The insecticide used on Japanese rice plantations may have caused fish death

A Japanese research team found convincing evidence that neonicotinoid insecticides used on rice plantations could have killed two fish stocks – the Phys.org science portal wrote, after Science Journal.

Olaf Jensen of Rutgers University has published a Perspective piece discussing the work by the team in the same journal issue.

Jensen said that it is easy to test the toxicity of chemicals directly on plants or animals. Simply applying them and watching what happens lets researchers know the impact it has. Much more difficult is nailing down the indirect effects of chemicals such as those that are used in neonicotinoid pesticides. In this new effort, the researchers started with the notion that it was likely the use of such pesticides that had led to sudden fishery collapse in Lake Shinji, Japan. (MTI)