soluble as neonicotinoids — which comes with its own pros and cons.

The lower water solubility of diamides means they are slower to react. However, with neonicotinoids, a rain right after planting can wash away much of the seed treatment, which would not be the case with diamides.

Gavloski said more chemical options were also being researched and should be available for the market soon.

While more tools could take the place of neonicotinoids, “we’re very concerned as a canola industry, because any tool that’s taken away from farmers has a negative impact on their ability to produce canola and manage their risk,” said Innes.

Small impacts on yields could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars of losses in the bigger picture, he said.

There is a 90-day window of comment on the PMRA proposals, and Innes said the Canola Council will review the decision to make sure all of the available information was taken into account.

“We as a canola industry very much value a science-based review process,” he said.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow him at @PhilFW on Twitter.

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PMRA officials on Wednesday announced 90-day consultation periods on its decisions for both clothianidin and thiamethoxam, following “special reviews” which found both substances being measured at levels harmful to aquatic insects.

Clothianidin, under its current conditional registration, is marketed by Bayer in Canada as insecticides and seed treatments under brand names including Poncho, Prosper, Titan and Sepresto and by Nufarm as NipsIt. Thiamethoxam’s conditional registration covers products such as Cruiser and Helix, marketed by Syngenta.

PMRA proposes to cancel all outdoor agricultural and turf uses for clothianidin, and all outdoor (non-greenhouse) agricultural and ornamental uses for thiamethoxam, over three to five years, depending on availability of alternatives.

Scott Kirby, director general of PMRA’s environmental assessment directorate, said on a conference call with reporters Wednesday that most affected products would be phased out over the shorter period as alternatives are available.

Final special review decisions are to be announced at the end of next year, Health Canada said, and “will take into consideration any comments or new information received during the consultation period.”

Special reviews for both neonics were announced in November 2016 in the wake of PMRA’s routine re-evaluation of the third major neonic, imidacloprid, sold mainly by Bayer under brands such as Admire, Gaucho, Concept and Intercept.

Through that re-evaluation, Health Canada said it found imidacloprid being measured at levels harmful to certain aquatic insect populations such as mayflies and midges — a “critical food source” for fish, birds and other animals. The department thus proposed to phase out most uses of imidacloprid over three to five years.

Special reviews, Health Canada said, are launched based on “reasonable grounds to believe that the health or environmental risks, or the value (including effectiveness), of a pesticide is unacceptable.”

An environmental assessment of clothianidin showed that, in aquatic environments in Canada, the product is being measured at concentrations that are harmful to aquatic insects and most outdoor uses of clothianidin in Canada thus are “not sustainable.”

Modelling results from a risk assessment for thiamethoxam showed a “minimal acute risk to freshwater invertebrates” but found exposure on a “chronic basis” poses a risk to those species, Health Canada said.

However, the agency deemed the risks to aquatic invertebrates from greenhouse uses of thiamethoxam to be “acceptable” and plans to allow the chemical’s continued registration for greenhouse uses, “provided wastewater mitigation instructions on product labels are followed.”

For both neonics, PMRA said it will consider any “alternate risk management proposals” put forward during the comment period, “provided that they can achieve acceptable levels in the environment within the same timeframe.”

PMRA had proposed in late 2017 to grant three-year extensions to the registrations for both products, pending the outcome of the special review, while also phasing out certain specific uses of the products to reduce risk to pollinators. Final decisions relating to the pollinator evaluation are expected at the end of this year, Kirby said.

Grain Growers of Canada, in a separate statement Wednesday, said it plans to further review PMRA’s proposed decisions.

Meanwhile, GGC president Jeff Nielsen said, the group is concerned that PMRA’s re-evaluation process “is focused on publishing proposed decisions as fast as possible,” which appears to limit the agency’s ability to ensure “all relevant information” is available.

The focus on speed, he said, also “prevents (PMRA) from engaging farmers so that we can fully understand the issues they raise, which would allow us to provide the PMRA with the information required to refine these decisions.”

