IARI is a premiere agriculture research institute of India. They produce wonderful scientific toys to play with for seed companies. 😉 And so seed companies can make profit by selling toys to farmers by showing them high yield dreams. 😉
Their recommended cultivation practices for wheat and barley prescribes farmers to use Imidacloprid or quinalphos [1], a systemic insecticide which acts as an insect neurotoxin and belongs to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids which act on the central nervous system of insects with much lower toxicity to mammals.
Imidacloprid is highly toxic to four bird species: Japanese quail, house sparrow, canary, and pigeon. It triggers colony collapse disorder (CCD) in bees. It is neurotoxin for humans. [2]
Why esteemed scientists suggest such disastrous prescriptions? 🙂
[1] pg 16, http://iari.res.in/files/Atic/Tech_Options_English-15072014.pdf
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid#Birds
http://www.boerenlandvogels.nl/sites/default/files/Tennekes_Presentation_Annual%20Meeting_Swiss%20Toxicology%20Society_%2022112012_1.pdf
