BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO.com) — A groundbreaking study conducted by scientists in South Dakota has found that the world’s most widely used family of pesticides — neonicotinoids — is likely causing serious birth defects in white-tailed deer, deepening concerns over the chemical’s potential to harm large mammals, including humans.
A subsequent study by the wildlife scientists and ecologists at South Dakota State University in Brookings will examine whether ring-necked pheasants also could be harmed by neonicotinoid pesticides, which are used heavily in agriculture across the state.Neonicotinoid pesticides entered wide commercial use in the late 1990s and within a few years became the world’s most popular family of insecticides, often used to coat and protect the seeds of crops because they kill a wide range of insects, remain effective for weeks in the plant and were believed safe to mammals and birds.
Neonicotinoids have not been definitively linked to human health issues. Until recently, scientists hadn’t been able to effectively monitor for the presence of neonicotinoids in the human population. Neonicotinoids can make their way into the human food chain when unabsorbed pesticides from farm operations become airborne or are carried into waterways and onto other crops by rain and run-off.
According to a paper published in September 2019, researchers with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found traces of the chemical in 49.1% of the urine samples collected from people during the 2015-16 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Click here to read the report by investigative reporter Nick Lowrey, who examines the study results and the potential impacts on deer and possibly human beings.
(SDNW contributed this report.)
