[Pollinator] Bee health debate heats up over pesticides

Fri Dec 6 07:53:22 PST 2013

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Bee health debate heats up over pesticides

 <http://www.agriculture.com/persona/407> John Walter 12/05/2013 @ 1:58pm 

http://www.agriculture.com/news/policy/bee-health-debate-heats-up-over_4-ar3
5972

A new national campaign to restrict use of a widely applied group of
pesticides is bringing increased attention to the question of how to improve
the health of honeybees and other pollinators. 

This week a full-page advertisement appeared in major U.S. newspapers
calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to impose a moratorium
on use of neonicotinoids, a type of chemical used in seed treatments and
other insecticides. 

A large group of advocacy and environmental organizations, organic food
businesses, and agricultural activists signed the petition, which cites the
website Save-Bees.org. The ad was paid for by the Ceres Trust. 

The ad also endorsed a U.S. House Bill, Saving America's Pollinators Act,
which seeks to require EPA to suspend the registration of a group of
neonicotinoid insecticides used in seed treatments and other products until
proving that the insecticide aren't causing "unreasonable adverse effects"
on pollinators.  

"This week, 15 countries are imposing a two-year restriction on the use of
several of these chemicals," the ad stated. Currently, EPA is not expected
to take further action until 2018, it said. "Bees can't wait five more years
- they are dying now." 

The pollinators bill in the House, introduced by Representative John Conyers
(D-MI) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), is cosponsored by 38 Democrats. In other
recent action, House Republicans prepared a draft report directing EPA to
further review neonicotinoids for their impact on pollinators. The draft
from the House appropriations committee stated that research suggests that
the pesticides increase threats to bee health, according to a report from
Insideepa.com. 

Also, a federal lawsuit in a U.S. district court pits environmentalists
against manufacturers over the claim that pollinator impacts are unavoidable
because of their systemic mode of action, which places the chemicals in the
plant pollen, nectar, leaves, and stems.

Pesticide manufacturers and other agricultural interests have pointed to a
recent report from EPA and USDA showing that there is no "smoking gun," no
single cause, in the honeybee health crisis. 

The report, released last spring, cited multiple factors for the decline in
honeybee colony numbers, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor
nutrition, and pesticide exposure.

The Save-Bees.org campaign "distorts the real situation regarding pollinator
health and repeats the same unsupported accusations regarding the use of
critical crop protection products," says Bill Marks, senior counselor for
Porter Novelli, which represents Bayer, a manufacturer of neonicotinoid
products.

"While our industry recognizes the importance of honeybees to agriculture
and supports reasonable measures to protect them, it is incorrect and
irresponsible to suggest that neonicotinoid insecticides are responsible for
declines in bee colony health," Marks told Agriculture.com. "Calls by
advocacy groups to ban neonicotinoids would only hurt the American farmer
and would have no appreciable benefit to bee colony health."

A scientific group devoted to conservation of pollinators disagrees, saying
that neonicotinoids are a significant cause of bee declines. The problem
with the insecticides is fourfold, says Scott Black, executive director of
the Xerces Society: The insecticides are highly toxic to pollinators, they
are systemic, long-lived, and they are widely used, he says.

While embracing "smart use of pesticides" in integrated pest-management
practices, Black says "neonicotinoids don't work well in the IPM structure.
They are a problem for bees. Action should be taken to learn where they are
safe and where they are not. We think EPA should pull the products from the
market then reevaluate their safety."

In the same week as the media campaign against neonicotinoids, agricultural
groups launched a program promoting "safe use of seed treatments." 

The effort by the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and CropLife
America (CLA) provides new information and research to growers on planting,
storing, and handling treated seed. It was endorsed by the National Corn
Growers Association, Farm Bureau, the American Soybean Association, and the
National Cotton Council.

The groups began the campaign in response to "growing concern about the
potential effect of seed treatment dust from planting on pollinators and the
environment," ASTA and CLA said in a statement. 

"The health of pollinators, especially honeybees is crucial to agricultural
production," said Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CropLife America, a crop
protection industry trade organization. "The crop protection industry, seed
companies, seed treatment applicators, equipment manufacturers, and farmers
all play a role in supporting thriving bee populations through stewardship
and sound science."

Black of the Xerces Society welcomed the initiatives from the industry
organizations. But, he added that "if they are serious about pollinator
conservation, they need to work to provide more nontoxic pest-control
alternatives, including nontreated seed." 

"As any farmer knows, there's no silver bullet," Black says. "But we need to
keep looking for multiple solutions." 

_______

Scott Hoffman Black

Executive Director

     The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Chair

     IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA

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