Testing people on Hvar Island for pesticides via hair samples is an ongoing project, conducted by Eco Hvar. These are the preliminary results from the Kudzu laboratory which tested for 60 pesticides in 2021 and 100 as from 2022.
Note: the only person to test negative for the presence of pesticides routinely uses ozone to treat foodstuffs which are not produced organically.
Ozone treatment for chicken
Pesticides per person:
(Note: be aware there are many more pesticides in use on Hvar and in Croatia generally which were not included in the testing!)
Date of analysisIndividualPlace of residenceNumber of pesticides present
ISOPROTURON - phenylurea herbicide. EU: not approved; [ECHA application for approval for film preservatives (PT07) and construction material preservatives (PT10) in progress, August 2023]
1. analysis 17.07.2023 - (fem. 1988) Pitve
LINDANE (HCH-gamma) - organochlorine insecticide. EU / ECHA: not approved
For details of the pesticide substances identified, with their possible adverse effects, related pesticidal products and approval status, please see 'Pesticides and their adverse effects'.
Note: The list of pesticides tested did not include all the pesticides used on Hvar, so it is possible that more pesticides might be found in a wider range of tests. We did not test for the presence of glyphosate.
Lots of dogs have a tough time on Hvar and in other parts of Croatia. Helping dogs in need can be tricky. These are basic guidelines to help show you what can and can't be done.
Poisons, definitely not! Eco Hvar's campaign against the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides to kill off unwanted insects and other 'pests' began many years ago.
As July progresses, the grapes ripen on the vines, ready to reach their full luscious ripeness later on in August. However, foraging is not recommended.
Herbal medicine has a long tradition in Croatia and is still much in use today. A new detailed handbook aims to promote awareness of the natural resources which can benefit human health.
The trees which adorn Jelsa have marked significant changes in Jelsan culture and attitudes to the environment over time. Vito Gospodnetić is a dedicated protector of Jelsa's precious natural resources alongside its cultural and historical heritage.
The Scops Owl is a welcome visitor to Hvar Island every summer. Arriving between the middle of March or beginning of April its persistent single-note call is the hallmark of the warm season.
Reading Steve Jones' report earlier this year, keen birdwatcher Tomislav Sjekloća was inspired to check out the Dračevica pond and other parts of Hvar, and we are delighted he has shared his sightings with us.
In 2023 the honour of celebrating International Bat Night, which aims to raise people's awareness of the vital importance in our ecosystem, fell to the Krka National Park,which organised a superbly imaginative programme beside its exquisite Skradinski Buk Waterfall.
Highlighting Croatia's wild orchids and the need to treat them with love and respect, the highly active and successful BIOM ASSOCIATION published an article in the spring of 2024 with a plea to pay attention to these fascinating and invaluable plants.
In 2023 on Hvar there were two special orchid finds by visiting experts from Zagreb, who located the endemic Ophrys pharia and the Himantoglossum robertianum.
These delicate-looking, exquisite creatures play an important part in the natural chain. They are especially useful to humans because of their voracious appetite for mosquitoes and other biting insects such as midges.
Steve Jones of Dol recounts his observations during June and July 2019, a mixture of some disappointments balanced by unexpected joys, including a couple of bird rescues!
Well summer is over, birding-wise, and during the last three months, hopefully, birds have bred successfully on the island. I have certainly seen evidence of this, particularly recently, with good numbers of House Sparrows all around. Also frequently during the summer months I have seen birds carrying food to nests.
The summer months were intensely hot. By June 12th there was very little about. On a trip to the pond that morning I found that the biggest area was about to evaporate later that day– there was a tiny little pool with the remaining fish all gasping. Equally I saw a Cormorant, probably stocking up with an easy source of food.
Steve Jones from Dol continues his study of the island's birds. Anyone who is seeing or hearing anything of interest in the bird world is invited to contact him at: hmws.45@virgin.net
Hvar in May is a delight of wild flowers, with brilliant colours all around in the many parts of the island where nature is allowed to flourish unhindered.
This morning, May Day, I heard my first golden oriole of this year. Known in Croatian as 'vuga', the golden oriole is easier to hear than to catch a glimpse of.
Local dialects are spoken less and less, so every effort to retain their special charm is welcome. From Pitve on Hvar Island, poetess Ičica Barišić has been preserving the particular dialect of her village for many years.
