General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBird Seed Poisons Wild Birds
You see the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company had been in the habit of applying banned pesticides to its wild bird food products. In particular, the company applied a chemical known as Storcide II to its bird food despite a warning label for that product that reads "Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife."
Why add a compound toxic to birds to food meant to be eaten by birds? Because Scott didn't want bugs infesting its bird food during storage.
By the time Scotts stopped adding the pesticide in March 2008, the company had sold some 70 million bags of adulterated bird food. The company also submitted false documents to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, distributed pesticides with misleading labels and distributed illegal pesticides. As a result, the EPA slapped the company with $12.5 million in criminal fines and civil penalties.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bird-seed-poisons-wild-birds-12-09-16
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,634 posts)local population. But has this affected the food chain? Are animals eating the dead or affected birds and then suffering effects?
XemaSab
(60,212 posts)n/t
amborin
(16,631 posts)aquart
(69,014 posts)Think Hitchcock.
you are trying to be humourous.....
but there is a scary and sad precipitous decline in bird populations worldwide and especially in the US
freshwest
(53,661 posts)The damage done to the population of songbirds... there is no way to calculate that.
hedgehog
(36,286 posts)If the parent birds survive, the fledglings that hatch out of their eggs have deformed wings and can never fly!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Humans have been much too careless with 'creation.' The love of money over life... again.
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)"Hmmm...I wonder why I would buy bird food from a company traditionally known for fertilizer and pesticides...?"
niyad
(113,278 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,703 posts)That's why I purchase my feed at a certified wildlife store.
dmr
(28,347 posts)I love the birds, and would buy online if I knew I was getting a quality product.
Thanks!
Baitball Blogger
(46,703 posts)I purchase a sack of choice blend and wildlife mix. When hatching season begins I switch to whatever they recommend that has more of a fruit blend.
HappyMe
(20,277 posts)Or a local hardware store. They sometimes sell seed and feeders.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)They determined that the profit to be made by selling poisoned bird seed exceeded the potential fines to be accrued.
This is what happens when we cede our government to corporate ethics. There are a million decisions being made right now, that have to do with the health of our families and our cities. They are being made based on profit, too.
glinda
(14,807 posts)DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)$12.5m to Scotts is not even lunch money.
People go to prison for doing less to dogs.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)Destroying our only home, in the name of money.
When are people going to see that capitalism is one of the real villains responsible for the destruction of our environment?
When will they wake up?
lastlib
(23,222 posts)they're an absolute nuisance here--no redeeming value whatsoever.
Doremus
(7,261 posts)Us.
I think she's in the process of producing her own "poison food" solution to invasive homo sapien cancer. After we're gone maybe all those creatures with no redeeming value will be able to live in peace, finally.
hunter
(38,311 posts)When the starlings showed up here in California the population of another imported pest, garden snails, became negligible.
I remember seeing thousands of snails squashed by passing cars in streets and parking lots on wet warm days.
I remember snails devouring new gardens.
Now snails are rare. The starlings eat nearly all of them.
lastlib
(23,222 posts)Here in Missouri, they outnumber humans by about 50:1. Right now they're eating leftover corn in the fields that deer or other mammals would be eating. Meaning those other animals have to find something else for food. In the aftermath of our killer drought, that basically means they go hungry.
bluestate10
(10,942 posts)The seller shares your values on protecting birds and nature. The products may cost a little more and take a little longer to get your hands on, but you won't harm birds and other wildlife when you use the feed.
amborin
(16,631 posts)A lot. The stuff from Lowes and target does not appear to harm birds
FreeBC
(403 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)to cede our government to corporations. Corporations don't have morality. They function for profit and the bottom line, period.
They knew. Someone obviously made a calculation. Continuing to sell the seed and facing any fines or judgments that would come of that was more lucrative than doing the right thing.
We are putting analogous judgments - about war, about environmental issues, about health care, about the treatment of our poor and elderly, about our educational system - in the hands of corporations every single day we don't fight back against the purchase of our government.
amborin
(16,631 posts)14.99 for a 17 lb sack; used to be 20lbs.
Also get nyger and various mixes from target.
Hate going there but Petco is too expensive
Kalidurga
(14,177 posts)We need to seize them and sell off their assets.