One of the presentations included at the Penn State Pollinator Biology conference
was by David Mortensen and John F. Tooker relating concerns of next generation  herbicides which will employ a volatile type of delivery significantly increasing damage to non targetted areas.

"Dicamba, a broadleaf herbicide, is highly volatile and extremely active on many
broadleaf plant species, including both crop and non-crop species.  The high risk
of injuring soybeans not carrying the dicamba trait is likely to drive adoption of
these new cultivars.  Extensive use of dicambra in agroecosystems has high potential 
to stress plant communities in field edges and nearby non-crop habitats, significantly
diminishing floristic biodiversity and associated anthropod communities, including 
pollinators and the services they provide."

There is plenty of information stream on these and related topics but response is
limited to non profit organizations struggling for funding and volunteer resources to
apply merited push back. Chemical industries on the other hand have a full compliment of paid staff to market new but unfortunately ecologically unsustainable and quite possibly more insidious replacements which suits their stock holders just fine.

Kathy Kellison
 

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