We are delighted to report that the Recycling Yard for the Jelsa Municipality is now functioning, after a long period of 'teething problems'. This is good news for everyone who cares about the environment. We hope all residents and visitors will be encouraged to manage waste of all kinds responsibly.
An appeal from the heart for happy wagging tails! The Bestie Foundation is in urgent need of financial help, and here are twelve good reasons for supporting it.
In an event of huge significance to the Catholic population of the island, relics of St. John Paul II were brought to the parishes of Vrisnik and Pitve in September 2021, thanks to parish priest Don Robert Bartoszek.
"My connection to Croatia is unbreakable. I feel it as a cord of turquoise and rosemary and cicadas and curry plants, from my heart to that island. I feel blessed every single day to have Croatia in my heart."
Church bells are part of daily life all over Croatia. Splitska on Brač Island is one of the few places where the bells are rung by hand and not electronically controlled.
The exhibition of Croatia's cultural heritage as recognized on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List reflects Hvar's wealth of prized assets and traditions.
Jelsa's Elementary School is outstanding in promoting worthwhile extra-curricular activities. Photography is one which gives pupils a special experience of the world around them.
The replanting project to rejuvenate Hvar's woodlands with autochthonous black pines continued at the end of January, backed by a mobile exhibition highlighting the importance of trees for the island.
Dr.Radoslav Bužančić's London lecture entitled ‘Diocletian’s Palace in Split: New Discoveries’ aroused great interest among experts in archaeology, architecture, history of art, museology and the protection of cultural monuments and heritage.
In response to a request from Hvar's registered charity Dignitea, the EC has sent a full explanation of the regulations which should be applied to the proposed oil and gas drilling in the Adriatic.
IMPORTANT NOTICE! We have invested a large amount of care and money over several years in setting up our feeding stations. We have designed and financed the cat hutches and placed them in locations with permission from the property owners. This is how they work:
Eco Hvar is sometimes criticized for doing too little - or even nothing - to help the island's innumerable needy cats and kittens. In fact there are lots of residents around the island, locals and incomers, who consistently do their utmost to help.
Lucky Luki revels joyfully in his explorations of Hvar's boundless beauties. The Galešnik fortress in the hill to the south above Jelsa is one of his regular haunts.
There's nothing Luki likes better than exploring the lesser known areas of Hvar Island. The eastern region is largely overlooked and (mercifully) underdeveloped, so it is perfect territory for Luki and his friends.
This is the story of a pony who has captivated the hearts of all around him in the quiet inland village of Svirče on Hvar. He is a walking symbol of unconditional love!
From Skittish Stari Grad Street Dog to Alpha Canine Queen of Dol, Sveta Ana. Evening Lategano of the Suncrokret Body and Soul Retreat in Dol tells the story of Maza's rescue.
Despite the local authorities' attempts to control mosquitoes with pesticides, many have complained that the mosquitoes on the island are more virulent than ever.
Query: It was a pleasant surprise to come across your article regarding olive oil making in Dalmatia. Me and my husband have taken it up as a serious hobby to be involved in the olive oil process in m...
I am staying at the Hotel Berulia in Brela and have been feeding a mother,father and five kittens about (10 weeks old). Do they get rid of the kittens in the winter when there are no guests?
We are currently visiting your lovely island and are staying in the Amfora Hotel. Since our arrival we have fallen in love with a beautiful stray young cat.
Hello I was staying in Hvar Town for 5 days last week in June 14 and we tried our best to care for the kittens, cats we have seen as they were so very skinny. What is keeping me awake at night back in...
A harrowing incident the night before the major celebration in Honour of the Homeland provided an example of two opposite attitudes: irresponsible dog owners versus selfless saviours of a helpless kitten.
Emma is one of the many animals rescued over the years through Eco Hvar. We are very grateful to Bernie for sharing this happy seasonal photo with us. To see more of his splendid artistic photography visit his website: https://www.hvar-mania.photography/"
Resulting from the successful European Citizens' Initiative Petition, in which 1,1 million Europeans asked for an end to pesticide use, there will be a hearing in the EU Parliament on January 24th 2023.
Examples of the biocides (chemical insecticides) used for fogging actions to control adult mosquitoes, citing their active ingredients and possible adverse effects.
After many years of observing the practice of the Croatian national insect suppression programme, we have come to the conclusion that the time has come for the Inspectors to investigate the situation and to institute (we hope) safer methods.
