SYSTEMIC PESTICIDES: A WORLDWIDE ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE

In July 2009, a group of entomologists and ornithologists met at Notre-Dame-de-Londres, as a result of an international enquiry amongst entomologists on the catastrophic decline of insects all over Europe. On the basis of numerous observations in the field as well as overwhelming circumstantial evidence, they came to the hypothesis that the new generation of pesticides, the persistent, systemic, and neurotoxic neonicotinoids and fipronil, introduced in the early 1990s, is likely to be responsible at least in part for these declines. In response to the Appeal of Notre-Dame-de-Londres, the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides (TFSP), which conducted the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) of systemic pesticides, was established. In undertaking the WIA over the course of five years, the TFSP has examined over 1,100 scientific peer-reviewed papers published over the last two decades. This book contains the main findings of the WIA, which includes translations into Filipino and Spanish.