Both products “are very important for our growers, and without viable alternatives, the ban will significantly impact the canola sector,” Brian Innes, vice-president of public affairs for the Canola Council of Canada, said in a separate release.

The council, which said it will also “thoroughly review” the PMRA proposal, on Wednesday cited a 2017 study of European growers’ experience without neonics, showing increased risk of insect damage, lower yields and, as a result, fewer canola acres.

“With more than 22 million acres of canola in Canada in 2018, banning these plant protection tools would have a dramatic impact,” the council said.

CropLife Canada, representing the crop protection industry, said it found the PMRA proposal “especially disappointing and confusing to many, given that earlier this year the PMRA released a seemingly contradictory proposed decision validating the safety of both of these products to pollinators as seed treatments, which is one of their primary uses.”

CropLife CEO Pierre Petelle said Wednesday the organization will also review the PMRA’s proposals and data, “correct any misinterpretation of the data and provide comments to address any information gaps identified.”

The Reuters news agency on Wednesday quoted a Syngenta Canada spokesperson as saying the company is disappointed with the decision and believes the PMRA did not consider all relevant information. Reuters also quoted a Bayer spokesperson as saying the company believes clothianidin has a “favourable environmental profile.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The ban, championed by environmental activists, covers the use of three active substances — imidacloprid, developed by Bayer CropScience; clothianidin, developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer CropScience; and Syngenta’s thiamethoxam.

“All outdoor uses will be banned and the neonicotinoids in question will only be allowed in permanent greenhouses where exposure of bees is not expected,” the European Commission said in a statement.

Representatives of EU member states in the EC’s standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed on Friday supported the proposal for a new regulation to be adopted by the EC “in the coming weeks” and applicable “by the end of the year.”

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EC’s commissioner for health and food safety, hailed the results of Friday’s vote, saying the EC “had proposed these measures months ago, on the basis of the scientific advice from the European Food Safety Authority.”

Bee health, he said, “remains of paramount importance for me since it concerns biodiversity, food production and the environment.”

Bayer called the ban “a sad day for farmers and a bad deal for Europe” and said it would not help bees. Many farmers, it said, had no other way of controlling pests and that the result was more spraying and a return to older, less effective chemicals.

The use of neonics in the European Union has been restricted to certain crops since 2013, but environmental groups have called for a total ban and sparked a debate across the continent about the wider use of chemicals in farming.

Campaign group Friends of the Earth described the decision of EU governments a “tremendous victory” for bees and for the environment.

“The European Commission must now focus on developing a strong pollinator initiative that boosts bee-friendly habitat and helps farmers cut pesticide use,” it said.

Both Bayer and Syngenta have challenged the 2013 partial ban at the European Court of Justice. A verdict is due on May 17.

Bayer, in a separate move Thursday, announced it would sell its clothianidin-based seed treatment brands Poncho and VOTiVO to fellow German chemical firm BASF.

The brands are part of a $2.65 billion asset sale to help clear the regulatory path for Bayer’s planned takeover of seed and ag chem firm Monsanto.

In Canada, two of the three neonics in question, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, are up for renewal of their conditional registrations as seed treatments and foliar- and soil-applied pesticides in field crops.

Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency in December proposed to renew those registrations to the end of 2019.

For imidacloprid, PMRA in November proposed a three- to five-year phase-out of all agricultural uses and a “majority of other outdoor uses” of the product, citing the chemical’s presence in waterways at levels harmful to aquatic insects.

Final decisions from the PMRA on both proposals are due later this year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Philip Blenkinsop; includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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The University of Guelph team, led by toxicologist Keith Solomon and adjunct professor Gladys Stephenson, analyzed 64 papers from “open, peer-reviewed literature” on the topic plus 170 unpublished studies submitted to regulators by the products’ manufacturers, Syngenta and Bayer.

