. The Canadian field-naturalist. 1999 Burnett: Chapter 8: Wildlife Toxicology 125. When forest spray planes were operating overhead, Nev Garrity would don the latest in protective "spray wear" to avoid inhaling the toxic droplets (Photo credit: D. Busby). wildlife. Peter Pearce and Neville (Nev) Garrity spent most of the 1970s gathering evidence that songbird populations were suffering in areas that were treated with the "safer" insecticide.''* The targeted area was enormous. Between 1975 and 1986, an average of million hectares of New Brunswick forest were sprayed ann
. The Canadian field-naturalist. 1999 Burnett: Chapter 8: Wildlife Toxicology 125. When forest spray planes were operating overhead, Nev Garrity would don the latest in protective "spray wear" to avoid inhaling the toxic droplets (Photo credit: D. Busby). wildlife. Peter Pearce and Neville (Nev) Garrity spent most of the 1970s gathering evidence that songbird populations were suffering in areas that were treated with the "safer" insecticide.''* The targeted area was enormous. Between 1975 and 1986, an average of million hectares of New Brunswick forest were sprayed annually. Pearce and Garrity were joined in 1978 by Dan Busby, fresh from completing a Master's degree in ornithology at the University of Manitoba. Expansion of the team provided an opportunity to apply more sophisticated research methods to the problem. As Pearce and Busby pursued their own investigations and called on the resources of the CWS Toxic Chemicals Division in Ottawa as well, the hard evidence that would ultimately convict fen- itrothion began to mount. As Busby put it later, "We didn't expose fenitrothion as the cause of a calamity. We just found a whole lot of good reasons not to use ;i5 Their research revealed a complex puzzle with many pieces. For example, tissue testing indicated significant inhibition of brain cholinesterase activity in many of the exposed birds — not enough to kill them all, but enough to cause abnormal behaviours such as loss of coordination and nest abandonment in many that did not die.'^ A study of breeding White- throated Sparrows showed that the rate of reproduc- tive success in territories subjected to the spray was little more than one-quarter of that in unsprayed con- trol plots.'^ Warblers, thrushes, finches: all were affected to a noticeable degree, and beyond that there were other disturbing findings. Tests of fenitrothion in running streams had suggested a rapid rate of breakdown; research in still waters revealed tha
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