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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBee Happy!! Bees Win Big in Court, EPA’s Approval of Toxic Pesticide Overturned
by Taylor Hill | September 14, 2015 10:25 am
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A federal court has overturned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) approval of sulfoxaflor, a pesticide linked to the mass die-off of honeybees that pollinate a third of the worlds food supply.
The three-judge panel said the EPA green-lit sulfoxaflor even though initial studies showed the product was highly toxic to pollinators such as bees.
The chemical compound belongs to a class of insecticides, known as neonicotinoids, that scientific studies have implicated in bee deaths.
Because the EPAs decision to unconditionally register sulfoxaflor was based on flawed and limited data, we conclude that the unconditional approval was not supported by substantial evidence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel wrote in its opinion.
In her opinion, Judge Mary M. Schroeder wrote that the EPA had initially decided to conditionally approve the chemical but ordered more studies done to better understand the effects the systemic insecticide would have on bees.
....Snip...Sulfoxaflor, created by Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences, is a systemic insecticide. When its sprayed on soybean, cotton, citrus, fruit and vegetable crops, it kills bugs on contact and is also absorbed into the plants flowers, stems and roots. When insects ingest any part of the plant, they die too.
..... EU member nations banned three neonicotinoids in 2013 for two years after the chemicals were linked to the dramatic decline in bee populations there.
This is the classic pesticide industry shell game, Towers said. As more science underscores the harms of a pesticide, they shift to newer, less studied products. And it takes regulators years to catch up.
http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/14/epa-pesticide-overturned/
ETA~
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Let's appreciate it!!
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)stroll my garden because there are so few, and I'm in a semirural area. I also plant to attract and sustain insects in general, not that it's kept most bees from disappearing while we've been here.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)It is so sad that there are so comparatively few now. Along with fewer bats, butterflies, etc.
― Jane Goodall
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)but sometimes I remember that whole flocks of birds were common when I was a child, amazing corps des ballets dancing across the sky and lining telephone wires. And even then "silent springs" were already the reality.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)It is very disturbing to me and it should be to everyone.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)The industry spends millions to hide it or belittle its importance. Seems to be effective, sadly.
stage left
(2,962 posts)I'm seeing more actual honeybees in my yard and garden. I stopped using any kind of pesticide several years ago. Everything has holes in the leaves,but that's ok.
RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Thanks for sharing your goods news too! Love that!!
Takket
(21,577 posts)RiverLover
(7,830 posts)Study strengthens link between neonicotinoids and collapse of honey bee colonies
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-strengthens-link-between-neonicotinoids-and-collapse-of-honey-bee-colonies/
Colony Collapse Disorder Linked to Neonicotinoids
http://www.americanscientist.org/science/pub/colony-collapse-disorder-linked-to-neonicotinoids
Colony Collapse Disorder: European Bans on Neonicotinoid Pesticides
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/ccd-european-ban.html
What Is Killing America's Bees and What Does It Mean for Us?
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/what-is-killing-americas-bees-and-what-does-it-mean-for-us-20150818
Bee Experts Dismantle Touted 'Harvard' Neonics-Colony Collapse Disorder Study As 'Activist Science'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-entine/post_8761_b_6323626.html
That last one was written by a GMO guy....