(Beyond Pesticides, January 11, 2012) On January 10, beekeepers from across the country gathered at a national conference, with environmental organizations at their side, to draw attention to the growing plight facing their industry —the decline of honey bees, a problem that has far reaching implications for the U.S. economy. The disappearance of the bees alerts us to a fundamental and systemic flaw in our approach to the use of toxic chemicals -and highlights the question as to whether our risk assessment approach to regulation will destroy our food system, environment, and economy. “Bees and other pollinators are the underpinnings of a successful agricultural economy,” said Brett Adee, Co-Chair of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board and owner of Adee Honey Farms. “Without healthy, successful pollinators, billions of dollars are at stake.” Many family-owned beekeeping operations are migratory, with beekeepers traveling the country from state-to-state, during different months of the year to provide pollination services and harvest honey and wax. Bees in particular are responsible for pollinating many high-value crops, including pumpkins, cherries, cranberries, almonds, apples, watermelons, and blueberries. So any decline in bee populations, health and productivity can have especially large impacts on the agricultural economy (see factsheet). Honey […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 10, 2012) A Purdue University study shows that honey bees’ exposure to the highly toxic neonicotinoid pesticide clothianidin, as well as thiamethoxam, is greater than previously thought. Beyond Pesticides, as a part of a coalition of beekeeping and environmental groups, challenged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a December 2010 letter for allowing the continued use of this bee-killing pesticide after EPA admitted in a leaked memo that its field study on bees is inadequate. The study, “Multiple Routes of Pesticide Exposure for Honey Bees Living Near Agricultural Fields,” was published January 3, 2012 in the online edition of PLoS ONE. Like other neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin is a systemic pesticide, which is taken up by a plant’s vascular system and expressed through pollen, nectar, and gutation droplets. It is most commonly applied by seed treatment. Most pesticides that are toxic to bees carry a warning that the product cannot be applied while foraging bees are present. As this study shows, systemic pesticides continue to expose and poison bees throughout foraging season. The study authors decided to take a closer look at clothianidin routes of exposure because of its prevalence in honey bee pollen and comb material, combined […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 28, 2011) St. Louis-based chemical and seed giant Monsanto Co. has purchased a company called Beeologics, which has developed a product intended to counteract viral agents that plague honey bee colonies in an attempt to stem the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, advocates wonder whether the antiviral agent will result in any significant decline of CCD when bees around the country and across the world continue to be exposed to highly toxic pesticides that are known to have serious effects on a range of pollinators, including honey bees. Beeologics was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in both Florida and Israel. The company’s antiviral agent, called Remembee, is designed to fight a virus that is commonly thought to be a contributing factor to CCD. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Monsanto spokesperson Kelly Powers said that, “I don’t need to tell you how important bees are to farmers who rely on pollination, and Remembee has great promise, pending approvals.” The product is currently being reviewed for potential commercial sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Efforts to counteract CCD are commendable, as a range of factors, including viruses as well as colony invaders such […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 25, 2011) Farmers in California and other states have begun planting bee-friendly flowers and shrubs to attract bees, whose populations have been severely declining in recent years under a complex set of circumstances. Farmers hope to sustain native bees and strengthen dwindling honey bee populations as well as lower their pollination costs. For many farmers that rely on bees to pollinate their crops, creating safe bee habitat and reducing chemical assaults can help stem the tide of declining pollinator populations. These efforts, organized by the Xerces Society, a Portland, Ore.