Canadian Forest Service Publications

Systemic insecticides (neonicotinoids and fipronil): trends, uses, mode of action and metabolites. 2015. Simon-Delso,N.; Amaral-Rogers, V.; Belzunces, L.P.; Bonmatin, J.M.; Chagnon, M.; Downs, C.; Furlan, L.; Gibbons, D.W.; Giorio, C.; Girolami, V.; Goulson, D.; Kreutzweiser, D.P.; Krupke, C.H.; Liess, M.; Long, E.; McField, M.; Mineau, P.; Mitchell, E.A.D.; Morrissey, C.A.; Noome, D.A.; Pisa, L.;Settele, J.; Stark, J.D.; Tapparo, A.; Van Dyck, H.;Van Praagh, J.Van der Sluijs, J.P.; Whitehorn, P.R.; Wiemers, M. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 22:5-34.

Year: 2015

Issued by: Great Lakes Forestry Centre

Catalog ID: 35746

Language: English

Availability: PDF (request by e-mail)

Available from the Journal's Web site. †
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-014-3470-y

† This site may require a fee

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Plain Language Summary

This is the introductory paper to the Worldwide Integrated Assessment (WIA) of Systemic Pesticides series of papers in Environmental Science and Pollution Research. The WIA is a comprehensive literature review and synthesis on environmental risks associated with the use of the systemic insecticides, neonicotinoids and fipronil. David Kreutzweiser is a research scientist at NRCan, CFS and is a participant and author in the WIA. This paper describes the development and global use of these systemic insecticides, their particular mode of action, their environmental behaviour, and their chemical metabolites (the compounds that they break down into in the environment). The paper shows that this group of insecticides has become the most widely used class of insecticides worldwide, and that their use is increasing and often prophylactic (applied as insurance even when there is little or no known risk of pest damage to crops). Policy implications to the NRCan are minimal. There is one neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, registered for forestry in Canada, but the use of imidacloprid in forest pest control is currently very limited and therefore the environmental exposure and risk from the forestry use of this neonicotinoid in Canada is negligible.