50 years after Silent Spring, 'pesticides still pose wildlife
threat' Friends of the Earth press release SILENT SPRING 50TH
ANNIVERSARY – PESTICIDES STILL POSE WILDLIFE THREAT Since Silent
Spring, widely credited as instrumental in the US ban of the
pesticide DDT, there has been no fundamental shift from the
reliance on chemicals in farming. And a new generation of
neonicotinoid insecticides - which are toxic to bees - are being
used in increasing quantities in the UK countryside. Modern weed
killers have also created problems wiping out important sources
of food for bees. Despite mounting evidence of the harm that
pesticides can cause to pollinators, the Government's draft
Pesticide Action Plan issued in July this year failed to set out
new measures to reduce chemical use on the crops visited by bees
and other pollinating insects. • Research earlier this year
showed an increase in deaths of Queen Bumblebees when exposed to
the neonicotinoid imadicloprid • Italy has suspended use of
neonicotinoids since 2008,