Leaked Memo Shows EPA Doubts About Bee-Killing Pesticide

[rosesaylavee]

Source: Wired Magazine

Over the concerns of its own scientists, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to approve a controversial pesticide introduced to U.S. markets shortly before the honeybee collapse, according to documents leaked to a Colorado beekeeper.

The pesticide, called clothianidin, is manufactured by German agrochemical company Bayer, though it’s actually banned in Germany. It’s also banned in France, Italy and Slovenia. Those countries fear that clothianidin, which is designed to be absorbed by plant tissue and released in pollen and nectar to kill pests, is also dangerous to pollen- and nectar-eating bees that are critical to some plants’ reproductive success.

In 2003, the EPA approved clothianidin for use in the United States. Since then, it’s become widely used, with farmers purchasing $262 million worth of clothianidin last year. It’s used on used on sugar beets, canola, soy, sunflowers, wheat and corn, the last a pollen-rich crop planted more widely than any other in the United States, and a dietary favorite of honeybees.

...

According to the EPA’s website, the clothianidin review has been moved back to 2012.

Read more: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/epa-clothianidin-controversy/

---

Maybe if this gets as much exposure as that NYT article earlier this fall that attributed the collapse to a 'virus' (and of course written by a scientist with links to Bayer ... http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/honey_bees_ny_times.fortune/index.htm) ...maybe if there is enough stink about this, they may decide to move that pesticide review up to NOW. This is becoming available to homeowners - not just farmers.

Contact the EPA in your state and the federal office: http://www.epa.gov/epahome/comments.htm

[SpiralHawk]

1. Buzzzzzzz

[rosesaylavee]

2. I keep honeybees

and I can't tell you how many people have come up to me with obvious relief after reading that bogus NYT article this past fall - and none were too happy or convinced when I told them it was a fabrication. So glad that this is finally hitting some reliable news source so I can share and get the word out.

Damn corporations.

[Demeter]

11. What Bogus NYT Article?

Can you direct me to it?

[rosesaylavee]

12. Here's a link to the NYT article

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html?_r=3&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

which was widely debunked by others over the following weeks - link to one debunk article: http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/honey_bees_ny_times.fortune/index.htm

[G_j]

19. thanks n/t

[hedgehog]

28. Somewhere out there is a great book covering all the occasions the

New York Times, Time Magazine et all boldly proclaimed a new discovery in science or medicine.......that was later debunked.

[abqmufc]

34. Rule #1 never trust a study done by the US military.

If the military is unable to keep its facts straight on certain wars they fight, how can we ever trust a scientific study done by them? Wow.

[KansDem]

43. New York Times: Wrong on Iraq; wrong on bees...

What's the Gray Lady to do? :shrug:

[Javaman]

15. here you go...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/07bees.html

Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery

DENVER — It has been one of the great murder mysteries of the garden: what is killing off the honeybees?

Related
The Basics: Trouble in the Hive (October 10, 2010)
Green Blog: Giving the Honeybee Its Due (October 7, 2010)
Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons (April 24, 2007)
RSS Feed
Get Science News From The New York Times »
Enlarge This Image

Mike Albans for The New York Times
Honeybees inside a healthy hive near Missoula, Mont.
Since 2006, 20 to 40 percent of the bee colonies in the United States alone have suffered “colony collapse.” Suspected culprits ranged from pesticides to genetically modified food.

Now, a unique partnership — of military scientists and entomologists — appears to have achieved a major breakthrough: identifying a new suspect, or two.

A fungus tag-teaming with a virus have apparently interacted to cause the problem, according to a paper by Army scientists in Maryland and bee experts in Montana in the online science journal PLoS One.

[Mojorabbit]

44. I keep them too

and had the same experience.

[Desertrose]

21. What a sad photo......

Don't these guys just really piss ya off??

(The big friggin' corporations...NOT the bees!)



:hi: SH :hug:

[rosesaylavee]

3. ...

kick

[rosesaylavee]

4. EPA's Phone: [phone]

[OneGrassRoot]

16. Thanks. K&R n/t

[Doremus]

20. Thanks for the number. I called.

They didn't quite know what to do with me but they listened.

