More ag poisons found in South Dakota wildlife, urban yard waste

Every ag product, meats both wild and domestic not grown organically in South Dakota is contaminated with atrazine, neonicotinoids, glyphosate, dicamba, DDT, mercury, lead, cadmium, PFAS, E. coli, Shigella, Legionella and other toxins. That's probably true everywhere in the United States. Country of Origin Labeling was repealed in 2015 to shield American meat from scrutiny.

After a 2019 study in South Dakota raised questions about potential health effects on white tailed deer, the DNR asked Minnesota hunters to collect spleens from the deer they killed. The agency received 800 spleens and testing found the insecticide imidacloprid in 61 percent of the samples. The South Dakota study did not find a direct link between the insecticide and health effects, but found a correlation between insecticide levels in deer and increased fawn mortality. [Common insecticide widespread in Minnesota deer herd]

David Ellingson and his Ortonville, Minnesota-area honey-producing family sued the US Environmental Protection Agency for not regulating the neonicotinoids killing their bee colonies. I worked for their operation one summer between semesters at South Dakota State University. It was one on the most fascinating lessons of this life. South Dakota beekeeper Adee Honey Farms also blames neonicotinoids for colony losses. 

Rapid City Solid Waste has seen an increase in harmful, persistent herbicides in its compost. Healthy compost will always contain herbicides that deteriorate before causing harm, but persistent herbicides degrade much slower and last long enough to damage plants, causing plants to curl, slow their growth and kill younger plants. It’s not just here in Rapid City, these herbicides are showing up all over the nation. [Harmful herbicides found in Rapid City Solid Waste compost]

Democratic former US Senator Tom Daschle gave the keynote address at the South Dakota Farmers Union's virtual December 9th convention where SDFU President Doug Sombke learned members overwhelmingly oppose merging the SD Departments of Agriculture and Environment and Natural Resources.

A resolution of disapproval filed by Senate Minority Leader Troy Heinert, D-Mission, opposes Gov. Kristi Noem’s joining of the South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, a move that’s been met with skepticism since its proposal. Heinert noted the resolution has the power to stop the merger of the two state departments with a simple majority vote by the senate.

Republican leadership is an oxymoron. Kristi Lynn Arnold Noem (KLAN) is a one woman death panel and the Koch soaked South Dakota Legislature will ignore all pleas to keep the departments separate.  

Read more about Noem's intent to poison wildlife linked here.

Happy #WorldWildlifeDay. A friendly reminder that livestock cannot replace native biodiversity, despite what you may have heard. pic.twitter.com/VSuyIf1ccW

— Sheila Colla, Ph.D (@SaveWildBees) March 3, 2021