Bees to birds: Have neonics and other pesticides ushered in a bird apocalypse?

Jon Entine

Claims by environmental advocacy groups that honeybees are on the verge of extinction are often accompanied by similar dire warnings about the fate of birds. It’s a familiar meme on the Internet. “GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and . . . ?” the Organic Consumers Association, the fringe activist group, railed in a typical post. Environmental Health News weighed in, claiming that 1300 bird species were facing extinction, fingering neonicotinoids in particular as the probable leading cause. Here is a map EHN put together illustrating its contention that the world faces a bird apocalypse.
 

My Take - Since its now become clear that there’s no beemageddon, and neonics aren’t responsible for colony collapse disorder, environmental activists shift to another false narrative - "neonics are killing the birds!" The study cited is being called the second Silent Spring, and I agree because this study is as full of baloney as Rachel Carson’s science fiction book claiming DDT was killing the birds. She made this claim while as a science writer for the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service she knew full well the bird population increased dramatically during the DDT years, including the bald eagle. And when this study is dumped in the ash heap of junk science the activists will adopt another false and emotional narrative. I just hope we and society as a whole have the sense to ignore them.