{"id":35502,"date":"2024-06-13T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T04:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=35502"},"modified":"2024-06-13T11:18:14","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T15:18:14","slug":"study-confirms-serious-flaws-in-epas-ecological-risk-assessments-threatening-bees-and-other-pollinators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/06\/study-confirms-serious-flaws-in-epas-ecological-risk-assessments-threatening-bees-and-other-pollinators\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Confirms Serious Flaws in EPA\u2019s Ecological Risk Assessments, Threatening Bees and Other Pollinators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Beyond Pesticides, June 13, 2024) A<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/conl.13022\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in<\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/conl.13022\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conservation Letters<\/span><\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, exposes critical shortcomings in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency&#8217;s (EPA)<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/risk\/ecological-risk-assessment\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ecological risk assessment (ERA)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> process for modeling the risks that pesticides pose to bees and other pollinators. For the study, &#8220;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Risk assessments underestimate threat of pesticides to wild bees,&#8221; <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">researchers conducted a meta-analysis of toxicity data in EPA&#8217;s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/comptox-tools\/ecotoxicology-ecotox-knowledgebase-resource-hub\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ECOTOX knowledgebase<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (ECOTOX)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an EPA-hosted, publicly available resource with information on adverse effects of single chemical stressors to certain aquatic and terrestrial species. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The meta-analysis found that the agency&#8217;s approach, which relies heavily on honey bee data from controlled laboratory studies, drastically underestimates the real-world threats from neonicotinoid insecticides (and likely other pesticides) to native bees and other pollinators. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study \u201cchallenges the reliability of surrogate species as predictors when extrapolating pesticide toxicity data to wild pollinators and recommends solutions to address the (a)biotic interactions occurring in nature that make such extrapolations unreliable in the ERA process.\u201d Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman remarked, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;EPA&#8217;s ecological risk assessment process is fundamentally flawed and puts thousands of bee species at risk of pesticide-caused population declines and extinctions.&#8221; Mr. Feldman continued, \u201cThis underscores the urgent need to expedite the transition to organic land management to better protect bees, butterflies, and other pollinators from the harms of toxic pesticides.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Study Method and Results<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ECOTOX, focused on acute effects, has been used for more than 20 years for a \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rapid source for toxicity data to \u2026inform ecological risk assessments for chemical registration and reregistration\u201d among other assessment and regulatory decisions<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0 As<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/comptox-tools\/ecotoxicology-ecotox-knowledgebase-resource-hub#:~:text=Help%20and%20Training-,Why%20ECOTOX%3F,analyses%20to%20support%20current%20or%20guide%20future%20research%20and%20assessment%20needs.,-Who%20can%20use\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EPA explains<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the database includes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">12,000 chemicals and ecological species with over one million test results from over 50,000 references,\u201d as described in an article on the database in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC9408435\/\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study analysis includes a total of 252 assays from 49 studies. Data collected are for neonicotinoid insecticide exposure effects on both honey bees (<em>Apis mellifera<\/em>) and wild (non-<em>Apis<\/em>) bee species, including all reported LD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> values (lethal dose at which 50% of test population dies when exposed), routes of exposure (dietary vs topical), the neonicotinoid(s) tested, duration of study, and environmental parameters like temperature. Based on this information, researchers modeled the different effects of LD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> values across variables, highlighting the effects of genera, specific neonicotinoids, exposure routes, and study duration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The researchers found:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For both dietary and topical exposures to neonicotinoid insecticides, multiple non-<em>Apis<\/em> (wild) bee genera like <em>Bombus<\/em>, <em>Megachile<\/em>, <em>Melipona<\/em>, <em>Nannotrigona<\/em>, and <em>Partamona<\/em> exhibit significantly higher sensitivities and lower LD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">values compared to <em>Apis<\/em> (honey bees), in some cases up to six orders of magnitude more sensitive.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Looking within just the <em>Apis<\/em> genus, LD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">values for the same neonicotinoid varied by up to seven orders of magnitude, likely due to factors like genetic diversity, temperature differences, nutrition levels, and other environmental parameters that were not adequately accounted for by the ERA process.