Poisons Beware

Poisons Beware

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and many other herbicides, was discussed in the EU Parliament on December 1st 2015.

Draft Motion for a Resolution prepared for the EU Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, March 2016

A draft Motion prepared for the EU Parliamentary Committe for the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in March 2016.

It's time to wise up! Look around, what's happening?

The practice of spraying the roads with insecticides in the summertime is potentially harmful and needs urgent review.

The Green Group of the European Parliament organized urine tests for the herbicide glyphosate on 48 volunteer MEPs. 

When the World Health Organization defined Glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”, it should have put an immediate stop to the sale and use of Glyphosate-based herbicides.

Are there alternatives to using chemical pesticides? Yes, of course.

The manufacturers have claimed that the herbicide Roundup, whose active ingredient is glyphosate, is "safe enough to drink", and many people are naive enough to believe this.

Pesticides safe? Pull the other one, it's got bells on!

From October 1st 2016, the sale of Roundup (Croatian Cidokor) and 11 other similar glyphosate-based herbicides was banned in the European Union. The ban should serve as a wake-up call to all users, supporters and promoters of pesticides.

The look of abject terror on the monkey's face is a haunting picture, the stuff of nightmares for anyone with an ounce of empathy for torture victims, whether human or animal. Animals are frontline victims of dangerous chemicals.

Just as the use of insecticides does not solve a mosquito problem, vermin are not controlled by repeated use of poisons.

A bee sting can cause a severe allergic reaction in a vulnerable person. Under current Croatian law, insects which cause allergic reactions must be subjected to an annual programme of suppression.

Our request to Croatian local and national authorities to review the insect suppression programme has produced a lamentable response so far. It's hard getting the message across, but we will keep trying.

Because we at Eco Hvar are very concerned about the shortcomings of the mosquito liquidation programme on Hvar and around Croatia, we have petitioned the Minister for Health to re-consider the methods used.

The campaign to eliminate mosquitoes through routine insect spraying is not working! And it's dangerous. We at Eco Hvar are asking for change.

Would I find myself driving home through a mist of toxic chemicals if I caught the 20:30 ferry back from Split? That was the question on 27th September 2017.

For several years, the local councils of Jelsa, Stari Grad and Hvar have routinely sprayed the streets against mosquitoes, flies and other 'flying pests'. Is this a good thing?

The programme aimed at killing mosquitoes is causing environmental disaster!

Bees are dying at a frightening rate. Humankind - unkindly - is decimating biodiversity.

Chemical poison use is out of control in much of the modern world. Safeguards exist in theory, in practice they are inadequate. At each level of responsibility, practices need to be improved. These are our suggestions for achieving vital improvements.

This is a guide to the systems governing chemical pesticide regulation, registers and laws, with an overview of some of the many problems arising from pesticide use.

The concept of exterminating people, for whatever reason, is unacceptable in civilized societies.

Results from testing a dust sample taken from a house in Svirče on Hvar on June 22nd 2021.

Testing people on Hvar Island for pesticides via hair samples is an ongoing project, conducted by Eco Hvar. These are the preliminary results from the Kudzu laboratory which tested for 60 pesticides in 2021 and 100 as from 2022.

A listing of selected pesticides which are, or have been in common use in Croatia, with the official warnings of their side-effects and the known side-effects of their active constituents.

An overview of the scientific evidence for claims that glyphosate-based herbicides are or are not safe.

Scientific evidence of the dangers surrounding chemical pesticides commonly used on Hvar and in other parts of Croatia.

CHEMICAL PESTICIDE USE AT CURRENT LEVELS IS NEITHER SAFE NOR SUSTAINABLE!

Towards the end of 2023, the European Parliament and the European Commission showed that they are not willing or able to protect European citizens from the ill-effects of chemical pesticides. So what needs to be done?

Letter sent to the Public Health authorities on 12th June 2024, following yet another scandalous example of irresponsible poison spraying against insects.

If someone filled a spray can with potentially deadly poisons and went round spraying people at random, everyone, including the police, would react to put a stop to it.

You are here: Home poisons be aware

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Exclusive: More than 98% of fish and mussels tested in English waters contain mercury above EU safety limits

    Britain is facing mounting pressure to ban mercury dental fillings, one of the few countries yet to prevent the practice, as new data reveals alarming contamination levels in the nation’s fish and shellfish.

    Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can harm the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes, even at low levels of exposure. Its organic form, methylmercury, is particularly dangerous to unborn babies and can move through the food chain building up in insects, fish and birds.

    Continue reading...

  • Campaigners say problem so common that some of the UK’s most irreplaceable ancient trees in danger of being lost

    When Linda Taylor Cantrill finally found her dream family home in Exmouth, Devon, it wasn’t the location, the square footage or the local amenities that finally made up her mind – it was the 200-year-old oak tree in the garden.

    “The way we felt about just standing in the shade of the tree was: ‘We need this house, because look how beautiful it is,’” she told the Guardian.