[rosesaylavee]

39. Good! Thanks!

I think the call means alot and hopefully they will keep track of the calls. Will post updated info I have found here and at bottom of thread...

Per my email complaint via their website this am, response received stated:

"Your complaint should be directed to the to the Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, EPA in Washington. OPP is the responsible entity for all national reviews and licenses for pesticides used in the U.S. The Web address is http://www.epa.gov/pesticides "

Spoke with a extraordinarily nice and gentle human after getting passed along a number of times who gave another person to call. Will post later if/when I can get hold of them. What I am asking is that the EPA review this again asap and not wait until 2012. I think there are mechanisms in place to do so... not sure of the right wording to trigger that response yet.

Thanks again!

[cate94]

5. K & R

[highplainsdem]

6. K&R

[rosesaylavee]

7. More info on the pesticide Clothianidin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothianidin

[dalaigh lllama]

8. humans are so good at fouling their own nest

thanks for the update, rosie.

[rosesaylavee]

9. My hope is that if we cry FOUL loud enough, the EPA will

bow to the pressure. The article indicates that some there have been aware of this but unable to get the ban to happen. I am hoping to help in any way I can.

BTW, the EPA office in DC opens at 8:30 am EST. [phone].

[indimuse]

10. but of course~~~~ nt

[laylah]

13. K&R

[BlueIris]

14. I saw my first honeybee in half a decade this past fall.

It was a tiny, frail thing, but it was there. Clinging to the screen door out back. Not holding my breath in hope for more.

[japple]

17. Thanks for posting this, rose. K & R

[Kali]

18. thanks for several bits of information - I thought I was pretty much up on things

but clearly not as I didn't even know bees collected corn pollen!

[abqmufc]

22. EPA scientists have been gagged for over 9 years!

Be it climate change email memos that went unopened by the President (and thus climate change was not an issue), or the lack of EPA following their science as well as the recommendations of CAASAC (Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee) or CAAAC (Clean Air Act Advisory Committee) to strengthen the NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards) or toxic standards.

EPA was to release new standards for Ozone and Mercury last week but was told to hold off (last week) due to political pressure.

At least under Bush we could understand why EPA was ineffective, but as for now it just is another reason I've lost all hope.

[valerief]

23. Wow, pesticides are now called viruses in the scientific world.

Our Congress is sooooo bought and paid for.

[burnsei sensei]

25. Isn't the magic of money amazing?

Fungi "tag-team" with viruses.
Reviews of pesticides are moved "up" to 2012.

[LiberalFighter]

24. Which one was responsible for approving the use of the pesticide?

Christine Todd Whitman?
Michael O. Leavitt?
Stephen L. Johnson?

It probably doesn't really matter which one. Just blame them all because they would had approved it if had been under their watch.

[Angry Dragon]

26. k&r

[sulphurdunn]

27. Think DDT

There's a certain irony to a German company selling a pesticide to us that's banned in Germany. Can you say pay to play banana republic? Do you think there is anyway the current government of the US would ever have banned DDT?

[glitch]

32. Much like a British company dumping Corexit in our Gulf that's banned

in Britain.

[marasinghe]

52. much like soft drink makers dumping sodium benzoate preservatives in the us market ....

.... after outcries against the chemical in europe & the uk.
and not a word from our sainted mayor bloomberg or the city council;
unlike their pet crusades against fats & salt in NYC restaurant food.

[texastoast]

42. Shell Chemical fought the banana farmers from bringing suit here in the U.S. in the 90s

Shell found out that, oh gosh, their little pesticidal cocktail caused (drum roll) sterility in the men who applied it, so they sold it to the Costa Rican banana farmers so they wouldn't lose their R&D costs. Then the business-friendly Texas Supreme Court threw out the suit brought in in a courthouse in Texas, three blocks from Shell's home office.

Nice, eh?

[hedgehog]

29. So, we're killing off bees to spray pesticide on

sugar beets? Why not make sugar from honey?

