Ruh roh. Organic pesticides are harmful to bees?!?

[progressoid]

Have you seen the pro-organic propaganda video with the happy family who switches to organic only food and the pesticides disappear from their urine? It has over 5 million hits as of this writing. This is a core fearmongering strategy of the organic lobby.

Of course, there is no discussion about the absolute level of the pesticides, and the fact that such levels are insignificant and pose no known risk. But there is a deeper deception in this video and many studies looking at the difference in pesticide exposure between conventional and organic produce. They are only testing for pesticides not used by organic farmers. They are not testing for pesticides that are used in organic farming.

The game, therefore, is completely rigged, and the outcome is assured. If they tested only for organic pesticides the results would be flipped.

At this point some readers may be saying to themselves, “But I thought organic farming did not use chemicals,” which, of course, is exactly what the organic lobby wants you to think.

I am writing about this topic now, in fact, because of a recent study looking at the toxicity to bees of leaf fertilizers used in organic farming, showing that:

Two leaf fertilizers—copper sulfate (24% Cu) and a micronutrient mix (Arrank L: 5% S, 5% Zn, 3% Mn, 0.6% Cu, 0.5% B, and 0.06% Mo)—were used in oral and contact exposure bioassays. The biopesticide spinosad and water were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Copper sulfate compromised the survival of stingless bee workers, particularly with oral exposure, although less than spinosad under contact exposure. Sublethal exposure to both leaf fertilizers at their field rates also caused significant effects in exposed workers.

~~~ http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/organic-pesticides/

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Um, copper is a "leaf fertilizer" ?? This doesn't sound right at all.

Copper is toxic to many organisms, especially snails, and has been used for killing insects, rodents, fungi, algae, and other species. I suspect this is why is it used here -- as it has been for a couple of centuries (formerly as the environmental horror Paris Green, which contained arsenic as well as copper).