The scientists, who on Monday published their findings online across five papers in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, said Bayer and Syngenta asked them to assess earlier studies conducted by or for the companies, on the impacts of pesticide-treated seeds on honeybees.

Solomon and Stephenson used a “quantitative weight of evidence” methodology, meant to gauge the quality of reported data and to compare relevance of results from different studies.

The “higher-tier” studies which Solomon and Stephenson examined were focused on the exposures of honeybees to neonicotinoids by way of “several” matrices as measured in the field, and on the effects seen in “experimentally controlled” field studies.

The Guelph team’s study involved Bayer’s clothianidin and imidacloprid and Syngenta’s thiamethoxam, all used in seed treatments for various field crops.

The original papers, Solomon said, varied in quality and “scientific rigour,” but their results generally showed no adverse effects of pesticides on honeybee hives.

For all three products, the “overall weight of evidence,” based on the studies analyzed, indicated “no adverse effects on colony viability or survival of the colony,” the team wrote in the Journal.

“At least for honeybees, these products are not a major concern,” Solomon said in a university release Tuesday — though he granted the three pesticides can kill individual honeybees, and could also pose threats to other pollinators.

That said, “use of these neonics under good agricultural practices does not present a risk to honeybees at the level of the colony.”

“Many studies look at effects of insecticides on individual bees,” he said in a release Tuesday. However, “what regulations try to protect is the colony — the reproductive unit.”

Other researchers, he said, might use the Guelph team’s results to improve studies of pesticide exposure in hives.

The Guelph researchers also stressed the importance of “good agricultural practices” in farmers’ neonic use, including making sure the treated seeds are coated and planted properly to avoid airborne contamination of bees during seeding.

The Guelph team’s results don’t necessarily apply to other insects that also serve as crop pollinators and that have shown population declines, Solomon said.

For those, he said, “there are too few studies at the colony or field level to allow a weight-of-evidence analysis.”

The team said bees and other pollinators are affected by “potentially harmful” factors, including long-distance movement of colonies for crop pollination, as well as mites and viruses, weather, insufficient food and “varying beekeeping practices.” — AGCanada.com Network

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The study, spearheaded by a team from Switzerland’s Universite de Neuchatel and published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, was meant to assess “global exposure of pollinators to neonicotinoids.”

The team’s report emphasized the compounds occurred in honey samples “at levels considered safe for human consumption.”

However, the Swiss team wrote, “the contamination confirms the inundation of bees and their environments with these pesticides, despite some recent efforts to decrease their use.”

Of 198 honey samples sourced worldwide through a “citizen science project,” the team found at least one of five tested compounds (acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam) in 75 per cent of all samples.

Thirty per cent of all samples contained “a single neonicotinoid,” while 45 per cent of the total samples contained “two or more” neonic compounds; 10 per cent contained “four or five.”

The samples were taken from all continents except Antarctica, as well as from “numerous isolated islands.”

The proportion of samples with trace levels of at least one neonic “varied considerably among regions,” with the highest in samples from North America (86 per cent), Asia (80 per cent) and Europe (79 per cent) samples; the lowest proportion was in South American samples at 57 per cent.

In all regions, at least one neonic was recorded in at least 25 per cent of samples, and three neonicotinoids (thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, clothianidin) were recorded in at least 50 per cent of samples in North America, the team wrote.

Imidacloprid “dominated overall concentrations in Africa and South America,” the team added, while thiacloprid led in Europe, acetamiprid in Asia and thiamethoxam in Oceania and North America, “reflecting regional differences in usage of specific pesticide types.”

“Our results confirm the exposure of bees to neonicotinoids in their food throughout the world,” the team wrote, and “the coexistence of neonicotinoids and other pesticides may increase harm to pollinators.”

The Ottawa-based Canadian arm of environmental group Friends of the Earth viewed the Swiss team’s findings as evidence supporting a “complete and permanent ban” on neonic pesticides.

