English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
1–10 of 134 posts
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#2I wonder what the effect of neonicotinoids on humans is... it can’t be good
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#3After years of rubbish in the UK press about the impact of regulations from the EU, they can add protecting fish, bird and most likely human health to the list of 'harm' done. I'm glad the EU still cares about the environment.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#4Analytical techniques are incredible today. It's not unusual for the lower detection limit to be parts per billion or parts per trillion.
One ppt is 1 mg of material (smaller than a match head) dissolved in a cube of water that measures 100m on each side. Bigger than an Olympic sized swimming pool.
So the fact they said neonicotinoids were detected means nothing. The real question is how much was detected and dose that level have an impact on living organisms.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#5Analytical techniques are incredible today. It's not unusual for the lower detection limit to be parts per billion or parts per trillion. One ppt is 1 mg of material (smaller than a match head) dissolved in a cube of water that measures 100m on each side. Bigger than an Olympic sized swimming pool. So the fact they said neonicotinoids were detected means nothing. The real question is how much was detected and dose th…
The linked paper says this:
> we recommend here that ecological thresholds for neonicotinoid water concentrations need to be below 0.2 μg/L (shortterm acute) or 0.035 μg/L (long-term chronic) to avoid lasting effects on aquatic invertebrate communities
I assume the map refers to these values. μg/L is the same as parts-per-billion in case anyone was wondering.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#6Analytical techniques are incredible today. It's not unusual for the lower detection limit to be parts per billion or parts per trillion. One ppt is 1 mg of material (smaller than a match head) dissolved in a cube of water that measures 100m on each side. Bigger than an Olympic sized swimming pool. So the fact they said neonicotinoids were detected means nothing. The real question is how much was detected and dose th…
I agree that analytical techiniques (e.g. detection of radio isotopes) are amazing, but I think this scale is off.
(100^3)x(1000kg)=10^12 grams vs 1mg is a part per quadrillion.
So a 10m cube compared to a 1mm cube is part per trillion. That's the 10,000^3 ratio.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#7I wonder what the effect of neonicotinoids on humans is... it can’t be good
Well, It does help keep our windshields clean from all that bug splatter.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#8How would there be a capitalist incentive not to do these things? Do we really need regulations? Why do these things happen? Why do people think it is acceptable to pollute?
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#9How would there be a capitalist incentive not to do these things? Do we really need regulations? Why do these things happen? Why do people think it is acceptable to pollute?
>How would there be a capitalist incentive not to do these things?
Not sure what a capitalist incentive is, but we have plenty of ways to potentially regulate this. Are you asking about technical feasibility of finding the actors responsible for it?
>Do we really need regulations? Yes.
>Why do these things happen? Greed/profit motive.
>Why do people think it is acceptable to pollute? Greed/profit motive.
Re: English rivers polluted by neonicotinoids, first tests reveal
#10After years of rubbish in the UK press about the impact of regulations from the EU, they can add protecting fish, bird and most likely human health to the list of 'harm' done. I'm glad the EU still cares about the environment.
Different countries have different priorities. That's the good thing about sovereignty. Don't like your current government's ideas? Replace them at the next election. On the other hand, you don't like the EU's ideas? Um... good luck with that. Just be glad that the EU's been relatively benign so far.