-based nonprofit group, and other organizations are aimed to educate and help farmers boost dwindling wild pollinator populations needs to pollinate their crops. According to Xerces Society, as part of their pollinator conservation program, farmers and land managers are trained with the latest science-based approaches to reversing the trend of pollinator declines. California farmers are provided seeds for native plants like wild rose, aster, sage, manzanita, and other shrubs and trees to entice bees. New bee habitat can also reduce a farmer’s costs and alleviate the stress on honey bees. “For bees to thrive, they need a diverse diet, so we’re trying to bring more pollen diversity to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 4, 2011) In September, Bayer CropScience announced that it plans to phase-out its most acutely toxic pesticides, all remaining World Health Organization (WHO) class I products, by the end of 2012. While this is a positive development, Beyond Pesticides points out that other Bayer pesticides, such as its bee-killing insecticides imidacloprid and clothianidin, will remain on the market. Activists around the globe have mixed reactions to Bayer’s announcement, which comes over 15 years after Bayer first promised to phase-out its WHO Class I products. Philipp Mimkes of the Coalition Against Bayer Dangers based in Germany said, “This is an important success for environmental organizations from all over the world who have fought against these deadly pesticides for decades. But we must not forget that Bayer broke their original promise to withdraw all class I products by the year 2000. Many lives could have been saved. It is embarrassing that the company only stopped sales because the profit margins of these chemical time bombs have fallen so much.” Acutely toxic pesticides with a WHO Class I rating are extremely toxic and present an immediate hazard to farmworkers and others in the vicinity of pesticide applications. The WHO estimates […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 27, 2011) Beyond Pesticides invites you to join the our board of directors and staff to celebrate 30 years of protecting public health and the environment through science, policy and grassroots action on Thursday, October 27, 2011 in Washington, DC. We will be hosting our 30th Anniversary reception with live music and a screening of the award-winning film Vanishing of the Bees at 6:30 pm in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets (14th and V Streets NW) in Washington, DC. Beekeepers featured in Vanishing of the Bees will introduce the film. In recognition of our 30th anniversary and the important work that needs to be done to protect health and the environment –through the restriction of pesticides and the adoption of organic practices and policies– please plan to join us for this event and consider a donation between $30 and $3000. Donate and RSVP. Beyond Pesticides was founded in 1981 as the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides to effect change through local action, assisting individuals and community-based organizations to eliminate unnecessary toxic pesticide use, while promoting safer alternatives. The founders felt that without the existence of such an organized, national network, local, state and […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 14, 2011) A ruling last week by the European Court of Justice states that honey produced though cross-pollination with a genetically modified (GM) crop must be authorized as a GM product before being sold. The ruling means that the European Union (EU) will have to ban imported honey containing traces of pollen from GM crops that have not been approved for entry. Honey exports from the United States, Canada, Argentina or Brazil, countries with no regulations on the subject, will now be virtually impossible. In the ruling, which, in part, addressed the viability of GM pollen, delivered September 6, 2011, the Court observes, first, that the pollen in question may be classified as a GMO only if it is an ”˜organism’ that is a ”˜biological entity capable’ either of ”˜replication’ or of ”˜transferring genetic material.’ If the pollen in question has lost all specific and individual ability to reproduce, it should be determined whether that pollen is otherwise capable of ”˜transferring genetic material.’ taking due account of the scientific data available and considering all forms of scientifically-established transfer of genetic material. The court concludes, “Honey and food supplements containing pollen derived from a GMO are foodstuffs produced […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 6, 2011) Scientists in France have discovered that honey bees are at a higher risk of dying from infection by Nosema ceranae (N. ceranae) when they are exposed to low doses of insecticides. The results, presented in the journal PLoS ONE, support the theory that combining more N. ceranae with high pesticide content in beehives could contribute to colony depopulation. The French study, “Exposure to Sublethal Doses of Fipronil and Thiacloprid Highly Increases Mortality of Honeybees Previously Infected by Nosema ceranae,” brought together researchers from the Laboratoire Microorganismes: Génome et Environnment and the Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnment who utilized their respective skills in parasitology and toxicology to assess the effect of pathogen/toxin interactions on bee health. In the laboratory, the researchers chronically exposed newly emerged honey bees, some healthy and others infected with Nosema ceranae, to low doses of insecticides: fipronil and thiacloprid. They found that the infected bees died when they were chronically exposed to insecticides, even at sublethal doses, unlike the healthy bees. This combined effect on honeybee mortality was observed with daily exposure to extremely low doses (over 100 times less than the LD50 or dose needed to kill 50% of the sample population, […]