“Bees collect nectar and pollen from their environment and, like the canary in the coal mine, they provide early warning of toxins. This study points to the urgent need to ban neonics,” John Bennett, senior policy advisor for Friends of the Earth Canada, said in a separate release Thursday.

“We also have the right to know what pesticides are being used where and when — it’s time for Canada to require pesticide use reports.”

Specifically, the group said, pesticide users “should be required to report time and location of use,” which would provide “much-needed information on the cocktail of pesticides encountered by honey bees and wild, native bees.” — AGCanada.com Network

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Citing research led by Lars Straub at the University of Bern, Switzerland, the report says neonicotinoid pesticides were found to cut the lifespan of the drones by a third.

Scientists say the research, which has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, offers an explanation for higher rates of honey bee mortality and declining wild pollinators in recent years.

Neonicotinoids have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years and have been banned from use on flowering crops in the EU since 2013.

The researchers exposed drones to the neonicotinoids, thiamethoxam and clothianidin. They found that they had on average 39 per cent less living sperm compared with unexposed bees.

In fact, 32 per cent of the drones were dead at 14 days, which is when they usually reach sexual maturity. By comparison, 17 per cent of unexposed drones were dead before they were mature enough to mate.

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Early in 2014, Dr. Clarence Swanton, a professor and researcher with the department of plant agriculture at the University of Guelph, brought to light new research indicating corn and soybean plants are capable of sensing another plant species nearby, setting in motion a series of cellular reactions, including a loss of anthocyanins and an overproduction of hydrogen peroxide, which degrades cell membranes and damages DNA.

Some 20 years prior to this find, Swanton revolutionized weed science with the discovery of a “critical weed-free period,” a stage in the growing season defined as V2 to V6 (four to 10 leaf-tips) in corn and up to and including the first to third trifoliate in soybeans.

Recently, Swanton published another intriguing study showing that corn seeds detect the quality of the light that penetrates below the soil surface. What’s more, the quality of this light may let the crop know about the presence of plants (i.e. weeds) above ground.

On top of that, thiamethoxam, a common insecticidal seed treatment, can affect germination by altering how much gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) is generated according to the quality of that light.

It all sounds very scientific, which it is. But it also sounds like it may pave the way for some exciting new approaches to weed control.

The known

It’s a research project that dovetails with previous work by Swanton, and then updates it. This particular project was done entirely in the lab and, at present, there’s no intention of moving it outside. It was carried out only to confirm the hypotheses about light quality and interactions, and the subsequent effect of a seed treatment.

Swanton’s latest research is contained in a manuscript that was submitted in July 2014 and accepted for peer-reviewed publication this past November. Its abstract cites some of the factors involved in the study that have become standards in weed science. For one, red and far-red light wavelengths can penetrate an inch down into the soil and delay germination in a seed through a series of cellular interactions.

Penetration is determined by soil type, particle size, and moisture content, as well as by the wavelength of the light, with far-red wavelengths penetrating the deepest, particularly in sandy soils. Another component in the abstract states that thiamethoxam, applied as a seed treatment, can enhance germination but that no previous work on its effect on buried corn seed when germinating in the presence of above-ground weeds has been done.

“We hypothesized that the changes in red:far-red (light) reflected from above-ground weeds would be detected by (corn) seed phytochrome and delay seed germination by decreasing the level of GA and increasing ABA,” says the report’s abstract. “We further hypothesized that thiamethoxam would overcome this delay in germination.”

“This is kind of like the ‘start clean and stay clean’ principle,” says Swanton. “Our scenario here is that this is the first time that anyone has reported that corn seed can detect above-ground activity. Now this whole story happens at a shallow level, but what is neat from the other studies is that we’ve actually sampled the emerging seedling, and tried to detect some of the changing physiology within that emerging seedling.”

