[Pollinator] Oregon restricts pesticides in bee die-offs

[Matthew Shepherd]

From: San Francisco Gate

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Oregon-restricts-pesticides-in-be
e-die-offs-5002304.php

 


Oregon restricts pesticides in bee die-offs


Published 12:24 pm, Friday, November 22, 2013 


SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Department of Agriculture
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fs
cience&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Oregon+Department+of+Agriculture%22>
is restricting two pesticides implicated in bee die-offs this summer in
Wilsonville and Hillsboro.

Products that contain the two ingredients will be required to carry
Oregon-specific labels, and the department is asking the Environmental
Protection Agency if national restrictions are needed.

In June, about 50,000 bumblebees were found dead and dying in a Target
parking lot in Wilsonville under linden trees that had been sprayed.
Hundreds of bees were found dead days later in downtown Hillsboro.

Because of that, department Director Katy Coba
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fs
cience&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Katy+Coba%22>  told state legislators
Thursday, the pesticides will not be allowed to be applied to linden and
basswood trees or other members of their genus, Tilia.

"This is a fairly aggressive approach by the department, one that we use
very carefully and consciously," Coba said at a hearing.

The pesticides contain dinotefuran and imidacloprid. They are part of a
class known as neonicotinoids.

Right after the incident, ODA issued a temporary restriction on 18
pesticides containing dinotefuran. That ban expires Dec. 24. The labeling
and use restrictions go into effect next year.

At the hearing, Scott Dahlman
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fs
cience&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Scott+Dahlman%22> , executive director
of the farm and forester group Oregonians for Food & Shelter, said the
pesticides don't do damage unless they are used improperly, as happened last
summer.

"Applied correctly, pesticides are very safe," Silverton nursery owner
Carson Lord said. "Nearly every piece of produce, nut and grain in the
grocery store has been sprayed with pesticides."

However, Scott Hoffman
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fs
cience&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Scott+Hoffman%22>  Black, executive
director of the bee advocacy group the Xerces Society
<http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Fs
cience&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Xerces+Society%22> , said
neonicotinoids "are all highly toxic to bees."

He said the group wants to keep the most toxic and most used of the
neonicotinoids away from the plant species, where they affect the most
insects.

___

Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com

 

 

________

 

Matthew Shepherd

Communications Director

 

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Protecting the Life that Sustains Us

 

628 NE Broadway, Ste 200, Portland, OR 97232-1324, USA

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