[happygoluckytoyou]

30. and i thought all those BEES just up and killed themselves....

[xxqqqzme]

31. Thank you for posting this.

The additional information about the 'virus' is especially helpful. Put it up on my facebook page to help spread it around.

[DainBramaged]

33. MANY have realized for years this pesticide is the reason bugs in general are disappearing

as are the birds that depend on them to survive.

[Buzz Clik]

35. Ridiculous.

This article in the opening post is nothing short of pure smear: http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/news/honey_bees_ny_times.fortune/index.htm

The only science referenced in the article is cherry-picked to support one position, strange irony considering that is exactly what they are accusing the other side of doing.

Blaming pesticides as the exclusive reason for this is insane. Bees have disappeared from regions with limited pesticide applications, from regions with an entirely different suites of pesticides applied, and they have persisted in areas with heavy applications of the pesticides in question. It's far more likely that the colony collapse is the result of awful management of the hives and the insistence by beekeepers in using a single species. You'd think we'd learn the lessons of monoculture taught to us by exhausting of soils from growing cotton in the South or resistance to herbicides in the corn belt, but we seem to be doomed by our stupidity. And then blame it on someone else.

[rosesaylavee]

47. If I hadn't been following this for a few years, I would agree with you

However, there are a number of groups that have been researching this for several years and the evidence does point to the Bayer product. I would recommend the indy movie Nicotine Bees as that does contain interviews with the research teams at Penn State and I think the U of IL team as well.

Good to be skeptical in general I would say re anything you read. But the research has precluded the viruses and other existing environmental factors.

When you state that honeybees have disappeared from regions away from this pesticide use, could you provide some more information? That would news I didn't have.

[Buzz Clik]

56. How do you explain the disappearance of the bees elsewhere?

These products are not used globally, but the collapse is a global phenomenon.

[rosesaylavee]

57. Can you be more specific or site a region where they are

disappearing that doesn't support crops as well?

[rosesaylavee]

55. And here's another link that may interest you:

http://www.panna.org/media-center/press-release/beekeepers-ask-epa-remove-pesticide-linked-colony-collapse-disorder-citin

"...According to James Frazier, PhD., professor of entomology at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, "Among the neonicotinoids, clothianidin is among those most toxic for honey bees; and this combined with its systemic movement in plants has produced a troubling mix of scientific results pointing to its potential risk for honey bees through current agricultural practices. Our own research indicates that systemic pesticides occur in pollen and nectar in much greater quantities than has been previously thought, and that interactions among pesticides occurs often and should be of wide concern." Dr. Frazier said that the most prudent course of action would be to take the pesticide off the market while the flawed study is being redone.

Clothianidin has been on the market since 2003. With a soil half-life of up to 19 years in heavy soils, and over a year in the lightest of soils, commercial beekeepers are concerned that even an immediate stop-use of clothianidin won’t save their livelihoods or hives in time.

“We are losing more than a third of our colonies each winter; but beekeepers are a stubborn, industrious bunch. We split hives, rebound as much as we can each summer, and then just take it on the chin – eat our losses. So even these big loss numbers understate the problem,” says 50-year beekeeper, David Hackenberg. “What folks need to understand is that the beekeeping industry, which is responsible for a third of the food we all eat, is at a critical threshold for economic reasons and reasons to do with bee population dynamics. Our bees are living for 30 days instead of 42, nursing bees are having to forage because there aren’t enough foragers and at a certain point a colony just doesn’t have the critical mass to keep going. The bees are at that point, and we are at that point. We are losing our livelihoods at a time when there just isn’t other work. Another winter of ‘more studies are needed’ so Bayer can keep their blockbuster products on the market and EPA can avoid a difficult decision, is unacceptable.”

Citing the imminent economic and environmental hazards posed by the continued use of clothianidin, the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, Beekeeping Federation, Beyond Pesticides, Pesticide Action Network, North America and Center for Biological Diversity are asking EPA administrator Lisa Jackson to exercise the Agency’s emergency powers to take the pesticide off the market. ..."

