Some of the new “soft” pesticides that have been developed in recent years are not so soft on beneficial insects and mites as first supposed, according to Dr. Tom Unruh of Yakima, Washington. Even when the new pesticides don’t kill predators and parasites outright, they can have detrimental sublethal effects, such as reduced fertility. “I think these products have been registered as kind or gentler, but they really aren’t,” said Unruh, a researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Unruh studied the effects of a range of new pesticides on seven natural enemies of key pests in laboratory tests over […]