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Lack of scientific evidence and precautionary principle in massive release of rodenticides threatens biodiversity: old lessons need new reflections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

PEDRO P. OLEA ,
INÉS S. SÁNCHEZ-BARBUDO ,
JAVIER VIÑUELA ,
ISABEL BARJA ,
PATRICIA MATEO-TOMÁS ,
ANA PIÑEIRO ,
RAFAEL MATEO  and
FRANCISCO J. PURROY
PEDRO P. OLEA*
Affiliation:
School of Biology, IE University, Campus Santa Cruz la Real, 12, 40003 Segovia, Spain
INÉS S. SÁNCHEZ-BARBUDO
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC; CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain
JAVIER VIÑUELA
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC; CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain
ISABEL BARJA
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Unidad de Zoología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
PATRICIA MATEO-TOMÁS
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Biología y Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain
ANA PIÑEIRO
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología, Unidad de Zoología. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain
RAFAEL MATEO
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC; CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005 Ciudad Real, Spain
FRANCISCO J. PURROY
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Biología y Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain
*
*Correspondence: Dr Pedro P. Olea e-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

Pesticides are widely used throughout the world to control agricultural pests. Owing to their well identified side-effects on wildlife, the release of high quantities of pesticides to the environment should always require responsible use of both science-based information and the precautionary principle, however decision making in wildlife management and conservation is not systematically supported by scientific evidence. This is particularly worrying when decision making involves release of toxic substances to the environment, as often occurs in rodent plague control. Poorly-informed management decisions to control a rodent plague can adversely affect wildlife, especially when chemical-based treatments are generically designed and applied on a broad scale, with high economic cost. Evidence-based and environmentally sustainable management should be used to control rodent plagues in Spain.

Type
Comment
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 1 - 4
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2009

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