(Beyond Pesticides, July 1, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted emergency approval for the use of the neonicotinoid pesticide dinotefuran to control brown marmorated stink bugs in seven eastern states. Dinotefuran is a member of the neonicotinoid family of systemic pesticides that is known to be highly toxic to bees and associated with Colony Collapse Disorder. The states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia had previously asked EPA for emergency approval of the pesticide due to a ballooning stink bug population. The short term emergency measure became effective June 24 and will expire on October 15 of this year. Dinotefuran is already approved by EPA for use on other crops, such as grapes, cotton, and some vegetables. The emergency approval relates to the pesticide’s use on orchard crops such as apples, pears, peaches, and nectarines, for which it has not previously been allowed. Growers of those crops will now be able to apply dinotefuran from the ground twice per season. The agency will allow a total of 29,000 orchard acres to be treated, which does not include applications to the previously approved crops. Under a controversial stipulation known as a Section […]

(Beyond Pesticides, June 10, 2011) A report released jointly by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) shows that losses of honeybee populations over the 2010/2011 winter remained abnormally high, reflecting continuing damages attributed to colony collapse disorder (CCD). CCD, linked to a range of factors and agricultural chemicals, including systemic pesticides, has devastated bees and beekeepers around the country in recent years. According to the survey, 30% of managed honeybee colonies across the country were lost over the winter. Over the past five years, since the discovery of CCD, annual winter colony losses have hovered near the 30% mark. Similar loss percentages for the previous four years reflect this trend: 34% for the 2009/2010 winter, 29% for 2008/2009, 36% for 2007/2008, and 32% for 2006/2007. ARS entomologist Jeffrey Pettis, PhD, who helped to conduct the survey and has been the agency’s lead researcher on CCD heading up the USDA Bee Research Laboratory, said, “The lack of increase in losses is marginally encouraging in the sense that the problem does not appear to be getting worse for honey bees and beekeepers. But continued losses of this size put tremendous pressure […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 4, 2011) According to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internal review of pesticide registrations under special circumstances, also known as “conditional registration,” the agency may reduce its use of this “imprecise” category, whilch allows widespread use of toxic chemicals not fully tested. Conditional registration of pesticides allows market entry for a product in the absence of certain data. Recent reports have found that certain conditionally registered pesticides known to be hazardous to pollinators were allowed to used by EPA without a full data set. In an April 25, 2011 post on its website, EPA provides details on its recently completed internal review on the use of conditional registration for pesticide products. The agency has come under scrutiny recently since it was revealed that the conditionally registered pesticide, clothianidin, did not at the time it allowed the pesticide to be widely used have pertinent field data required on honeybees, even though the pesticide is known to pose risks to these vulnerable pollinators. This data is still outstanding even though clothianidin continues to be used in the environment. Conditional registration is allowed under Section 3(c)(7) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), whilch allows pesticide registration […]

(Beyond Pesticides, May 3, 2011) Beyond Pesticides is pleased to announce the launch of its YouTube Channel. Officially launched this week, the channel features keynote presentations and panel sessions from Beyond Pesticides’ 29th National Pesticide Forum held April 2011 at the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora, CO. The videos serve as an educational resource for those working to change pesticide policies in their communities, schools, institutions, state and nationwide. Individuals and organizations are invited to submit their own videos to be included on the Beyond Pesticides’ channel. Featured videos included with the initial launch include: — Pesticides 101: An introduction to pesticide issues (Caroline Cox, Center for Environmental Health) — Protecting Pollinators from Pesticides: Stopping the demise of honeybees (Tom Theobald, Niwot Honey Farm; James Frazier, PhD, Penn State University; Marygael Meister, Denver Beekeepers Association) — Genetically Engineered Food: Failed promises and hazardous outcomes (George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety) — Health and Science Panel (John Adgate, PhD, Colorado School of Public Health; Dana Boyd Barr, PhD, Emory University; Christine Parks, PhD, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); Changlu Wang, PhD; Rutgers University) — Beyond Lists: Where did all those pesticides come from? (Theo Colborn, PhD, The […]

(Beyond Pesticides, April 1, 2011) A British government scientist on Wednesday announced that he has ordered a review of a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, to determine what effects they may have on bee and pollinator health. Neonicotinoids, such as clothianidin and imidacloprid, have come under intense scrutiny recently due to concerns regarding their toxicity to honeybees, which are essential for a secure food supply in their role as crop pollinators. This has led some to suggest that chemicals such as these could be contributors to honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). According to the London Daily Mail, the chief scientist at the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Professor Robert Watson, has directed DEFRA scientists to reexamine findings on neonicotinoids and their effects on bees. The Mail suggests that Watson may have been partly motivated by a recent study done by Dr. Jeffrey Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. This study was the first to show that neonicotinoids impact the survival of bees at levels below the level of detection, meaning that field studies would not have considered the role of the pesticide, because they would not have detected it. Although a […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 25, 2011) From protecting pollinators and banning genetic engineering to going organic in the food we eat and the way we manage our yards, parks and open spaces – these are just a few of the issues that will be addressed at the 29th National Pesticide Forum, Sustainable Community: Practical solutions for health and the environment, April 8-9 at the Colorado School of Public Health in Denver (Aurora), Colorado. Maria Rodale, CEO of Rodale Inc., publisher of Organic Gardening and Prevention magazines, and the author of Organic Manifesto will be a conference keynote speaker. See the full speaker list and schedule of events. Registration is $35 and includes all sessions and organic food. Leading up to the 29th National Pesticide Forum in Denver, Beyond Pesticides and the Denver Botanic Gardens will be hosting a free screening of the award-winning film Vanishing of the Bees on Wednesday, April 6th, 7:00pm at the Denver Botanic Gardens (1007 York Street). The film, which is narrated by Ellen Page, takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee and empowers the audience to fight back. Call to the Conference: This national […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 14, 2011) Scientists working for the United Nations (UN) reveal in a report published March 10, 2011 that the collapse of honeybee colonies is now a global phenomenon that could have devastating consequences. Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are now being observed in China, Japan and Egypt according to the report, “Global Bee Colony Disorders and other Threats to Insect Pollinators,” from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In the UNEP report, leading honeybee experts in the world stress that the potentially disastrous decline in bees —which are a vital pollinating element in food production for the growing global population””is likely to continue unless humans profoundly change their ways from the use of insecticides to air pollution. “The way humanity manages or mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part define our collective future in the 21st century,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said. “The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.” “Human beings have fabricated the illusion that in the 21st century they have the technological prowess to […]

