'Incredibly Important' Victory for Nation's Honey Bees by California High Court
The bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor is no longer approved for use in California after a ruling by a state superior court that environmental advocates say represents a win for pollinators and the nation's food system.
In a statement Monday noting that "just about every commercial honey bee colony in this country spends at least part of the year in California," Steve Ellis, president of the Pollinator Stewardship Council, called the ruling "incredibly important for pollinators" because "removing systemic insecticides such as sulfoxaflor will help ensure honey bees have a healthy future." That's especially crucial, he said, in light of recent "astounding losses" to honey bee colonies.
Represented in court by environmental law firm Earthjustice, Ellis' group joined the American Beekeeping Federation in challenging the California Department of Pesticide Regulation's (DPR) approval of sulfoxaflor, a chemical produced by Corteva, a spinoff company of the 2017 Dow-DuPont merger.
The bee advocates note that sulfoxaflor is similar to the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, neonics, as they both "systemic" pesticides—making their way from root to plant tissue—and lethal to bees.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/12/07/incredibly-important-victory-nations-honey-bees-california-high-court
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