Bird Seed Poisons Wild Birds

[hedgehog]

You see the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company had been in the habit of applying banned pesticides to its wild bird food products. In particular, the company applied a chemical known as Storcide II to its bird food despite a warning label for that product that reads "Storcide II is extremely toxic to fish and toxic to birds and other wildlife."

Why add a compound toxic to birds to food meant to be eaten by birds? Because Scott didn't want bugs infesting its bird food during storage.

By the time Scotts stopped adding the pesticide in March 2008, the company had sold some 70 million bags of adulterated bird food. The company also submitted false documents to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, distributed pesticides with misleading labels and distributed illegal pesticides. As a result, the EPA slapped the company with $12.5 million in criminal fines and civil penalties.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=bird-seed-poisons-wild-birds-12-09-16

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. that's awful.

[littlemissmartypants]

2. In light of this revelation maybe the kitties will stop getting the blame for the reduction in the

local population. But has this affected the food chain? Are animals eating the dead or affected birds and then suffering effects?

[XemaSab]

21. Cats are still horrible for wild birds

n/t

[amborin]

23. house cats kill upwards of 30 million birds a year eom

[aquart]

27. If they didn't, what would we do with all those birds?

Think Hitchcock.

[amborin]

28. i know

you are trying to be humourous.....

but there is a scary and sad precipitous decline in bird populations worldwide and especially in the US

[freshwest]

3. Glad to see this coming out from a source like Scientific American.

The damage done to the population of songbirds... there is no way to calculate that.

[hedgehog]

4. I just finished listening to a report of Inside Albany-

If the parent birds survive, the fledglings that hatch out of their eggs have deformed wings and can never fly!

[freshwest]

5. And thus will perish miserably as well. I believe the parents feel the loss, too.

Humans have been much too careless with 'creation.' The love of money over life... again.

[Earth_First]

6. At what point does the individual buying Scotts bird seed say to themselves...

"Hmmm...I wonder why I would buy bird food from a company traditionally known for fertilizer and pesticides...?"

[niyad]

7. couldn't stand them before--will NEVER purchase a product of theirs

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Another corporate stupid move.

That's why I purchase my feed at a certified wildlife store.

[dmr]

9. That's a good idea. Not sure we have a store up here. What do you buy?

I love the birds, and would buy online if I knew I was getting a quality product.

Thanks!

[Baitball Blogger]

10. We have a local Wild Birds Unlimited

I purchase a sack of choice blend and wildlife mix. When hatching season begins I switch to whatever they recommend that has more of a fruit blend.

[HappyMe]

29. Check with a home improvement store.

Or a local hardware store. They sometimes sell seed and feeders.

[woo me with science]

13. This is corporate ethics at work, not stupid at all. Just amoral.

They determined that the profit to be made by selling poisoned bird seed exceeded the potential fines to be accrued.

This is what happens when we cede our government to corporate ethics. There are a million decisions being made right now, that have to do with the health of our families and our cities. They are being made based on profit, too.

[glinda]

11. boycott all of these...half way down page....

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/7/prweb9699699.htm

[DollarBillHines]

12. "$12.5 million in criminal fines"

$12.5m to Scotts is not even lunch money.

People go to prison for doing less to dogs.

[RoccoR5955]

14. There goes Capitalism again.

Destroying our only home, in the name of money.

When are people going to see that capitalism is one of the real villains responsible for the destruction of our environment?
When will they wake up?

[lastlib]

15. I think I need some of this stuff to feed starlings....

they're an absolute nuisance here--no redeeming value whatsoever.

[Doremus]

18. I imagine Mother Earth might say that about the most prolific, parasitic species of all.

Us.

I think she's in the process of producing her own "poison food" solution to invasive homo sapien cancer. After we're gone maybe all those creatures with no redeeming value will be able to live in peace, finally.

[hunter]

20. I've grown to appreciate starlings.

When the starlings showed up here in California the population of another imported pest, garden snails, became negligible.

I remember seeing thousands of snails squashed by passing cars in streets and parking lots on wet warm days.

I remember snails devouring new gardens.

Now snails are rare. The starlings eat nearly all of them.

[lastlib]

30. I'll see if I can ship you some of ours.....

Here in Missouri, they outnumber humans by about 50:1. Right now they're eating leftover corn in the fields that deer or other mammals would be eating. Meaning those other animals have to find something else for food. In the aftermath of our killer drought, that basically means they go hungry.

[bluestate10]

16. People, it is always a good idea to buy bird feed from a natural or organic company.

The seller shares your values on protecting birds and nature. The products may cost a little more and take a little longer to get your hands on, but you won't harm birds and other wildlife when you use the feed.

[amborin]

25. it costs

A lot. The stuff from Lowes and target does not appear to harm birds

[FreeBC]

17. A slap on the wrist! That'll learn 'em.

[DeSwiss]

19. If no one goes to jail fuck the EPA. n/t

[woo me with science]

22. This is an excellent example of why it is so dangerous

to cede our government to corporations. Corporations don't have morality. They function for profit and the bottom line, period.

They knew. Someone obviously made a calculation. Continuing to sell the seed and facing any fines or judgments that would come of that was more lucrative than doing the right thing.

We are putting analogous judgments - about war, about environmental issues, about health care, about the treatment of our poor and elderly, about our educational system - in the hands of corporations every single day we don't fight back against the purchase of our government.

[amborin]

24. as much as I dislike lowes, thst's where we get black oil sunflower seeds

14.99 for a 17 lb sack; used to be 20lbs.

Also get nyger and various mixes from target.

Hate going there but Petco is too expensive

[Kalidurga]

26. We need to stop fining companies like this.

We need to seize them and sell off their assets.