Butterfly scandal?

Jeroen Mentens jeroen.mentens at student.kuleuven.ac.be
Mon Mar 19 19:07:02 EST 2001


Now a reaction with a little more thought.

> Or maybe a butterfly scandal.

I wouldn't call it a scandal. everybody can make mistakes
 
> Remember the charge made by environmentalists a few weeks
> ago:  "Loggers Said to Wipe Out 22 Million Butterflies "
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010306/sc/environment_butterflies_dc_1.html
> 
> A recent scientific analysis of the butterflies suggests this
> story was a hoax:

Hoax sounds like scandal to me. So same comment as before.
 
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010312/sc/environment_butterflies_dc_2.html
> 
> Monday March 12 9:47 PM ET
> Mexico Says Monarch Butterflies Killed by the Cold
> 
> MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government's environmental
> watchdog said on Monday millions of Monarch butterflies, which
> migrate south eachwinter from Canada, had died from the cold weather
> rather than deliberate poisoning by loggers, as some environmentalists
> had alleged.
> 
> Last week, Homero Aridjis, head of the environmental lobby Group of
> 100, told Reuters that loggers were believed to have sprayed pesticides
> on the orange and black butterflies, killing 22 million of them, to try
> and regain some 216 square miles of forest protected by the
> government.
> 
> Aridjis said the butterflies had been found with a strange luster on
> their wings and that there was a smell of pesticide and gasoline in
> two sanctuaries in the protected reserve.
> 
> But the Mexican environmental watchdog Profepa said in a statement
> that a scientific analysis of 300 butterfly corpses from the Cerro
> San Andres sanctuary in central Michoacan state showed no trace of
> toxic substances from pesticides.
> 
> It concluded that the butterflies had died from the cold.

I looked at the articles and this might be right.

 
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