Neonics: The New DDT

More than 60 years ago, Rachel Carson planted the seed of the modern environmental movement when she asked us in Silent Spring to imagine a world where reckless pesticide use had silenced all the birdsong. Thanks to her grim warning, that world never came to pass, as DDT and other pesticides were banned or restricted. Now, there is evidence that a newer class of pesticides, Neonicotinoids (neonics), are increasingly hollowing out the natural world on a scale not seen since Silent Spring was published. 

 

Neonicotinoids (neonics) are nicotine-like, neurotoxic insecticides, affecting neurological systems that are designed to kill insects. They are linked to massive bee and insect losses around the globe and, increasingly, to vast water and soil contamination, ecosystem-wide harms, and human health concerns. Neonics have distinct characteristics that make them especially destructive for ecosystems.

 

They are among the most potent insecticides ever created - thousands of times more harmful to insects than DDT and they are particularly good at contaminating entire ecosystems. 

Neonics are among the more widely used insecticides, applied to hundreds of millions of acres nationwide. In Connecticut, neonics are most used on residential and golf course lawns, by certified landscape professionals and on non-organic coated corn seed. Connecticut has roughly 300,000 acres of turf grass and 24,000 acres of corn.