Mary Purcell-Miramontes USDA-National Institute of Food

Mary Purcell-Miramontes
USDA-National Institute of Food
& Agriculture
Washington DC USA
mpurcell@nifa.usda.gov
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
Research informing pesticide policy
Education (e.g., pesticide safety training)
Extend knowledge to end usersdisseminate information via university
cooperative extension
Coordinate activities with stakeholders,
universities & government agencies
Brief legislators, policy makers on key
issues (when summoned)
  Decisions
on what products need to be
monitored (e.g., soil, air, water)
  Changes in label guidelines (e.g., when,
where, how to apply)
  Best management practices
  Restrictions on use
  Discontinuing use
  Regulatory
agencies depend on researchers
to perform studies to evaluate pesticide
impacts.
◦  Hypothesis-driven
◦  Well replicated
◦  Appropriately designed
◦  Predictive value
  However, unexpected things happen….
  Leading to new research studies informing
policy makers and potentially more changes
in policy
  Seed
treatments and neonicitinoids
  Synergistic effects between chemicals
  Sub-lethal effects of chemicals
  Inert chemicals and adjuvants
Krupke et al., 2012, PLoS ONE
  Dust
produced when planting pesticidecoated corn seeds contained high levels
of 2 neonicitinoid pesticides (0.3 to 1.5%
clothianidin or thiamethoxam
  High bee kills observed
  Chemical
companies developing new
lubricants reduce drift
  Corn Dust Research Consortium
developed
http://pollinator.org/CDRC.htm
◦  3 grants funded to Ohio State, Iowa State and
Ontario
Acaricides, fungicides and antimicrobials
Not toxic alone, but in combination, acute
effects observed
Johnson et al. 2013 PLoS One
Bees frequently exposed to gamut of pesticides,
most occur at sub-lethal dosages
Mullin et al. 2010 PloS One
Exposure of bee larvae to sublethal doses of
imidacloprid associated with increased infection
by Nosema, a gut pathogen of honey bees
Pettis et al. 2012 Naturwissenschaften
  Some
are acutely toxic
  Zhu et al. 2013 PLoS One
  Others have sub-lethal effects (e.g.,
learning)
◦  Ciarlo et al. 2012 PLoS One
  This
is where the bit about “a heck of a lot
of discussion” applies…
  USDA helped coordinate meetings with EPA,
chemical companies and scientists to discuss
future testing methodology (e.g., SEATAC
2011)
  Constraints
◦  Testing combinations of chemicals and
interactions adds new layers of complexity and
costs of studies
Best management practices:
◦  Bee CAP (Research driven)
◦  Bee Informed Partnership CAP (stakeholder
driven)
◦  Pesticide Safety Education Program: Certifies
pesticide applicators
◦  eXtension Bee Health Community of Practice
◦  USDA/EPA coordinating with regional IPM
centers to integrate crop IPM with BMPs for
bees)
4. Coordination
Honey bee Health
Stakeholder Conference
◦  State of knowledge
◦  Identified Future needs:
1.  Field studies using fieldlevel concentrations
Evaluate effects on hive
strength, foraging and
pollination
2.  Establish centralized
source of information for
Best Management
Practices
  CCD
and Honey Bee Health Steering
Committee – New Action Plan (Winter
2014)
  Targeted pesticide research –ARS labs
  Grant funding for research, extension and
education (e.g., AFRI, SCRI, regional IPM,
e-IPM)
  Meet with IPM centers, PSEP
coordinators about centralizing Best
Management Practices Information
  Baton
Rouge: Field exposure in cotton to
neonicitinoids, toxic effects, immune
response in honey bee
  Tucson: Effects of fungicides and other
pesticides on honey bee development
  Logan UT: Immune response of alfalfa
leafcutter bees to neonics.
  Beltsville: Pesticides effects on queen and
worker physiology
  Dave
Epstein and Sheryl Kunickis (USDAOPMP)
  Tom Moriarity, Tom Steeger, Don Brady
(EPA)
  Kevin Hackett, Jeff Pettis (USDA-ARS)
  Robyn Rose (USDA-APHIS)
  Doug Holy USDA-NRCS
  Skip Hyberg USDA-FSA