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The ECOTOX database is overwhelmingly populated (79.4%) by acute lethality data from studies lasting just one to five days on the western honeybee.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Chronic, longer-term studies on diverse bee species and real-world conditions are lacking.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the study finds, EPA&#8217;s reliance on honey bee data from lab studies focused on LD<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">50<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> does not accurately capture the threats that pesticides pose in the real world to thousands of other bee species with diverse life histories, genetic compositions, and sensitivities to pesticides. This study demonstrates how estimating pesticide risks based predominantly on laboratory tests using a single surrogate species\u2013the western honey bee\u2013fundamentally fails to capture the range of differential sensitivities across thousands of other bee species. This failure jeopardizes the ability of the ERA process to accurately assess threats and develop appropriate mitigation measures to protect biodiversity and pollination services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study authors make specific recommendations for improving pollinator risk assessments:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Develop toxicity assays for native bee species beyond just Apis mellifera, and integrate these into the assessment process<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Prioritize longer-term, chronic studies over short-term acute lethality studies on individual bees<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Account for factors like genetic diversity, climate conditions, nutritional status, and their interactions with pesticides<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other Studies Show EPA\u2019s Ecological Risk Assessment Methods Flawed<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other studies highlight the need for a broader overhaul of the current regulatory review to address critical flaws in EPA\u2019s current ecological risk assessment process. A November 2023 European<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06773-3\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06773-3\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> demonstrates that relying on testing one active ingredient in a laboratory setting misses real-world impacts of pesticides on bees, nontarget pollinators, and, a \u201clandscape-level\u201d study finds that typical risk assessment reviews used by EPA and European regulators fail to \u201csafeguard bees and other pollinators that support agricultural production and wild plant pollination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06773-3\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> study, \u201d<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41586-023-06773-3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pesticide use negatively affects bumble bees across European landscapes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201c evaluates the health of bumble bees (<em>Bombus terrestris<\/em>) as a sentinel species placed in 106 agricultural landscapes across Europe. The authors\u2019 conclusions challenge \u201cthe current assumption of pesticide regulation\u2014that chemicals that individually pass laboratory tests and semifield trials are considered environmentally benign\u201d and call into question EPA\u2019s current regulatory assessments based on the western honey bee and its failure to adequately regulate mixtures of chemicals to which organisms are exposed in the real world as well as the actual devastating impacts to pollinators from the ubiquitous neonicotinoids.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neonicotinoids<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/bp-fact-pollinators08.2017.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Neonicotinoids<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (neonics) are insecticides similar to nicotine \u2013that activate neuronal receptors and disrupt many sensory and cognitive processes in invertebrate organisms. The binding of neonicotinoids to the receptor is irreversible in arthropods.\u00a0 Thus, they are highly toxic to insects and other invertebrates. (See Beyond Pesticides\u2019 2017<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/bp-fact-pollinators08.2017.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Factsheet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). Neonics are linked with the dramatic decline of pollinators and other wildlife. U.S. beekeepers lost an unsustainable 33% of their hives between 2016 and 2017. Bees, butterflies, birds, and a range of soil and aquatic organisms essential to healthy ecological systems are imperiled by the use of these systemic and persistent pesticides. While several classes of pesticides introduced since the outset of the chemical-intensive agricultural era are systemic, neonicotinoids have attracted substantial scientific and public scrutiny because their appearance and proliferation in the market coincided with dramatic die-offs and decline of honey bees throughout the world. This decline has occurred, not only through immediate bee deaths, but also through sublethal exposure causing changes in bee reproduction, navigation, and foraging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Loss of Biodiversity Demands Better Pesticide Assessments<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bees and other insect pollinators play a vital role in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uv.mx\/personal\/%20tcarmona\/files\/2016\/08\/Ollerton-et-al-2011.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fertilizing over 75%<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of flowering plants and nearly 35% of global food production. However, their<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/pollinators\/nolongeraBIGmystery.