On May 20, the World Bee Day, Biological Control Working Group of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) learned from a volunteer that he witnessed on Patriotic Health Campaign Committee working on eradicating flies and mosquitos by spraying chemicals in August 2019, with insects falling off.

He says he has read the Greatly Encourage the Biological Control and Include the Course into the National Emergency Plan on Disaster Reduction and Prevention (Proposal to 2020 Two Sessions), drafted by the Biological Control Working Group of CBCGDF, and inspired a lot, which makes him recalled the flies and mosquitos eradication.

The volunteer inquired the staff who was in charge of chemical spraying and pointed out those struggling insects in the grass. "The staff tells me that the pesticide he is using is special for flies and mosquitos. But what I have seen is that various insects like bees and butterflies were all killed. So, I pointed bodies of insects to the staff. He was speechless then", the volunteer says.

According to videos and pictures sent by the volunteers, the main ingredients of the chemical are permethrin and tetramethylfluthrin, produced by Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Industry Company.

The mechanism of action is to suppress axon transduction. Tetramethylfluthrin has excellent knockdown performance and endows the chemical with good controlling of the flying public health pests, suitable for use as conventional contact spraying.

According to Baidu, the pesticide has high toxicity towards fish and bees, low toxicity towards birds.

The chemical highly toxic to bees are classified as a low-toxic pesticide, "Broad Spectrum, Suitable to prevent public health pests.”

The volunteer says such board- spectrum pesticide is widely used in the national campaign on eradicating flies and mosquitos.

The volunteer also shows his concern. Does the relevant department conduct a thorough environmental impact assessment before using the pesticide? Is there any alternative, like green pesticide or biological control? What would happen if birds feeding on insects mistaken to intake the chemical? Does the specification of the chemical purposely narrow targeted insects?

(Photo credit: CBCGDF volunteer)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/12516.html

By / Wang Yanqing