Toxic tradeoff: U.S. pesticide use falls but harms pollinators more, study finds

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Just because is something is new does not mean it is less NBC News article about the negative effects of new pesticides of pollinators such as bees.

American farmers are using smaller amounts of better targeted pesticides, but these are harming pollinators, aquatic insects and some plants far more than decades ago, a new study finds.

Toxicity levels have more than doubled since 2005 for important species, including honeybees, mayflies and buttercup flowers, as the country switched to a new generation of pesticides.

"The bottom line is that these pesticides, once believed to be relatively benign and so short-lived that they would not damage ecosystems, are anything but," said Dr. Lynn Goldman, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assistant administrator for toxic substances who wasn't part of the study and is now dean of George Washington University's school of public health.

Industry keeps developing new pesticides and "Very often these new compounds are more toxic," Schulz said.