Scientists, Please Get Busier
An article was published last week in the “Yale Environment 360″, a publication of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, that argued that the evidence is mounting to link declines in animal populations to the use of pesticides. Specifically, the author presented three cases – frogs, bees, and bats. It wasn’t that the pesticides directly killed these populations.The effect was more indirect, hindering the ability of these animals to fight off fungus and disease.
I’m not going to argue that we need to eliminate the use of pesticides and go totally organic. One can argue that we need the pesticides to grow crops at the volume required to feed our population. There are many crops that are prone to pests and fungus, and unless they’re treated, we risk the loss of the crops. But if we are going to use pesticides, we need to get smarter about it.
The pesticide that is suspected of harming the bees isn’t even sprayed onto crops. It coats plant seeds and it’s the spreading of the seeds that creates a pesticide fog that possibly harms the bees. I guess scientists are working to improve pesticides over past products. I imagine that this is in an effort to reduce human pesticide exposure. Unfortunately, the effect on animals still has an impact on us. And if these subtle poisons affect the health of animals, I believe it’s only a matter of time before they build in our systems. So, scientists, please head back to the drawing boards to figure out another way to control the pests so you don’t “toss out the baby with the bath water.”
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3 Responses to “Scientists, Please Get Busier”
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What a tangled web we weave. Many species in this world are under assault for various reasons. I believe we are living in the middle of a mass extinction. One of the mass extinctions that strike our planet every few hundred million years. I think scientists are missing an excellent opportunity to gain insight into the mass extinction phenomenon. Of course if we go extinct I’m not sure who is going benefit from the knowlege.
Anyway if we want scientists to save our favorite species, we have to first educate scientists and then fund them to do the work. Right now I think people want to be educated to earn more money. It’s always about the money isn’t it?
Wow, so many interesting points in one short comment. I never looked at this as an opportunity, but you’re absolutely right. The opportunity to study extinctions in real time – maybe finally they could figure out what happened to those dinosaurs.
I agree that many times it’s about the money. But in our ignorance, it’s also about the finger pointing and blame game. Just look at global warming. We’re all so caught up in the blame game, that nobody can concede that it might be a combination of factors, some under human control and some not, to have a really effective discussion about it. Extinction has happened, as you point out, millions of years ago, way before we had anything to do with it. If we explored what was happening right now, with funding in the necessary places, we might learn a lot, and save a lot, if we could just de-politicize the effort.
I guess it all comes down to politics and money.