All of this counters the notion that plants are simple organisms, with Swanton adding that they’re learning that plants are in an almost constant state of change, responding to these complex chemical, cellular, and even molecular processes. This latest research confirms that a buried corn seed is actually detecting before it emerges above, which means it’s already preparing its physiology to address the situation above-ground.

“The idea that a plant could lose yield potential by the minute based on some of our work changes one perspective — it makes you pay attention to weed control, rather than delay it,” says Swanton. “But what this does is really provides the science behind the idea that early weed control is important along with the concept of ‘start-clean, stay-clean,’ because those things we do as a rule of thumb.”

It’s worth noting that thiamethoxam is a neonicotinoid insecticidal seed treatment. That it might offer some added benefit, over and above the current furor concerning the potential impact on bee health, and the proposed ban on its use by the Ontario government, was not part of the rationale behind the research. Instead, it was an observation concerning germination, similar to other serendipitous discoveries like the use of fungicides as growth regulators. That a fungicide could increase yield by delaying maturity might not have been part of its initial mandate. Yet that segment of the chemical industry has augmented the delay-maturity-to-increase-yield benefit that fungicides bring.

“Suddenly now, some of this relatively newer chemistry has some of these benefits,” says Swanton. “And that’s why we went to thiamethoxam, because with the far-red effect, we were seeing all of these negative impacts on a plant, and then they were talking about how they could boost seedling development.”

Swanton then approached representatives of Syngenta, the manufacturer of thiamethoxam used in the company’s Cruiser formulations, and asked if they’d be interested in his research, to which they consented. Growth from five petri dishes containing five seeds and replicated five times were analyzed according to the percentage of seed germinated and radicle root length. Corn seeds were harvested at six, 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours.

“It was on my own initiative. Nobody paid us to do this,” says Swanton. “We had a hypothesis about why we thought the seed treatment would work, and we tested for it. And at the very end, whether it’s neonicotinoid insecticides or not, it shows a principle. It suddenly opens up the whole idea that a seed treatment could be a gene trigger, and that’s what’s really significant about it.”

Rather than thinking about seed treatments only as an insect and disease issue, Swanton might be able to explore other types of chemistries in an effort to determine whether they also have triggering effects. That work could then open up a whole new perspective on chemical uses and applications.

“And that’s what I think is the most exciting aspect — the fact that you could put some chemical on a seed and thereby trigger some of these genes to actually protect the plant against stress,” Swanton says.

The light penetration effect in corn may also apply to soybeans, and Swanton refers to a thesis being written by one of his MSc students, HaeWon Kim. She’s been working with potted soybeans and examining the effect of potted weeds placed beside the soybeans. That level of proximity on its own is sufficient to adversely affect nodulation, says Swanton. Kim is also scheduled to present her findings later this year to the Weed Science Society of America.

Granted, this is a lot of information to disseminate in the course of a little more than a year, yet Swanton is confident that growers can benefit from the overall message. He’s shared his report with Syngenta, as well as a gathering of the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario just before Christmas 2014. The message is simple.

“This is something that evidence confirms, so this is why you want to reduce your risk to management and this is how we propose you do it,” says Swanton.

Of ratios and wavelengths

It’s known that seed germination is affected by an inverse relationship in the levels of gibberellins (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) with higher levels of GA desired for germination. Where the ratio of red to far-red (R:FR) light influences this process is that with a high R:FR, phytochrome, a photoreceptor in the plant cells detects light and affects the level of GA biosynthesis. An increase in the level of GA causes the destruction of DELLA repressor proteins. By contrast, a low R:FR ratio will lead to an accumulation of DELLA proteins, repressing GA responses and increasing the presence of ABA, effectively blocking germination.

Another relationship affected by GA and ABA is in the expression and activity of alpha- and beta-amylase enzymes. These enzymes break down starch into simple sugars, creating an energy source that’s readily available for seed germination.

Again, with a high R:RF ratio, GA increases and the production of both alpha- and beta-amylases is enhanced. But under a low R:RF ratio, GA decreases, ABA increases and amylase production is blocked, subsequently suppressing germination.

