Industry News: Updated 12/12/08

Current News:

CATCH THE BUZZ

NRDC Sues to

WASHINGTON - August 18 - The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover critical information that the US government is withholding about the risks posed by pesticides to honey bees. NRDC legal experts and a leading bee researcher are convinced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country. The phenomenon has come to be called “colony collapse disorder,” or CCD, and it is already proving to have disastrous consequences for American agriculture and the $15 billion worth of crops pollinated by bees every year.

EPA has failed to respond to NRDC’s Freedom of Information Act request for agency records concerning the toxicity of pesticides to bees, forcing the legal action.

“Recently approved pesticides have been implicated in massive bee die-offs and are the focus of increasing scientific scrutiny,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. “EPA should be evaluating the risks to bees before approving new pesticides, but now refuses to tell the public what it knows. Pesticide restrictions might be at the heart of the solution to this growing crisis, so why hide the information they should be using to make those decisions?”

In 2003, EPA granted a registration to a new pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience under the condition that Bayer submit studies about its product’s impact on bees. EPA has refused to disclose the results of these studies, or if the studies have even been submitted. The pesticide in question, clothianidin, recently was banned in Germany due to concerns about its impact on bees. A similar insecticide was banned in France for the same reason a couple of years before. In the United States, these chemicals still are in use despite a growing consensus among bee specialists that pesticides, including clothianidin and its chemical cousins, may contribute to CCD.

In the past two years, some American beekeepers have reported unexplained losses of 30-90% of the bees in their hives. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America. USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. As the die-offs worsen, Americans will see their food costs increase.

Despite bees’ critical role for farmers, consumers, and the environment, the federal government has been slow to address the die-off since the alarm bells started in 2006. In recent Congressional hearings, USDA was unable to account for the $20 million that Congress has allocated to the department for fighting CCD in the last two years.

“This is a real mystery right now,” said Dr. Gabriela Chavarria, director of NRDC’s Science Center. “EPA needs to help shed some light so that researchers can get to work on this problem. This isn’t just an issue for farmers -- this is an issue that concerns us all. Just try to imagine a pizza without the contribution of bees! No tomatoes. No cheese. No peppers. If you eat apples, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, squash, carrots, avocados, or cherries, you need to be concerned.”

Chavarria has spent more than 20 years studying bees, and has published a number of academic papers on the taxonomy, behavior and distribution of native bees.

NRDC filed the lawsuit today in federal court in Washington DC. In documents to be filed next month, NRDC will ask for a court order directing EPA to disclose its information about pesticides and bee toxicity.

The Message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping  www.BeeCulture.com

CATCH THE BUZZ

Bayer and Beekeepers Meet to Discuss Pesticides and Honey Bees

by Randy Oliver
 

Scientists from Bayer CropScience met with representatives of the national and California beekeeping associations, commercial beekeepers, bee scientists, the Almond Board, and a state agricultural official at South Lake Tahoe during the California State Beekeepers meeting on November 11, 2008.  This meeting was the first in a series of workshops intended to provide open and honest discussion of pesticides and to overcome preconceived perceptions by both sides.

Key goals for improved interactions included: 1) improving trust through greater transparency from manufacturers regarding products and testing protocols, 2) establishing better communications between all parties, 3) providing improved education to applicators for bee-friendly practices, and 4) addressing regulatory and enforcement systems to ensure adherence to label directions and to establish a nationwide system of reporting, tracking, and correcting misuses.

A priority action item was appointment of a Honey Bee Advisory Board (HBAB) by the two national beekeeping associations. The HBAB will work with Bayer on setting priorities, as well as the design of tests that better address beekeeper concerns.  Other immediate action items included development of models for a national database for pesticide incident reporting, and ideas for web site posting of bee information, including regular notices to appear in beekeeping trade journals. 

Bayer also agreed to pull together publications and conduct a briefing concerning clothianidin, imidacloprid, and Movento at the next meeting, which will be in conjunction with the upcoming American Honey Producers Association meeting in Fresno, in January.   

This first meeting was a result of an invitation from researcher Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk (The University of Montana) to Dr. David Fischer (Chief Scientist, Ecotoxicology, Bayer CropScience) to participate in a stakeholders meeting in conjunction with the California State Beekeepers Convention. 

For more information, contact Dr. Bromenshenk at BeeResearch@aol.com

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American beekeeping

www.BeeCulture.com