06
Aug
Scottish Fish Farm Industry, Major U.S. Importer, Delays Restrictions on Hazardous Pesticide
(Beyond Pesticides, August 6, 2024) Factory fish farming companies sinched a win in Scotland in July after the Scottish government announced it would not put forward restrictions on emamectin (aka emamectin benzoate)—a toxic pesticide used to kill parasitic sea lice that also kills various nontarget marine life up and down the trophic ladder—until 2028. As reported over many years by The Ferret, an independent journalism cooperative based in Scotland, seafood corporations lobbied the Scottish government in a multiyear campaign to weaken environmental protection standards to advance their economic interests. Health and environmental advocates in the United States acknowledge the parallels of agribusiness, pesticide manufacturers, and their allies in undermining science-based policy and continue to call for intercontinental coordination on organic principles and standards that would render the use of toxic pesticides like emamectin obsolete. Emamectin benzoate is a derivative of avermectin, a family of macrocyclic lactone compounds often used as the primary active ingredient in insecticides targeting parasites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers emamectin benzoate a restricted-use pesticide that is toxic to fish, mammals, and aquatic organisms. Avermectins act as poisons to the nervous system of target pests, stimulating the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system (a chemical “transmitter†produced […]