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The provincial government made its move Monday — three days ahead of a scheduled meeting between Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal and Grain Farmers of Ontario chairman Mark Brock, at which the GFO, representing corn, soy and wheat growers, expected to discuss the group’s own proposals for neonic use and protecting pollinators such as bees.

The province’s draft regulation, which follows a series of consultations over the winter, is available for public comment on the environmental registry until May 7 and, if approved as written, would take effect July 1.

The regulations would see neonic-treated corn and soybean seeds — which today aren’t regulated under the provincial Pesticides Act — moved into a new pesticide class, Class 12, covering seeds treated with imidacloprid, thiamethoxam or clothianidin.

The regulation would also require training on integrated pest management (IPM) methods for any farmer or anyone else supervising planting of neonic-treated corn or soybeans.

Assessments, licensing

An IPM course, in both classroom and online formats, is expected to be available this fall and throughout the winter into next spring, the province said. A farmer who successfully completes the course would get a certification number, valid for five years.

The course is meant to “promote the use of different methods to prevent and reduce the risk of pests and encourage beneficial insects,” and would also cover identification of pests, pest scouting methods and “alternative methods” to pesticides.

For the 2016 growing season the regulation proposes a “voluntary approach” allowing the purchase and use of neonic-treated seed on up to 50 per cent of acres planted to corn or soybeans, if a written declaration is made.

A “pest assessment” — identifying pest problems above pre-determinded thresholds — would need to be completed for planting neonic-treated seed beyond that level. Farmers would be able to perform a soil pest assessment in 2015 ahead of the 2016 growing season.

Past the 2016 season, a farmer wanting to order neonicotinoid-treated seeds would need IPM training and a pest assessment, to be done by an independent professional pest advisor, showing a pest infestation. Assessments would have to be submitted to the Agriculture Ministry.

On the sales side, the regulation calls for the 20 seed companies now selling neonic-treated seed in Ontario to obtain a new “treated seed vendors licence,” and would allow sales only to people with IPM training or to other licensed treated-seed vendors.

Licensed vendors would be required to notify purchasers if the seed they’re buying is neonic-treated seed, to make sure untreated seed is available for purchase, and to report sales of both neonic-treated and untreated seeds to the provincial Environment Ministry.

“Balanced and practical”

The province said its regulations are expected to help protect pollinators, ensure a “productive agricultural sector,” and serve as a step toward a “pollinator health action plan” focused on “key stressors” such as pesticides; loss of habitat and nutrition; climate change and weather; and diseases, pests and genetics.

Leal, in the province’s release Monday, said the move marks “the next phase of our comprehensive pollinator health strategy, based on the advice of agricultural leaders.”

The regulation, he said, is “a balanced and practical way forward that would ensure farmers have access to treated seeds when needed.” Neither the GFO nor the Ontario Beekeepers Association have yet publicly responded to Monday’s announcement.

The province said it now sees “widespread use of neonicotinoid-coated seeds, in some cases, without evidence of pest problems” noting over 99 per cent of corn seed and 60 per cent of soybean seed sold in the province is treated with neonics.

The province has said its target to reduce the number of acres planted with neonicotinoid-treated corn and soybean seed by 80 per cent by 2017.

In the winter of 2013-14, the province said, bee deaths in Ontario reached 58 per cent, well above beekeepers’ “generally accepted” level of 15 per cent.

Pollinators, the province added, are responsible for pollinating about 13 per cent of Ontario’s farm crops and support $26 million per year in honey production.

During the province’s last round of consultations, “we heard overwhelmingly that the people of Ontario support immediate action to protect our food sources and the environment from the effects of neurotoxic neonicotinoids,” Environment Minister Glen Murray said in the same release.

The regulation, he said, “will contribute to reducing a major stressor on pollinators and other vulnerable species.” — AGCanada.com Network

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