The EPA And The Decline Of The Honey Bee

U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that honeybee colonies declined by 29 percent between September 2008 and early April 2009.

That's an improvement over the prior two years, when researchers found that 32 percent and 36 percent of all bee keepers surveyed lost hives.

The fact is that honeybees are still dying at an alarming rate but they are not the only species that are mysteriously dying. In the past dozen years, no fewer than three diseases have decimated populations of amphibians, bees, and most recently, bats.

Meanwhile, there is growing evidence which indicates that pesticide exposure may be playing an important role in the decline of the first two species, and scientists are investigating whether such exposures may be involved in the deaths of more than 1 million bats in the northeastern United States over the past several years.

Some experts believe the bee malady known as colony collapse disorder is the result of a “perfect storm” of honeybee-debilitating factors: poor nutrition, and immune dysfunction from decades of problematic industrial beekeeping practices.

However, a new theory is gaining credibility in the beekeeping community. Many bee keepers believe that a new class of pesticide chemicals based on nicotine, called neonicotinoids, may be to blame. Unlike older pesticides that evaporate or disperse shortly after application, neonicotinoids are systemic poisons.

Applied to the soil or doused on seeds, neonicotinoid insecticides incorporate themselves into the plant’s tissues, turning the plant itself into a tiny poison factory emitting toxin from its roots, leaves, stems, pollen, and nectar. In Germany, France, Italy, and Slovenia, beekeepers’ concerns about neonicotinoids’ effect on bee colonies have resulted in a series of bans on the chemicals.

However, in the United States, regulators have approved their use, despite the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency’s standard method of protecting bees from insecticides — by requiring farmers to refrain from applying them during blooming times when bees are most exposed — does little to protect bees from systemic pesticides.

A new study indicates that the continued use of this pesticide in the United States may have been a big mistake. This new study was compiled by the insect research charity Buglife and the Soil Association. 

The new study brought together a number of peer-reviewed pieces of research. It concluded that neonicotinoid pesticide damages the health and life cycle of bees over the long term by affecting the nervous system."[Neonicotinoids] may be a significant factor contributing to current bee declines and could also contribute to declines in other non-target invertebrate species," the report read.

The matter came to at least a temporary resolution two weeks ago in the Federal Court of Judge Denise Cote in New York. As a result of the lawsuit by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Xerces Society, sales of a pesticide toxic to honeybees, are banned starting January 15, 2010.

Bayer CropScience manufactures spirotetramat under the trade names Movento and Ultor. It is part of a group of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, which have been shown in Bayer's own studies to cause "significant mortality" to bee larvae and inhibit the production of eggs.

The court found that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  failed to conduct the required analysis of economic, environmental and social costs of the pesticides, relying on Bayer's studies instead. The EPA admitted to approving the pesticide illegally, but argued that its violations of the law should have no consequences.

The Plantiffs succesfully argued that Bayer should not be permitted to run what amounts to an uncontrolled experiment on bees across the country without full consideration of the consequences.

Its a victory for the future of the honeybee and our food supply and a loss for the Pesticide Industry and the EPA.  

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