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">populations have plummeted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in recent decades due to multiple stressors including pesticide exposures, climate change, habitat loss, and diseases\/pests. A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aax9931\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2020 study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published in the journal<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aax9931\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Science<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reported that roughly a quarter of the global insect population has been wiped out since 1990 (see<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2020\/04\/one-quarter-of-global-insect-population-lost-since-1990\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for details). As Beyond Pesticides<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2019\/02\/study-predicts-demise-of-insects-within-decades-if-pesticide-dependence-continues\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reports<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a 2019<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0006320718313636\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">systematic review<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of insect population studies worldwide reported on \u201cthe dreadful state of insect biodiversity in the world, as almost half of the species are rapidly declining and a third are being threatened with extinction.\u201d The study concluded with the dire prediction that insects will go extinct in the next few decades if patterns of intensive agriculture, in particular pesticide use, continue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The science has become increasingly clear that pesticides, either acting individually, in mixtures, or synergistically, play a critical role in the ongoing decline of honey bees and wild pollinators, as Beyond Pesticides has extensively<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/pollinators\/nolongeraBIGmystery.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While studies reveal wide-ranging adverse impacts from a multitude of agents, including poor nutrition, stress, fungicides, and pathogens, the neonicotinoid class of insecticides continues to receive the greatest attention from scientists, beekeepers, and advocacy groups. (See<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/category\/chemicals\/neonicotinoids\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/pollinators\/nolongeraBIGmystery.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Beyond Pesticides website<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/chemicals-implicated\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EPA Risk Assessment Process Ignores Potential Chemical Interactions or Synergistic Effects<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the limitations of the ERA process in assessing multiple pesticide exposure,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/02\/neonicotinoids-combined-with-other-pesticides-elevate-hazards-to-honey-bee\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond Pesticides reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in February 2023 (see research published in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-023-29837-w#ref-CR30\"> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Reports<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the synergistic effect of combining neonicotinoid insecticides with other commonly used pesticides can increase the overall toxic effect to honey bees. Under current regulations, EPA requires chemical manufacturers to submit data only on singular active ingredients. Yet, pesticide products may be packaged or \u2018tank mixed\u2019 with other equally toxic pesticides without any requirement to determine the toxicity of the material that is actually being applied. Independent research is left to fill in these gaps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">EPA&#8217;s Shortcomings Align with Beyond Pesticides&#8217; Critique<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The findings align with long-standing critiques by Beyond Pesticides and others about the inadequacy of EPA&#8217;s risk assessment process for evaluating threats posed by pesticides, particularly to critically important but understudied organisms like native bees.\u00a0 (See<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/01\/take-action-epa-challenged-for-not-evaluating-pesticide-benefits-opens-public-comment-period\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2023\/03\/groups-challenge-epa-on-allowing-toxic-pesticides-that-do-not-even-work-and-without-its-review\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2022\/11\/epas-deficient-pesticide-analysis-contributes-to-ecological-decline\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for past comments and calls to action).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond Pesticides has<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/resources-and-educational-materials\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> cited research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showing<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/category\/chemicals\/neonicotinoids\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">neonicotinoids<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and other pesticides are key factors, alongside climate change, habitat loss, and pathogens, in driving unsustainable losses of bees, birds, butterflies, and other organisms essential to biodiversity and productive ecosystems. Beyond Pesticides <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/01\/field-study-of-bumble-bees-finds-exposure-to-chemical-mixtures-high-hazard-flawed-regulation\/\">argues<\/a> that in addition to acute lethality, EPA risk assessments must comprehensively account for real-world exposure scenarios, the long-term effects of repeated exposure to various pesticides, sublethal effects on larval development and cognitive function, interactions with other stressors like climate change, and indirect effects on pollinators via impacts to food sources.