[Pollinator] From E&ENews PM -- AGRICULTURE: EPA launches team to investigate bee die-off. Also new EPA Pollinator Protection web site and Strategic Plan.

[R. Thomas Van Arsdall]

A great way for EPA to help launch 2009 National Pollinator Week!  See June 22 E&E News below, plus the link to EPA’s new Pollinator Protection web site:

 

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ecosystem/pollinator-protection.html

 

The new site contains a wealth of information, including the agency’s new Pollinator Protection Strategic Plan.

 

R. Thomas (Tom) Van Arsdall, Director of Public Affairs

   Pollinator Partnership

   O-(540) 899-3023

   C-(703) 509-4746

    <mailto:tva at pollinator.org> tva at pollinator.org

 


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An E&E Publishing Service 


AGRICULTURE: EPA launches team to investigate bee die-off  (Monday, June 22, 2009)


Sara Goodman, E&E reporter


U.S. EPA announced the formation today of a "pollinator protection team" to determine the role of pesticides in the disappearance of honey bees to a mysterious illness, colony collapse disorder.

EPA and the Agriculture Department have narrowed the potential causes of the disease to six: new and re-emerging pathogens, pesticides, habitat loss, pests that infest bee hives, commercial bee management practices and nutritional stress.

The agencies do not understand the importance of each factor and how to stop the die-off, which began in 2006.

EPA said it would begin by re-evaluating pesticide testing requirements. Traditionally, pesticide manufacturers submit data on the short-term effects of a chemical on individual bees, but the agency is reconsidering that approach in favor of trying to gain a more complete picture of the different ways pesticides might affect bees throughout their lives.

The team will examine current regulatory requirements and compare them to what is known about toxic effects on honey bees, with an eye toward developing more comprehensive testing protocols. It will also focus on risk management approaches, EPA said, in an effort to mitigate potential risks, and encourage international research collaboration.

The honey bee industry is valued at more than $15 billion, with nearly 130 different crops dependent on pollination. Pollinators are responsible for the reproduction of 75 percent of the world's flowering plants, most of which are crop species. USDA estimates a third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honey bee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination.


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