If someone filled a spray can with potentially deadly poisons and went round spraying people at random, everyone, including the police, would react to put a stop to it.
Letter sent to the Public Health authorities on 12th June 2024, following yet another scandalous example of irresponsible poison spraying against insects.
Towards the end of 2023, the European Parliament and the European Commission showed that they are not willing or able to protect European citizens from the ill-effects of chemical pesticides. So what needs to be done?
A listing of selected pesticides which are, or have been in common use in Croatia, with the official warnings of their side-effects and the known side-effects of their active constituents.
Testing people on Hvar Island for pesticides via hair samples is an ongoing project, conducted by Eco Hvar. These are the preliminary results from the Kudzu laboratory which tested for 60 pesticides in 2021 and 100 as from 2022.
This is a guide to the systems governing chemical pesticide regulation, registers and laws, with an overview of some of the many problems arising from pesticide use.
Chemical poison use is out of control in much of the modern world. Safeguards exist in theory, in practice they are inadequate. At each level of responsibility, practices need to be improved. These are our suggestions for achieving vital improvements.
For several years, the local councils of Jelsa, Stari Grad and Hvar have routinely sprayed the streets against mosquitoes, flies and other 'flying pests'. Is this a good thing?
Would I find myself driving home through a mist of toxic chemicals if I caught the 20:30 ferry back from Split? That was the question on 27th September 2017.
Because we at Eco Hvar are very concerned about the shortcomings of the mosquito liquidation programme on Hvar and around Croatia, we have petitioned the Minister for Health to re-consider the methods used.
Our request to Croatian local and national authorities to review the insect suppression programme has produced a lamentable response so far. It's hard getting the message across, but we will keep trying.
A bee sting can cause a severe allergic reaction in a vulnerable person. Under current Croatian law, insects which cause allergic reactions must be subjected to an annual programme of suppression.
The look of abject terror on the monkey's face is a haunting picture, the stuff of nightmares for anyone with an ounce of empathy for torture victims, whether human or animal. Animals are frontline victims of dangerous chemicals.
From October 1st 2016, the sale of Roundup (Croatian Cidokor) and 11 other similar glyphosate-based herbicides was banned in the European Union. The ban should serve as a wake-up call to all users, supporters and promoters of pesticides.
The manufacturers have claimed that the herbicide Roundup, whose active ingredient is glyphosate, is "safe enough to drink", and many people are naive enough to believe this.
When the World Health Organization defined Glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans”, it should have put an immediate stop to the sale and use of Glyphosate-based herbicides.
Donations can be made in euros, pounds sterling, US and Australian dollars and Swiss francs. All donations, however small, are very welcome. We acknowledge donations by email if we have the donor's address. Please let us know if you require a formal paper receipt.
PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW BANK DETAILS:
ECO HVAR BANK DETAILS
OTP banka d.d. Split, Domovinskog rata 61, 21000 Split;
If the payment slip has a box for 'further details' or 'further information' you should enter the Charity's OIB: 14009858487, and state 'donation' or 'donacija'.
Ian Hughes is boosting one of the continent’s most at-risk species with science, his sons and some homemade T-shirts
Ian Hughes and his son, Ben, are driving through the hills of north Wales with an array of homemade animal artefacts rattling around their car: diagrams, plaster casts, hand-printed T-shirts. They finally reach Llyn Tegid – Bala Lake in English – where, knee-deep in the water, Ian brandishes two glutinous snails.
It is a mollusc the size of a fingertip. It is also one of Europe’s most endangered species, which Ian has dedicated himself to protecting. “It’s beyond passion,” he says. “It’s an obsession.”
Temperatures across parts of continent around 10-15C above average for this time of year, while thunderstorms strike eastern Australia
Europe has experienced an exceptional heatwave this week, with temperature records broken across multiple countries under a persistent area of high pressure, commonly referred to as a “heat dome.” The UK surpassed its May maximum temperature record on Tuesday, with 35.1C recorded at Kew Gardens, London.
This broke the record set only the day before, with 34.8C recorded in London on Monday. Previously, the maximum May temperature record was 32.8C, recorded in 1922 and then matched in 1944. Ireland also broke its May maximum temperature, with 28.8C recorded at two weather stations – in Killarney in the south-west and Clonmel in the south.
