First of all, imidacloprid is a replacement product. It replaced the old organophosphate, organochlorine, and carbamate products that were very toxic to humans. The neonics are considered to have much lower toxicity to the farmers and farm workers. That's important for you to know.
In terms of the effect on the environment, all registered pesticides in Canada have gone through a battery of tests and have been approved for use under Canadian conditions, all of them. In terms of what's softer, I have a concern that if you can use one and you have to replace it with three or four, what is the net environmental insult of three or four versus one? No one has answered that question.