[defendandprotect]

36. From the same EPA which permitted BP to use COREXIT ...????

We are in the deadly embrace of corporatism which has completely overtaken

our government and its agencies.

Capitalism is suicidal in its exploitations of nature -- an it will take all

of us with it --

[rasputin1952]

37. Most obvious thing I can see is that if this pesticide is in pollen...

specifically to kill "pests", if gobs of this stuff goes into the hive before killing the bees, it's in the honey...which in turn means I've ingested the stuff if it is there. Do people ever think of the ramifications before/i] they do something stupid?...:(

Bad enough this stuff kills bees and possibly hummingbirds as well as other beneficial creatures...but now it has the potential to kill mammals as well. I recall the horrific pictures or Japanese girls turned into barely breathing piles of flesh from eating mercury contaminated fish. When does this type of "progress" end? It damn well better be soon...:grr:

[rosesaylavee]

40. that's it... would recommend the indie movie Nicotine Bees

as that details the process as being... MONSANTO SEEDS (yes, them) are coated with this stuff and when the plant blooms, its pollen is thick with this poison.

And as with any group/company there are no doubt some good hearted, thoughtful folks who DID think of this at the EPA but obviously they lost the initial argument. I want them to know that we can help them win the next round and hopefully at least get this stuff suspended from use until a final determination can be made.

Will post some update info at bottom of thread for which department to call.

Thanks!

[Fire Walk With Me]

38. Kick!

What a miracle that we have not yet killed ourselves and the entire planet.

[rosesaylavee]

41. UPDATE: Call the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs

Per my email complaint via their website this am, response received stated:

Your complaint should be directed to the to the Office of Pesticide Programs, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, EPA in Washington. OPP is the responsible entity for all national reviews and licenses for pesticides used in the U.S. The Web address is http://www.epa.gov/pesticides

Spoke with a extraordinarily nice and gentle human after getting passed along a number of times who gave another person to call. Will post later if/when I can get hold of them. What I am asking is that the EPA review this again asap and not wait until 2012. I think there are mechanisms in place to do so... not sure of the right wording to trigger that response yet.

Thanks again!

[HillbillyBob]

45. One of the myriad of reasons we are an organic farm

On edit..funny thing I just saw my neighbor outside and mentioned this seems some of the local farmers around here are using monsantos treated seeds and her dad had bees, but 3/4 died in the hive a few months ago.
I was buying honey from him last summer, but was not on the list this summer because of the lack of bees and honey.

We are using heirloom seeds and no pesticides aside from Neem and now and then Volk oil.

We plant 4 oclock flowers, they are deadly, but irresistible to Japanese beetles, they eat some and die..and the flowers attract humming birds, are attractive and smell nice in the evening too.
We lost ours this year due to weather conditions.

[texastoast]

46. I hate Monsanto

Blessings on all the organic farmers. Funny how doing things the "old-timey" way might save us.

[lovuian]

48. You knew this was coming ...Colony collapse disorder

has a reason that it is occurring

Bayer needs to be sued

[wordpix]

50. ooohhhh---the US government is too SCARED to do that & besides, EPA approved it

under BushCo, of course

[wordpix]

49. now THIS makes sense. WhyTF is EPA reviewing the chemical after approval?

:shrug:

[Kurovski]

51. K&R. (nt).

[arikara]

53. Sugar beets, canola, corn, soy

are now unfortunately GE. I think the prime purpose of engineering the plants is to either enable them to withstand a greater amount of proprietary pesticides, or in some cases to emit a pesticide themselves. None of which would do pollinators any good.

I did see hordes of bees around here this spring and summer, several wild species and honeybees. I let some kale and leeks go to seed and the bees were crazy about them, as well as the comfrey and other flowers. But we don't use any pesticide at all and all the plants are from wholesome natural seed saved organically. We live in a rural area and I don't know of anyone in the area who sprays any poisons around. At least they have some safe areas left.

[rosesaylavee]

54. Monsanto does coat some seeds with this poison...

So yes, GE is involved with this. Just to compound the issue.

[Fire Walk With Me]

58. Kick.