Researchers find breathing more air pollution can slow lung development all the way up to early adulthood
Research shows that air pollution is slowing the lung growth of children in the UK. Scientists tracked the lung function of more than 5,000 peoplewho were born in and around Bristol in the 1990s. The health of the Children of the 90s cohort was assessed from birth onwards and their lungs were tested as they grew up, at eight and 15 years old and then as adults, aged 24, when their lung function should have reached its maximum.
Prof Anna Hansell, of the University of Leicester, who led the study, said: “Much of the evidence on health effects of air pollution relates to adults or pregnancy, but we think it’s highly plausible it has impacts on growth and development of children.
In this week’s newsletter: We began writing Down to Earth in 2021, but the global political, economic and environmental landscape has changed drastically in the past five years
It wasn’t perfect: the plans would still result in about 2.8C of heating, though they agreed to work on strengthening them, and a commitment to phase out coal was weakened at the last minute to a phase down instead. But the direction of travel was clear: the whole world agreed on how to fight the climate crisis. The Paris agreement of 2015 bound countries to keep temperatures “well below” 2C above preindustrial levels, with 1.5C as an aspiration, but at Glasgow the 1.5C limit – in line with scientific advice, which warns of dire consequences beyond that threshold – was adopted as the clear goal.
The Marches, Shropshire: You never know what kind of parasites you might find lurking in an old tree
“Oak apple day, the 29th of May,” is a rhyming reminder of the public holiday ordered by Charles II to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. After his escape from parliamentarians by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel in Shropshire, it is no great leap of imagination to associate a hidden king with oak apples: parasitic galls are strange, uncanny fruit that encourage satire at least.
A month ago, the oak galls on this ancient tree were as shiny as cherries. Today they are bigger, browner and mottled, like weird little apples. They were formed when an agamic, wingless, female oak apple gall wasp, Biorhiza pallida,burrowed out from a gall in the oak’s roots, climbed the tree and injected a cluster of eggs and a drop of venom into a leaf bud. The hatched grubsthen produced substances that caused a tumour-like effect on the oak cells, forming the apple, inside which the larvae fed in their chambers.
In the week when the hottest May days were recorded, environment editor Fiona Harveyexamines a new Climate Change Committee report on how the UK can better withstand extreme heat
Temperatures across the UK and Europe this week have shattered May heat records. As the environment editor Fiona Harvey points out: we might expect heatwaves in July and August – but 30C in spring?
Fiona talks to Nosheen Iqbalabout a report from the Climate Change Committee warning that the UK is unprepared for extreme heat – the new normal – and explores a range of possible solutions to help keep the country cool, from tree-planting to heat pumps and scaling up renewables.
Kerry Outerbridge motored his powerboat through coral reef ringing the lush, tropical island and alighted upon white sand.
Catamarans and jetskis lay strewn about the beach. Nothing but quiet emerged to greet him from the bungalows scattered among a grove of coconut trees. A plate of food sat on a kitchen table, mouldering.
In the last century, industrialized farming has killed off delicious food – but a brigade of chefs, breeders and farmers are fighting to bring it back
Bill Tracy is clearly not one to brag, but after a while, it seems he just can’t help himself. “I did come up with something absolutely amazing actually,” he says softly. “Really quite amazing.”
Tracy has spent the last 40 years in the fields of Wisconsin as one of the US’s leading sweetcorn breeders, tasting up to 300 ears a day in search of the perfect corn that might one day sizzle on barbecues across the country.
Researchers are working to create new drought-resistant varieties of the ingredient that gives Czech pilsner its character
It is the country that drinks more beer per capita than any other but in the last few years Czechia has been hit by droughts and heatwaves, which make it harder to grow the Saaz hops, one of the key ingredients that goes into the country’s world famous beer.
At the Hop Research Institute, however, scientists are working to create new, climate-resilient hop varieties that have shown promise in overcoming Czechia’s heat and its strict traditionalism.
Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
At Maido — the Lima restaurant recently crowned the best in the world — one of the star dishes is paiche, a giant prehistoric river fish.Its journey to the table begins on a small family farm deep in Peru’s Amazon.
“Jane Goodall forever changed how people think about, interact with and care for the natural world,” said Daniela Raik, interim CEO of Conservation International.
After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. The historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters which face numerous threats.
The ocean is engine of all life on Earth, but human-driven climate change is pushing it past its limits. Here are five ways the ocean keeps our climate in check — and what can be done to help.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures might be worth even more. An initiative featuring the work of some of the world’s best nature photographers raises money for environmental conservation.
