FREDERIC, Wis., May 9, 2012 — The battle of the bees and the deadly insecticides killing them en mass has taken a first step in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for negligence in not protecting the bees.
The Washington Times Communities is the first to bring you news about this approaching lawsuit. Buzz on Bees has obtained an exclusive copy of the “Emergency Petition” filed with the EPA, demanding the agency comply with federal law and Congress to protect bees from lethal pesticides.
The 64-page petition is a “first step” in resolving the use of deadly pesticides in agriculture, which is killing bees. If this step fails, a lawsuit may ensue against the EPA, said Steve Ellis, secretary of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board and one of the petitioners.
The lawyer representing the case says he hopes litigation is not needed, said Peter Jenkins, with the Center for Food Safety and International Center for Technology Assessment. He said the EPA has 90 days to respond. If they refuse to comply, he may also take it to Congress and the president.
The Petition alleges the EPA is in violation of federal law by allowing the continued “sale and use of clothianidin, a neonicotinoid pesticide.”
This pesticide, and other neonicotinoids, is used across the country to control insect damage to crops, like corn used for human food, livestock feed and ethanol.
Bees May Soon Be Missing From Gardens Too
Most states grow corn, “reaching a near-record 92 million acres in 2011 (the size of Germany)” states the Petition. However, this problem is not restricted to agri-business. Everyday gardeners will find many of these lethal chemicals in their vegetable and flower pesticide sprays.
And innocently working all these poisoned areas are the busy, pollinating honeybees. The March 20, 2012 petition says when exposed to neonicotinoid “toxic chemicals” the bees soon after suffer “massive die-offs.”
A major loss of bees would be an economic catastrophe. And experts say that’s where we’re headed.
Read the rest of the article, with full links, The Washington Times, here
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Comments (11)
It appears that humans are pretty stupid doesn’t it. We spray insecticides willy nilly then wonder why insects are dying off on mass.
Easter Island here we come.
Thankyou Alison for your tireless work.
I’m sure ‘triazine-resistant’ genetically modified crops have the potential to wipe out bees completely. Sadly the Greens have been championing one of Australia’s main GMO proponents. Its a disgrace the Greens have become so anti-environment that they are complicit in destroying honey bees.
Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035688_Monsanto_honey_bees_colony_collapse.html#ixzz1unP5PTs1
Clothianidin like most insecticides come with conditions of use and specifically to the welfare of beneficial insects not only bees and the label will give instructions on the use of said chemical to minimse collateral damage.Perhaps spraying early in the morning or late afternoon when bees are back in their hives or not spraying next to a flowering crop that bees could be harvesting.If people light fires in the height of summer and set the landscape alight instead of waiting till the autumn with damper ground and cooler nights should we blame the company that makes the matches or the idiot who lit the fire.It’s that simple Alison.
Re #4, fair point. However, legislation is in place to penalise anyone who lights a fire in the summer without a permit (or to hunt down and imprison arsonists). Is it illegal to spray clothianidin “early in the morning or late afternoon when bees are back in their hives” or to spray “next to a flowering crop that bees could be [pollinating]”? I don’t think so. At best the packet will merely advise against it. This is not good enough.
You’re right, we shouldn’t be blaming the company that makes the stuff. We should be blaming governments for (yet again) failing to recognise all the many aspects of the natural world upon which we critically depend and for failing to put the necessary protections in place.
Regarding this particular chemical, if the long-term survival of bees is deemed important enough (and how could anyone argue against that?) then it might be justifiable to ban its use altogether on the grounds that a weaker law won’t stop people from using it; merely punish them if they do.
It comes down to a matter of priorities. At the moment the priority seems to be to protect the rights of a company to continue to make a profit from the sale of a chemical, rather than the long-term survival of bees. I think it should be the other way around.
Pesticide blown across Tasman. Trace amounts of the banned pesticide endosulfan have been blown from Australia to the Southern Alps, highlighting the far-reaching implications of pesticide use, a University of Otago researcher has found. Otago Daily Times, New Zealand.
http://www.odt.co.nz/campus/university-otago/208232/pesticide-blown-across-tasman
Really puts ‘pesticide drift’ into perspective. There is no such thing as ‘no off-site movement’ of pesticides (includes all components of the ‘product’) applied by spray application.
Dr Alison Bleaney
And have a look at this - Israel does indeed seem to suddenly to have woken up to the implications of exposure to these insecticides. And the reference to the increase in Parkinsons disease in Israel is extremely worrying..
Israel to ban insecticides that could cause neurological damage. Israel’s interministerial committee coordinating pesticide use has decided to reduce the number of pesticides permitted for use. The decision followed recent studies that showed that exposure to insecticides harms various systems in the body - especially the nervous system, which the organophosphates affect. Haaretz, Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/on-a-wing-and-a-sprayer-1.430265
Dr Alison Bleaney
Here’s news about bees from beekeepers in Vic….
Canola insecticide caution has beekeepers buzzing
GREGOR HEARD
19 May, 2012 04:00 AM
A VICTORIAN bee keeper says apiarists may be wary of putting bees on canola crops treated with a popular seed treatment.Leo Kuter, a member of the Victorian Apiarists Association (VAA), said there was concern regarding the safety of neo-nicotinoid insecticides, which are used in seed treatments to prevent damage to canola from pests such as red-legged earth mite.
He says studies abroad show some residual traces of the active ingredient, imidacloprid.
“...there seem to be some strong links that bee numbers decline when exposed to the pesticide within what is supposed to be a safe timeframe,” Mr Kuter said.
However Bayer Crop Science, which makes the seed treatment Gaucho, which features imidacloprid, said the overseas trials did not accurately reflect field conditions.
The company stood by the safety of its product, providing it was applied at label rates.
Bayer said the studies exposed bees to a higher dose of imidacloprid than they would ever get in the field, and also focused on bee species not found in Australia.
If there is an issue, it will be a blow for Australian canola producers. Seed treatments containing the neo-nicotinoid insecticides have meant a cut in the application of broad-spectrum insecticides, widely regarded as much more harmful to the environment.
But any concerns for bee safety will be taken seriously by canola producers as well as the bee industry, as bee pollination plays a crucial role in boosting canola yields.
Mr Kuter says bees that formerly did well on canola here were now struggling for condition when leaving treated paddocks.
“It’s not that they are all dying, but I’ve heard the hives come of the canola crook, so bee-keepers aren’t putting the hives out there any more.”
He said it was not a matter of not using insecticides, but more of being aware of any developing issues.
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Dr Alison Bleaney
This week PAN released Honey Bees and Pesticides: State of the Science, a 22-page report http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/Bees&Pesticides;_SOS_FINAL_May2012.pdf
on the factors behind colony collapse disorder (CCD) with a sustained focus on the particular role of pesticides.
By collecting and presenting the findings of dozens of peer-reviewed scientific studies — including a series of damning studies published in the last year — we hope to provide concerned citizens and decisionmakers alike with a point of reference in the heated public debate over what is causing our pollinators to die off at unprecedented rates. All of the studies presented are annotated and most are linked so readers can explore the state of the science for themselves.
The science linking pesticides and CCD http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/47379683#47379683
is complex, but it is not unclear
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Dr Alison Bleaney
Alison, I hope you will pass on this information to the bureaucratic gatekeepers and the politicians in Tasmania that approve these toxic biocides. This fearful politicised bureaucracy doesn’t step out of line or speak up until the naked Emperors give them permission!
Maybe Dr Bleaney get the “it’s all too hard, please go way” routine; a case of don’t rock the boat on the Ship of Fools!
Maybe there IS ‘something in the water’ of Tasmania, Dr Bleaney?
What now?
http://www.celsias.com/article/monsanto-bees/?utm_source=CelsiasWeekly&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=20120522