Europe Bans Bee-Harming Pesticides; US Keeps Spraying

[marmar]

(Mother Jones) On Monday, the European Commission voted to place a two-year moratorium on most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are a widely used class of chemicals suspected of contributing to a severe global decline in honeybee health.

In the wake of Europe's decisive action, the US Environmental Protection Agency dithered. Well, it did release a joint report with the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday, generated from a "National Honey Bee Health Stakeholder Conference" the two agencies held last fall. The report fingered no single culprit behind colony collapse disorder (CCD), the name for the steep annual bee die-offs that have been stumping beekeepers since 2006. Instead, it pointed to a "complex set of stressors and pathogens," including poor nutrition (mainly from loss of flowering weeds due to increased herbicide use), viruses, gut parasites, and, yes, pesticides. But it includes a summary of a presentation by a USDA scientist Jeff Pettis noting that "several studies" have shown that low-level exposure to neonics make bees more vulnerable to the common gut parasite Nosema. (Pettis himself is the co-author of one of those studies.) .

Yet, as Natural Resources Defense Council senior scientist Jennifer Sass put it in a Thursday blog post, the joint EPA/USDA report limits itself to "recommendations about best management practices and technical advancements for applying pesticides to reduce dust," while avoiding "recommendations that would reduce the overall sales and profits for chemical makers."

.......(snip).......

The move trains a harsh light on the EPA, which approved the chemicals based on what its own scientists have called flawed research and is currently reviewing them in light of the threat to bees and other pollinators. Earlier this month, an agency spokesperson told CBS News that the review would take five years—meaning that they'll continue to be used widely on farmland in the US during that period. As I reported a while back, neonic-treated crops cover between 150 million to 200 million acres of farmland in the US each year—a land mass equivalent to as much as twice the size of the California. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/05/eu-ban-bee-harming-pesticides-puts-pressure-us-epa

[Esse Quam Videri]

1. The Obama administration

showing who it truly answers to once again.

[Buzz Clik]

2. Bullshit. What a ridiculous post.

Try reading the OP again and making a comment that has relevance.

[lovuian]

3. No seeds with pesticides will be sold to Europe

and America will continue to watch its Bee populations decimated

it will be up to all the big agricultural producers to stop or put pressure on Congress

if they want to be in business in the future

blueberries almonds etc... are pollinated by bees

[Buzz Clik]

4. So many ambiguities, and lots of conflicting industries.

The big players are the pesticide manufacturers, producers of cash crops, farmers, and beekeepers. Billions of dollars on the line for everyone. The mechanism of delivery of the causal agent to the bees is unclear. Neonicotinoids in corn are used as a seed coating; the pesticide provides systemic protection against fungal infections. When the coated corn seeds are planted, the pesticide in the resulting dust are detectable but in minute quantities. Bees do not pollinate corn, nor do they interact with corn for other reasons. The impact of the pesticides on the bees is undeniable, but a complete banning the pesticide is premature.

[ananda]

5. That figures.

We are always so far behind on these things.