[Pollinator] Health Canada blames corn and soybean growers for bee deaths

[Ladadams at aol.com]

From Better  Farming
Health Canada blames corn and soybean growers for bee  deaths
 
© AgMedia Inc.
 
 
September 16,  2013


 
 
 
Beekeepers unhappy that federal protection proposal would still allow  
neonicotinoid seed treatments on field crops


 
 



 
 
 
by SUSAN MANN 
The way farmers are currently using neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean  
seeds are impacting bees and other pollinators, Health Canada’s Pest 
Management  Regulatory Agency has concluded. But the agency is trying to find a 
way to  continue allowing farmers to use the insecticides while protecting the 
 environment. 
On Friday, PMRA released a consultation document outlining four protective  
measures for the 2014 planting season. They are: 
•    Require the use of safer, dust-reducing seed flow  lubricants.
•    Require adherence to safer seed planting  practices.
•    New pesticide and seed package labels with  enhanced warnings.
•    Companies must justify the continued  need for neonicotinoid treatment 
on up to 100 per cent of the corn seed and 50  per cent of the soybean 
seed. 
People have until Dec. 12 to comment on the proposals. 
Dan Davidson, president of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association, says the  
PMRA’s proposal is a start but “definitely doesn’t go far enough.” But 
CropLife  Canada’s vice president, chemistry, Pierre Petelle, says they support 
the PMRA’s  focus on reducing dust. “We’ve been an active participant in 
pursuing that  goal.” 
CropLife Canada is a trade association representing the manufacturers,  
develops and distributors of pest control and plant biotechnology products. The 
 group also supports the agency’s proposals on product label changes “to 
help  ensure that growers are aware of the products that they’re using and 
understand  ways they can help minimize dust and potential exposure for bees,” 
he says. 
John Cowan, vice president strategic development for Grain Farmers of  
Ontario, couldn’t be reached for comment. 
The beekeepers association will continue pressing the Ontario government to 
 ban neonicotinoid insecticides on field crops. So far, the association has 
 35,000 signatures on its petition calling for a ban. The association is 
going to  keep the petition going but “we are thinking of how we should 
present it,”  Davidson explains. 
He says the most troubling aspect of the PMRA’s proposal is the agency is  
still saying “100 per cent of the corn acres needed this treatment, which is 
 just not true.” Similarly 50 per cent of the soybean acres don’t need the 
 treatment either. 
On the one hand, PMRA is admitting there’s a problem with neonicotinoid  
insecticides but “they’re not really willing to do anything about it,” he 
says.  And that’s “very frustrating to a beekeeper.” 
In addition, controlling dust won’t eliminate the bee deaths because the 
bees  are being exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides through foraging for 
water in  puddles and from pollen along with through the dust. “There are just 
too many  routes of exposure.” 
Requiring people to follow safer seed planting practices was tried last 
year,  Davidson says. “This year was worse than last year” for bee deaths. 
Petelle agrees bee deaths won’t be eliminated by the control of dust from  
neonicotinoid insecticides but he says it’s because bees are dying from many 
 other factors rather than just the insecticides. 
He also contradicts Davidson’s statements about bees being exposed to  
neonicotinoid insecticides through pollen. Studies required to register  
pesticide products in Canada call for companies to submit data on residues in  
pollen and nectar and “the data to date show very clearly that those are not  
routes of exposure that are of concern for bees,” Petelle says. 
The beekeepers may be saying bees are being exposed to neonicotinoid 
products  through pollen, “but the science says otherwise,” he notes. 
The PMRA’s document says in the spring of 2012, the agency received a  
significant number of pollinator mortality reports, mainly from Ontario and  
Quebec corn-growing regions. “Areas of high corn production correlated well 
with  the locations of bee mortalities,” the document says. 
PMRA concluded the majority of pollinator mortalities were the result of  
exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides, likely through exposure to 
contaminated  dust generated during treated corn seed planting. The agency also said 
the  unusually dry and warm weather conditions last spring was a contributing 
factor.  Best management practices were implemented to reduce pollinator 
exposure. 
But this spring there was more “typical weather patterns” and the agency 
says  it continued to receive a significant number of pollinator mortality 
reports  from corn and soybean growing regions of Ontario, Quebec and some 
from Manitoba  too. The agency concluded “the current agricultural practices 
related to the use  of neonicotinoid treated corn and soybean seed are not 
sustainable,” the  document says. 
While it’s calling for additional protection measures for the 2014 growing  
season, PMRA is continuing to work with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,  
provincial governments, growers, beekeepers and industry to determine if 
there  are other options that would protect the environment and allow the con
tinued use  of the seed treatments for corn and soybeans. 
“Bee health is a complex issue that goes beyond the incidents in 2012 and  
2013” and may involve other factors, such as parasites, disease and climate, 
the  document says. CropLife Canada is disappointed the federal government 
hasn’t  launched an initiative to address “some of these other factors of 
bee health,”  Petelle says, noting there has been a lot focus on pesticides 
but very little  focus on other well-known factors affecting bee health. 
Despite the release of the PMRA’s proposals, the Bee Health Working Group 
in  Ontario will continue working to support the development and 
implementation of  strategies to mitigate the risks to honeybees from exposure to 
neonicotinoid  insecticides, says Mark Cripps, spokesperson for Premier and 
Agriculture  Minister Kathleen Wynne. 
PMRA is a member of the bee health working group in Ontario so the agency  “
will continue to inform the recommendations developed by group,” he says, 
noting the Ontario agriculture minister is pleased the PMRA is taking its 
role  in pesticide management in Canada seriously. 
The PMRA is also still working on re-evaluating all uses of neonicotinoid  
insecticides in cooperation with the United States’ Environmental Protection 
 Agency. BF 



 
Description (Tag): 
 
_neonicotinoid  pesticides_ 
(http://www.betterfarming.com/taxonomy/term/2869) 
_bees_ (http://www.betterfarming.com/category/description-tag/bees) 



 
Laurie Davies  Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington St.  5th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111
T: 415.362.1137
F: 415.362.0176

Follow up on _Twitter_ (http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators)  and _Facebook_ 
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