    Continue reading...

  • Conservationists hail ‘remarkable’ rediscovery after 40 years, at nature reserve only accessible by boat

    A tiny spider thought to have vanished for ever from the UK has been rediscovered on a remote area of a nature reserve accessible only by boat.

    The Aulonia albimana, a member of the wolf spider family with orange legs, was found on the Isle of Wight in a spot grazed by a flock of Hebridean sheep.

    Continue reading...

  • The discovery that affluent neighbourhoods have more diversity of nature has implications for human wellbeing – and sheds light on the structural injustices in cities

    For a long time, ecology tended to ignore people. It mostly focused on beautiful places far from large-scale human development: deep rainforest or pristine grassland. Then, in the late 1990s, in the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona, scientists shifted their gaze closer to home.

    A team of ecologists went out into their own neighbourhood to map the distribution of urban plants in one of the first studies of its kind. Equipped with tape measures and clipboards, they documented trees and shrubs, sometimes getting on all fours to crawl through bushes under the curious watch of local people.

    Continue reading...

  • Ed Miliband says pushing for renewable energy and lower emissions will reduce household bills and boost economy

    The UK government will go “all in” on clean energy and climate policy, the energy secretary has said, as he unveiled plans to put the UK back on track to reach its net zero commitments.

    In the face of intensifying attacks on climate policy from the poll-leading Reform UK party and the Conservatives, the government insists that pushing for renewable energy and lower carbon emissions will reduce household bills and boost the economy.

    Continue reading...

  • Poole, Dorset: The harbour here is globally significant for black-tailed godwits, which have flown south to feast on these mudflats

    As soon as the summer days begin to shorten, I start anticipating the return of our winter visitors. I’ve always had a love for waders and wildfowl; some of my earliest birding memories are learning to identify species like wigeon and teal.

    More than a decade later, after studying wildlife conservation and ecology on the south coast, I live in Poole on the Dorset coast. The wide expanse of Poole Harbour is the main draw for birders and wildlife lovers, but one of the harbour’s best sites is Holes Bay, slightlyinland, in sight of the centre of Poole, and beside a busy retail park.

    Continue reading...

  • Melissa slams into Cuba while lingering over Jamaica as the Bahamas braces to be next

    Hurricane Melissa has slammed into Cuba, after sweeping through Jamaica as a catastrophic category 5 storm, the strongest to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851.

    The huge, slow-moving storm lashed Jamaica with intense winds and heavy rain that caused extensive damage. It will linger over Cuba as a category 3 hurricane, which could still unleash extensive destruction, and is forecast to move into the Bahamas.

    Continue reading...

  • Both are cyclones, or circular storms, but they form in distinct places and vary in terms of scale and impact

    Cyclones are circular storms. Those that form in the Atlantic are called hurricanes while those in the Pacific are typhoons. They are essentially similar, but the difference between the areas where they form makes them different in scale and impact.

    Typhoons tend to be larger because of the vast size of the Pacific. The two have similar wind speeds but are reported differently. Hurricanes are rated on the Saffir Simpson scale, with a five indicating sustained winds of more than 157 mph (253 km/h). There is no equivalent international scale for Pacific cyclones, but various scales exist with categories such as “typhoon” for wind speeds of 74-114 mph and “super typhoon” for those with winds above 115 mph.

    Continue reading...

  • In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeing

    Aurora Nikula, 5, is having a normal day at her nursery. She is making a cake out of sand and mud, adding in make-believe carrots, potatoes and meat. “It’s overcooked,” she says as she splashes water in, then adds another dollop of sand. “More sugar, it tastes better,” she says. A handful of mud goes in, and the dish evolves into a chocolate cake.

    Aki Sinkkonen, a principal scientist with the Natural Resources Institute Finland, is watching. He’s also very interested in Aurora’s cake, but for different reasons. “Perfect,” he says, admiring the way she is mixing soil, sand and leaves and then putting it on her face. “She’s really getting her hands in it.”

    Aki Sinkkonen (left) and Marja Roslund from the Natural Resources Institute Finland in the Humpula garden

    Continue reading...

  • As rising tides eat away at the Saint-Pierre and Miquelon archipelago off Canada, plans to move the historic village to higher ground have divided residents

    Franck Detcheverry, Miquelon’s 41-year-old mayor, trudges up a grassy hill. “The view isn’t too bad, huh?” he jokes. The ocean sparkles 40 metres below the empty mound. The sound of a man playing the bagpipes, as if serenading the sea, floats up from the shoreline. This hill will be the location of his new home and those of all his fellow villagers.

    In the distance, about half a mile away, you can see the outline of the 400 or so buildings in the village of Miquelon. It sits only 2 metres above sea level on the archipelago of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon. Situated off the Canadian coast to the south of Newfoundland, it is an “overseas collectivity” of France, and the country’s last foothold in North America.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds