Center for Biological Diversity News Release
WASHINGTON— An assessment released today by the Environmental Protection Agency found that three popular neonicotinoid insecticides are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of more than 200 plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. This includes 25 insect species and more than 160 plants dependent on insect pollination.
The new finding on clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam comes one year after the agency completed biological evaluations on the pesticides. Those assessments found that the vast majority of endangered species — 1,225 (67% of all endangered species) for clothianidin, 1,445 (79%) for imidacloprid, and 1,396 (77%) for thiamethoxam — were likely harmed by these three insecticides.
Today’s finding focuses on which species are likely to be driven extinct by these three insecticides. These imperiled species include Attwater’s greater prairie-chicken, rusty patched bumblebee, Karner blue butterfly, American burying beetle, Western prairie fringed orchid, vernal pool fairy shrimp and the spring pygmy sunfish.
Natural History Wanderings 