(Beyond Pesticides, March 8, 2011) Leading up to the 29th National Pesticide Forum in Denver, Beyond Pesticides and the Denver Botanic Gardens will be hosting a free screening of the award-winning film Vanishing of the Bees on Wednesday, April 6th, 7:00pm at the Denver Botanic Gardens (1007 York Street). The film, which is narrated by Ellen Page, takes a piercing investigative look at the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee and empowers the audience to fight back. Join us for the film Wednesday evening, and then learn more about Colony Collapse Disorder at the National Pesticide Forum at the Colorado School of Public Health, Friday evening and Saturday, April 8-9. The film is free. Register for the conference online. Film Synopsis Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables. Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 23, 2011) In response to a request by beekeepers and environmentalists to remove a pesticide linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a letter, defended the pesticide clothianidin and the scientific study in question which was identified by beekeepers as a critically flawed study. EPA states that it does not intend to suspend or cancel clothianidin, even though independent studies have linked this chemical and others in its class to bee decline. Beyond Pesticides, as a part of a group of environmentalists and beekeepers, broke the news last December that a core study underpinning the registration of the insecticide clothianidin was unsound, citing leaked EPA memos which discloses the critically flawed scientific study and its reclassification as a “core” study on which clothianidin’s conditional registration was contingent on, to a “supplemental” study. Bayer CropSceicne, manufacturer of clothianidin designed and submitted to study to EPA as part of clothianidin’s registration requirement. Beekeepers claim that the initial field study guidelines, which the Bayer study failed to satisfy, were insufficiently rigorous to test whether or not clothianidin contributes to CCD in a real-world scenario: the field test evaluated the wrong crop, over an insufficient […]

(Beyond Pesticides, February 15, 2011) What do an organic CEO, the lawyer leading the fight to ban GE alfalfa, a scientist who linked pesticide exposure to ADHD, and a beekeeper who exposed leaked EPA documents have in common? They will all be speaking at Sustainable Community: Practical solutions for health and the environment, the 29th National Pesticide Forum, April 8-9 at the Colorado School of Public Health in Denver (Aurora), Colorado. This national environmental conference will cover topics such as pesticides and health, pollinators, organic food and farming, genetically engineered crops, healthy communities, organic land care, non-toxic bed bug control, and more. The event is open to the public and registration starts at $35. Limited scholarships are available, contact Beyond Pesticides for information. Speaker highlights (see full list) Maria Rodale — author of Organic Manifesto, CEO of Rodale Inc. -publisher of Organic Gardening and Prevention magazines, and co-chair of the research-based Rodale Institute’s board of directors. Dana Boyd Barr, PhD — Emory University researcher whose studies have linked pesticide exposure to ADHD and other learning problems, reduced birth weight, diminished sperm quality and more. Theo Colborn, PhD — honored by Time magazine as a global Environmental Hero, Dr. Colborn is […]

(Beyond Pesticides, January 25, 2011) Research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Bee Research Laboratory and Penn State University shows that the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid contribute —at extremely low levels— to bee deaths and possibly colony collapse disorder (CCD), the widespread disappearance of honey bees that has killed off more than a third of commercial honey bees in the U.S. While the study has not been published yet, the UK’s The Independent newspaper reports that honeybees exposed to imidacloprid are more susceptible to the fungal pathogen Nosema. This is the first study to show that neonicotinoids impact the survival of bees at levels below the level of detection, meaning that field studies would not have considered the role of the pesticide, because they would not have detected it. USDA researcher Jeffrey Pettis, PhD and Penn State University researcher Dennis Van Engelsdorp, PhD explained their research in the 2010 documentary, The Strange Disappearance of the Honeybees (transcript courtesy of Grist.org): [Pettis] I’ve done a recent study actually in collaboration with Dennis van Engelsdorp and some other researchers, where we exposed whole colonies to very low levels of neo-nicotinoids in this case, and then ”˜challenged’ bees from those colonies, with Nosema […]

