An EPA
internal memo leaked Wednesday confirms that the agency allowed the use of clothianidin manufactured by German chemical giant Bayer.
{"honeybees"} Bayer made $262 million in sales of the agricultural pesticide in 2009. The chemical is toxic to honeybees. Widely used on the 88 million acres of industrial corn seed grown in the US, the chemical is taken into the plants vascular system and is expressed in the plant's nectar and pollen. Clothianidin is relatively new on the market, but is also commonly used on canola, soy, sugar beets, wheat and sunflowers--all widely planted crops. It joins a host of other chemicals used by industrial farming to control insects. The exact cause or causes of honeybee colony collapse has not yet been determined, but increasing evidence points to
toxic exposure overwhelming the bees' immune system making them vulnerable to viruses and parasites. The memo was given to a Colorado bee keeper, and shows that the agency ignored the warnings of in-house scientists about the dangers of clothianidin.
 |
| states affected by colony collapse |
In 2003 according to Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNIA) government scientists recommended not registering the pesticide for use until a full evaluation of toxicity was done on bees. They considered the pesticide's effects "persistent", and "toxic to honeybees". The agency decided not to wait for an evaluation of a complete bee life cycle (63 days) and granted "conditional" registration status. The condition on the registration was that Bayer complete such a life cycle study. Predictably, the corporation did not complete the study until 2007 when bee colony collapse was well underway. In the lucrative interim, millions of acres had been treated. Bee experts consider the study to be laughable. The leaked memo shows that
EPA scientists agree. Conducted in Canada on canola, which is not the bees' favorite plant, the experiment was poorly constructed with no effective control mechanisms. Based on this single manufacturer's sponsored study, the pesticide was granted full registration status for use as a seed treatment for corn on April 22, 2010. Despite the well founded concerns of its own scientists, indications are that agency will not change the chemical's registration. Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia have already
suspended its use. So much for science based policy making.