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to a faulty ERA process, the current registration procedures and risk assessment methods for pesticides has an over-reliance on industry-funded science that contradicts peer-reviewed studies. (See Beyond Pesticides website,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/chemicals-implicated\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chemicals Implicated<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, for examples). Scientific fraud in support of regulatory decisions has plagued EPA\u2019s Office of Pesticide Programs for decades (see<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2024\/02\/amid-damning-criticism-of-its-scientific-integrity-epa-takes-public-comments-on-updated-policy\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, the only way to ensure the safety of pollinators and thereby the world\u2019s agricultural systems as well as natural ecosystems, and protect human health, is to end the use of toxic petrochemical pesticides, including neonicotinoid insecticides. Beyond Pesticides<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/organic-agriculture\/overview\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">advocates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the widespread adoption of\u202f<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/organic-agriculture\/why-organic\/health-benefits\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">organic management<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> practices as key to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/organic-agriculture\/why-organic\/environmental-benefits\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protecting pollinators and the environment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and has long sought a broad-scale marketplace transition to organic practices that legally prohibits the use of toxic synthetic pesticides, and encourages a systems-based approach that is protective of health and the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To move action forward on the pollinator crisis, Beyond Pesticides launched the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/bee-protective\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEE Protective campaign<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a national public education effort that supports local actions to protect honey bees and other pollinators from pesticides and contaminated landscapes.\u202f\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/bee-protective\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEE Protective<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> includes a variety of educational materials to help encourage municipalities, campuses, and individual homeowners to adopt policies and practices that protect bees and other pollinators from harmful pesticide applications and create pesticide-free refuges for these beneficial organisms. In addition to scientific and regulatory information,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/bee-protective\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEE Protective<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> also includes a model community pollinator resolution and a pollinator protection pledge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Through Beyond Pesticides\u2019<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/power-organic-parks-program\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parks for a Sustainable Future<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> program, the organization works directly with communities to adopt organic land management in its parks, playing fields, school yards, and public spaces. It also teaches community members about managing their yards organically. Organic land management is effective, productive, economically viable, and sustainable and does not require yet another new toxic pesticide or genetically engineered plant, whether in agriculture or residential areas. By respecting the environment, and the complexity and benefits of interconnected ecosystems, organic agriculture protects pollinators and enhances the benefits we derive from the natural environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See Beyond Pesticides\u2019<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/eating-with-a-conscience\/overview\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eating With a Conscience<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> database for more on why organic is the right choice and the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/bee-protective\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bee Protective webpage<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for additional resources you can use to go organic and safeguard pollinator populations. Join the effort to move your community to organic land management practices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Things you can do:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Plant pollinator habitat:<\/em> Explore Beyond Pesticides\u2019 resources to find ideas for native plantings or sources of untreated flowers and dig your pollinator-friendly garden today. Use the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/pollinators\/documents\/BEEProtectiveHabitatGuide.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bee Protective Habitat Guide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and or<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/what-can-you-do\/pollinator-friendly-seed-directory\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pollinator-Friendly Seed Directory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to help!\u202f <\/span><\/li>\n<li><em>Pledge to protect pollinators and produce in your garden<\/em> by never using chemicals that harm beneficial insects and ladybugs and go organic! Display a<a href=\"https:\/\/shop.beyondpesticides.org\/collections\/lawn-and-landscape-signs\"> Pesticide-Free Zone sign<\/a> for your yard and show your neighbors that pesticide-free spaces are important for health and the environment.