Endangered Species

also see atrazine, glyphosate, wildlife/mammals

EPA finds two widely used pesticides harm majority of endangered species (By Ashley Curtin, Nation of Change November 17, 2021) US story.   Atrazine and glyphosate are both causing severe harm to many of the plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. “It’s no surprise that these chemical poisons are causing severe harm to imperiled wildlife since U.S. use exceeds 70 million pounds of atrazine and 300 million pounds of glyphosate every year,” Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said.   SNAP Comment: While atrazine use is low in Saskatchewan (11 kg in 2003), likely because there was hardly any corn production at that time, glyphosate was the top selling herbicide in 2003 with over 9 million kgs sold (9/10th of total commercial sales based on 75% reporting). Note that atrazine is widely used in southern Ontario and Quebec at the very least.

Ubiquitous Herbicide Glyphosate/Roundup Threatens Nearly All Endangered Species, Says EPA   (Beyond Pesticides, December 4, 2020) From the 'release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) draft biological evaluation (BE) of glyphosate. The assessment indicates that use of this ubiquitous herbicide likely threatens nearly every animal and plant species on the U.S. list of threatened and endangered species — 93% of them, in fact. “No NE (No Effect) determinations were made for any species or designated critical habitats; therefore, all species received a MA ( May Affect) determination.” Thus, all species and habitats underwent the second step: NLAA (Not Likely to Adversely Affect) determinations were made for 119 species and 33 species’ critical habitats, and LAA (Likely to Adversely Affect) determinations were made for 1,676 species and 759 critical habitats. For the LAAs, 96% of species and 97% of habitats had moderate evidence; strongest evidence was found for less than 1% of both species and habitats; and weakest evidence was found for 4% of species and 3% of critical habitats. The review (of glyphosate) began in 2009, has already taken 11 years, without a full assessment of the widespread harmful impacts on people and the environment in that time period.” More specifically, plaintiffs charged EPA with bias, ignoring and using incomplete scientific data, and delay in finishing “any assessment of glyphosate’s impacts on thousands of potentially harmed endangered species, delaying it until a future decision.”  As of the January 2020 interim decision, what remained to be completed before a final reregistration decision were evaluations of (1) the risks of glyphosate exposure to endangered species, and (2) screenings for endocrine system impacts. This biological evaluation goes to the first of those outstanding items..

Endangered Wildlife Are Getting Dosed With Rat Poisons  Products marketed to kill rodents are instead threatening the lives of the wildlife that eat them as poisons travel up the food chain. ( by Tara Lohan, The Revelator, 25 February, 2019)   California story but it could be the one of many states. your marihuana use may be responsible for poisoning animals.  'And in most cases, poisons simply aren’t needed to solve a problem, they’re just easier. “I’m amazed at just how quickly people jump to poison as a solution to a nuisance problem,” she says.'  We do sell rodenticides in Canada including at least the first and second generation ones. I believe many are labeled for domestic use meaning they can be purchased and used by anyone. Since the SaskParty was re-elected they made rodenticides legal and available to farmers in some districts for 'gopher' control. The City of Regina and Wascana are using some in indoor facilities for mice and outdoors for 'gophers' (Richardson ground squirrel). The City apparently uses rodenticides responsibly in springtime by setting it inside burrows and removing dead animals every day although I don't know what they do with them (the dump? although there seems to be little evidence of gull or raven mortality). Wascana has banned use by the public on their property (i.e.for instance the community garden) with good reason as some people used them inappropriately and dogs were poisoned. I am sure some wildlife is poisoned by rodenticides in SK, but don't have numbers. perhaps Jan Shadick can help with an answer. Any research in SK is hampered by the lack of pesticide sales data.  I don't have a page on rodenticides in particular but they are by no means the only pesticides affecting wildlife, pets or people.

EPA Finds Widely Used Pesticides Could Harm 97 Percent of Endangered Species (Beyond Pesticides, January 23, 2017) Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  released its final Biological Evaluations of Three Chemicals’ Impacts on Endangered Species, which finds that chlorpyrifos and malathion likely have detrimental effect on 97 percent of all species listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), while diazinon adversely affects 78 percent. According to EPA’s release on the subject, this is the “first-ever draft biological evaluations analyzing the nation-wide effects” of these registered chemicals on endangered species after decades of widespread use. The evaluations stem from a legal settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) in which CBD sued EPA in April 2014 for its failure to comply with ESA, which requires the agency to carry out consultations with federal wildlife agencies while registering pesticides...According to Nathan Donley, Ph.D., a CBD senior scientist, “We’re now getting a much more complete picture of the risks that pesticides pose to wildlife at the brink of extinction, including birds, frogs, fish and plants. SNAP Comment:  As of this writing, there are still 8 registered diazinon, 23 malathion including 8 for domestic use i.e.sold to regular consumers) and 29 chlorpyrifos formulations registered in Canada. Not only are these 3 organophosphates used in agriculture, but chlorpyrifos is still used in Edmonton for mosquito control and is the active ingredient in 2 domestic bait formulations. Malathion is still used in fogging for mosquito, for instance by the town of Eastend in Saskatchewan, and widely in the United States and through the world. When West Nile virus came to New York, an analysis of dead birds found many more dead of pesticide poisoning than West NIle. Documents Reveal that Interior Nominee Censored Endangered Species Assessment of Organophosphates  (Beyond Pesticides, March 28, 2019) 'A set of documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity reveals that the Trump administration has known for over a year – and actively concealed – that the organophosphate insecticide chlorpyrifos jeopardizes the existence of 1,399 endangered species. Top officials at the U.S. Department of the Interior, including Acting Secretary David Bernhardt, were privy to and prevented the release of a “biological opinion,” completed by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 2017, which contains a full analysis of the extensive environmental impacts wrought by three organophosphate insecticides'. Malathion and diazinon also jeopardize endangered species. The effects of all three are cumulative because they have the same mechanism of action. 'The FWS opinion, a compilation of nearly four years of rigorous scientific review, was not just a routine assessment; rather, it was the outcome of a legal settlement with CBD, which required EPA and FWS to make such assessments public by the end of 2017. In April of 2017, Dow AgroSciences directly requested that the agencies abandon the assessment.'.

EPA Finds 97% of Endangered Species Threatened by Common Pesticides (Beyond Pesticides, April 12, 2016)  The determination is part of a settlement reached by EPA and the Center for Biological Diversity, which requires the agency to complete a review of the impact of organophosphate pesticides chlorpyrifos, malathion, and diazinon by December 2017, and two carbamate class pesticides, methomyl and carbaryl, by the end of 2018.