Via Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resource Rick Hansen's latest legislative update, we learn of the academic article, Effects of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on Physiology and Reproductive Characteristics of Captive Female and Fawn White-tailed Deer, that relates the results of a study conducted at the South Dakota State University Wildlife and Fisheries Captive Facility.
From the Abstract:
Over the past decade, abnormalities have been documented in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in west-central Montana. Hypotheses proposed to explain these anomalies included contact with endocrine disrupting pesticides, such as imidacloprid. We evaluated the effects of imidacloprid experimentally at the South Dakota State University Wildlife and Fisheries Captive Facility where adult white-tailed deer females and their fawns were administered aqueous imidacloprid (an untreated control, 1,500 ng/L, 3,000 ng/L, and 15,000 ng/L). Water consumption, thyroid hormone function, behavioral responses, and skull and jawbone measurements were compared among treatments. Additionally, liver, spleen, genital, and brain imidacloprid concentrations were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results indicated that 1) control deer consumed more water than treatment groups, 2) imidacloprid was present in the organs of our control group, indicating environmental contamination, 3) as imidacloprid increased in the spleen, fawn survival, thyroxine levels, jawbone lengths, body weight, and organ weights decreased, 4) adult female imidacloprid levels in the genitals were negatively correlated with genital organ weight and, 5) behavioral observations indicated that imidacloprid levels in spleens were negatively correlated with activity levels in adult females and fawns. Results demonstrate that imidacloprid has direct effects on white-tailed deer when administered at field–relevant doses.
The entire article is accessible online here at Nature Scientific Reports.
A deer hunter who still farms the family place with his brother in Harmony, Fillmore County, Hansen, DFL- S. St. Paul,writes in his email:
I’ve introduced bills on this topic for years – see HF 170 from 2017 and HF 2532 from 2016 – and will continue my efforts to protect wildlife from these chemicals.
Photo: A doe and her fawn.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
Thank you for your post. Keep it up.
Posted by: Rajiv Dalui | Apr 04, 2019 at 03:30 AM