<\/li>\n<li><em>Protect the bees<\/em> by using our<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/lawns-and-landscapes\/tools-for-change\"> organizing materials<\/a> to aid in eliminating the use of bee-toxic pesticides in the community. Be sure to mark it on the<a href=\"http:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/\"> Honey Bee Haven<\/a> map! Additionally, demand justice and just conditions to stand in solidarity with farmworkers and the pollinators vital to our food supply!<\/li>\n<li><em>Become an Organic Parks Advocate! <\/em>Send the municipal parks department links to Beyond Pesticides factsheets on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/lawn\/documents\/EstablishingNewLawnsandLandscapes.pdf\"> Establishing New Lawns and Landscapes<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/assets\/media\/documents\/lawn\/documents\/MaintainingSustainableLawns.pdf\"> Maintaining Sustainable Lawns and Landscapes<\/a>. Or print them out and take them to the parks manager. For more support from Beyond Pesticides, sign up to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/power-organic-parks-program\/local-advocates-become-a-power-organic-parks-captain\"> become an organic parks advocate!<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a lot more at<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/lawns-and-landscapes\/overview\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawns and Landscapes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the Beyond Pesticides\u2019 website. For more information about becoming an advocate for organic parks, see<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/power-organic-parks-program\/local-advocates-become-a-power-organic-parks-captain\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parks for a Sustainable Future<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/resources\/lawns-and-landscapes\/tools-for-change\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools for Change<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/conl.13022\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Risk assessments underestimate threat of pesticides to wild bees<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conservation Letters<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, May 15, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BEE Protective: Pollinators and Pesticide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/what-the-science-shows\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What the Science Shows<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondpesticides.org\/programs\/bee-protective-pollinators-and-pesticides\/chemicals-implicated\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chemicals Implicated, Beyond Pesticides<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> website<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0006320718313636\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biological Conservation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, April 2019<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Beyond Pesticides, June 13, 2024) A study published in Conservation Letters, a journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, exposes critical shortcomings in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency&#8217;s (EPA) ecological risk assessment (ERA) process for modeling the risks that pesticides pose to bees and other pollinators. For the study, &#8220;Risk assessments underestimate threat of pesticides to wild bees,&#8221; researchers conducted a meta-analysis of toxicity data in EPA&#8217;s ECOTOX knowledgebase (ECOTOX), an EPA-hosted, publicly available resource with information on adverse effects of single chemical stressors to certain aquatic and terrestrial species. The meta-analysis found that the agency&#8217;s approach, which relies heavily on honey bee data from controlled laboratory studies, drastically underestimates the real-world threats from neonicotinoid insecticides (and likely other pesticides) to native bees and other pollinators. The study \u201cchallenges the reliability of surrogate species as predictors when extrapolating pesticide toxicity data to wild pollinators and recommends solutions to address the (a)biotic interactions occurring in nature that make such extrapolations unreliable in the ERA process.\u201d Beyond Pesticides executive director Jay Feldman remarked, &#8220;EPA&#8217;s ecological risk assessment process is fundamentally flawed and puts thousands of bee species at risk of pesticide-caused population declines and extinctions.&#8221; Mr. Feldman continued, \u201cThis underscores the urgent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,352,529,565,354,346,347,328,1413,488,10,93,421],"tags":[1687,708,1685,1688,605,1686,824,448,1055,600,442],"class_list":["post-35502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternativesorganics","category-biodiversity","category-drift","category-ecosystem-services","category-environmental-protection-agency-epa","category-habitat-protection","category-increased-vulnerability-to-diseases-from-chemical-exposure","category-neonicotinoids","category-parks-for-a-sustainable-future","category-pesticide-mixtures","category-pesticide-regulation","category-pollinators","category-synergistic-effects","tag-bee-protective","tag-bees","tag-ecological-risk-assessment","tag-ecotox","tag-epa","tag-era","tag-exposure","tag-neonicotinoids","tag-neonics","tag-pesticides","tag-pollinators"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Study Confirms Serious Flaws in EPA\u2019s Ecological Risk Assessments, Threatening Bees and Other Pollinators - Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new study shows critical shortcomings in EPA&#039;s ecological risk assessment (ERA) process for modeling pesticide risks to bees and other pollinators and concludes the threat of pesticides to wild bees is underestimated. 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