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<H1 class=title id=page-title><FONT size=3>From <EM>Better
Farming</EM></FONT></H1>
<H1 class=title>Health Canada blames corn and soybean growers for bee
deaths</H1>
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<DIV class="field-item even"><SPAN class=date-display-single>September 16,
2013</SPAN></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<P>Beekeepers unhappy that federal protection proposal would still allow
neonicotinoid seed treatments on field crops</P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class="field-item even"><IMG height=158 alt="" src="http://www.betterfarming.com/sites/default/files/onlinenews/honeybee_3.jpg" width=200></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<P>by SUSAN MANN</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>On Friday, PMRA released a consultation document outlining four protective
measures for the 2014 planting season. They are:</P>
<P>• Require the use of safer, dust-reducing seed flow
lubricants.<BR>• Require adherence to safer seed planting
practices.<BR>• New pesticide and seed package labels with
enhanced warnings.<BR>• 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.</P>
<P>People have until Dec. 12 to comment on the proposals.</P>
<P>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.”</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>John Cowan, vice president strategic development for Grain Farmers of
Ontario, couldn’t be reached for comment.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.”</P>
<P>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.”</P>
<P>Requiring people to follow safer seed planting practices was tried last year,
Davidson says. “This year was worse than last year” for bee deaths.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>The beekeepers may be saying bees are being exposed to neonicotinoid products
through pollen, “but the science says otherwise,” he notes.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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 continued use
of the seed treatments for corn and soybeans.</P>
<P>“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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P>The PMRA is also still working on re-evaluating all uses of neonicotinoid
insecticides in cooperation with the United States’ Environmental Protection
Agency. <SPAN style="COLOR: #b22222"><STRONG>BF</STRONG></SPAN></P>
<P> </P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=field-label>Description (Tag): </DIV>
<DIV class=field-items>
<DIV class="field-item even"><A href="http://www.betterfarming.com/taxonomy/term/2869">neonicotinoid
pesticides</A></DIV>
<DIV class="field-item odd"><A href="http://www.betterfarming.com/category/description-tag/bees">bees</A></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Laurie Davies
Adams<BR>Executive Director<BR>Pollinator Partnership<BR>4</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">23 Washington St.
5th Fl.<BR>San Francisco, CA 94111<BR>T: 415.362.1137<BR>F: 415.362.0176<BR><IMG SRC="cid:X.MA1.1379503926@aol.com" height=173 width=319 border=0 DATASIZE="27063" ID="MA1.1379503926" ></FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR>Follow up on <A href="http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators">Twitter</A> and <A href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pollinator-Partnership/48680445464">Facebook</A>!</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>