(Beyond Pesticides, December 9, 2010) Beekeepers and environmentalists called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) December 8, to remove a pesticide linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), citing a leaked EPA memo that discloses a critically flawed scientific support study. The November 2nd memo identifies a core study underpinning the registration of the insecticide clothianidin as unsound after EPA quietly re-evaluated the pesticide just as it was getting ready to allow a further expansion of its use. Clothianidin (product name “Poncho”) has been widely used as a seed treatment on many of the country’s major crops for eight growing seasons under a “conditional registration” granted while EPA waited for Bayer Crop Science, the pesticide’s maker, to conduct a field study assessing the insecticide’s threat to bee colony health. Bayer’s field study was the contingency on which clothianidin’s conditional registration was granted in 2003. As such, the groups are calling for an immediate stop-use order on the pesticide while the science is redone, and redesigned in partnership with practicing beekeepers. They claim that the initial field study guidelines, which the Bayer study failed to satisfy, were insufficiently rigorous to test whether or not clothianidin contributes to CCD in a real-world […]

(Beyond Pesticides, November 22, 2010) The British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) last week announced plans to end its controversial practice of endorsing pesticides for financial benefit from leading chemical manufacturers. The endorsement of four products as “bee-friendly” caused outrage among many beekeepers because one of the companies, Bayer Crop Science, makes pesticides like imidacloprid, an insecticide widely implicated in the deaths of honeybees worldwide. The 135-year-old charity endorsed pesticides used to combat the varroa mite that is linked to the collapse of colonies as “bee-friendly.” In return, for the past 12 years the association has received £17,500 ($27,949) a year from Bayer Crop Sciences and Syngenta. This relationship angered many members and some left the association. However, the BBKA denies that it has bowed to pressure from members who have been increasingly critical of its relationship with Bayer and other chemical companies. In a statement sent out this week to the secretaries of local beekeeping associations across the UK, the BBKA’s president, Martin Smith, said: “Following discussion with the companies involved, the BBKA trustees have decided that endorsement and related product-specific payments will cease as soon as practically possible.” He added: “The four products subject to BBKA endorsement are of declining […]

(Beyond Pesticides, October 8, 2010) Scientists may have found the missing link behind the colony collapse disorder (CCD): a combination of a virus and a fungus, though more research is needed to determine the exact cause and effect that these two culprits have on CCD. Prior to this study, scientists have hypothesized that there are numerous factors, including pesticides, that depress the immune and nervous system of bees, creating a vulnerability to other factors, such as those identified in this study. Army scientists in Maryland and entomologists in Montana teamed up to find that the co-occcurrence of the viruses, the invertebrate iridescent virus (IIV) with the fungus Nosema ceranae (which was previously implicated as a culprit) consistently marked a colony collapse. The study, Iridovirus and Microsporidian Linked to Honey Bee Colony Decline was published October 6th in the online science journal PLoS One. Researchers looked at the proteins of thousands of healthy and collapsing bee colonies using mass spectrometry-based proteomics (MSP) that revealed two previously unreported RNA viruses in honey bees in North America, one of which is the IIV. Researchers say this virus is similar to a virus that was first reported in India 20 years ago, as well […]

(Beyond Pesticides, September 30, 2010) A new study finds a clear link between a decline in wild pollinators and reduced vegetable yields in India, which researchers say will harm both the nation’s GDP as well as access to a nutritional diet. Parthiba Basu, PhD, one of the researchers from the University of Calcutta’s Ecology Research Unit, says that nutritional security in India will be affected as a result of the decline, since the vegetables that rely on pollination substantially provide essential nutrients to the population. The research team, which presented its findings at a recent British Society meeting at the University of Leeds, compared the yields of pollinator-dependent crops such as pumpkins, squash and cucumbers with pollinator-independent crops, such as cereals. The data shows that while yields of pollinator-independent crops continue to increase, the crops that are dependent on pollinators have leveled off. Though the researchers would have liked to specifically compare pollinator abundance over the years, this kind of data is not currently available in India. The use of domesticated bees for pollinating crops is not widespread in India and across South Asia, according to Dr. Basu. He attributes the “political noise” in the U.S. and Europe on the […]