EPA issues new pesticide labels to warn about hazards to bees

[DreamGypsy]

...Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News reports:

The Environmental Protection Agency has unveiled new labels that prohibit the use of some of the controversial pesticides containing neonicotinoids where bees are present.

"Multiple factors play a role in bee colony declines, including pesticides. The Environmental Protection Agency is taking action to protect bees from pesticide exposure, and these label changes will further our efforts," Jim Jones, assistant administrator for the agency's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Preventions, said Thursday in a news release.

<snip>

The labels would be used for products containing imidacloprid, dinotefuran, chlothianidin and thiamethoxam — four of the most widely used neonicotinoids. Such chemicals kill insects with a nerve-poisoning effect. They're controversial because several scientific studies have suggested that even sublethal exposure can harm bee health and contribute to colony collapse disorder.

Here's a partial image of what may appear in the new labels,



Some appropriate skepticism remains -

The EPA's action on pesticide labeling came just a day after the Friends of the Earth and the Pesticide Research Council released a report raising questions about neonicotinoids in plants sold by garden stores. Lisa Archer, food program director of Friends of the Earth, said in a written statement that the EPA's new labels are "a step in the right direction," but still fall "far short of what is needed to protect bees and other pollinators from pesticides that a growing body of evidence show are harming and killing them."

"It's unclear from the EPA press statement and website if consumer products containing neonicotinoids, or plants pre-treated with these pesticides, would be required to carry this label," Archer said. "These products must be labeled."

You can read the EPA press release here.

An infographic on EPA’s new bee advisory box is available here (pdf).

A small step in the correct direction while we wait, and wait, and wait for the outcome of a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to restrict the use of these pesticides.

[lunasun]

1. well its something........ at least it Affirms It Can Kill Bees !!!

[Squinch]

2. So instead of banning it, we're putting a sticker on it? Great.

That'll make the famines caused by non-pollination much more pleasant.

[Javaman]

3. That was my same sentiment.

Rather than fix they problem, they paper over it.