Posted on 12/16/2010 12:57:10 PM PST by frithguild
The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.
The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.
The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer's request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. The document invalidates a prior Bayer study that justified the registration of clothianidin on the basis of its safety to honeybees:
Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects. The entire 101-page memo is damning (and worth a read). But the opinion of EPA scientists apparently isn't enough for the agency, which is allowing clothianidin to keep its registration.
Suspicions about clothianidin aren't new; the EPA's Environmental Fate and Effects Division (EFAD) first expressed concern when the pesticide was introduced, in 2003, about the "possibility of toxic exposure to nontarget pollinators [e.g., honeybees] through the translocation of clothianidin residues that result from seed treatment." Clothianidin was still allowed on the market while Bayer worked on a botched toxicity study [PDF], in which test and control fields were planted as close as 968 feet apart.
Clothianidin has already been banned by Germany, France, Italy, and Slovenia for its toxic effects. So why won't the EPA follow? The answer probably has something to do with the American affinity for corn products. But without honey bees, our entire food supply is in trouble.
This is consistent with all of their other actions. Drive more food production offshore and control what is left inside the US.
The willfull destruction of the honeybee population in the US by the EPA is consistent with that agency’s policy to reduce agriculture in the US. Nation wide starvation leading to a substantial reduction in the population of the US has been a major objective of the enviro lobby that controls the EPA. It is long past time for the criminal cabal that controls agencies of our government to be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity.
Man, Orwell was right. An agency’s name tends to become the opposite of its actions, eventually.
The Department of Energy restricts energy production.
The Federal Reserve has overwatched the erosion of the dollar until it is now 1/20 of the value of when the Reserve was enacted.
The Environmental Protection agency approves the use of products that are pesticides to honeybees.
And the agricultural mega-corps that grow it in the US.
It’s time to defund that ‘70s relic. All ‘70s relics, in fact.
Those who were there will recall that an entire raft of departments and regulations were created for the express purpose of getting the hippies to for godsake shut up.
Considering also what’s going on in the House today, specifically, I think it’s high time for an armed march on DC. Our country has been hijacked by commies, radicals and other enemies of America.
Interesting. It would appear that the early rumors blaming a pesticide made by Bayer have some substance.
If they did, they should be prosecuted.
The EPA is unfortunately a necessary evil. This problem demonstrates why an EPA type organization is needed. But also why the EPA itself needs a watchdog organization constantly watching it, making sure they don't abuse power.
Not just say it, but mean it.
No one is going to do anything until it is FAR too late.
Any tort created due to industrial use of property should be handled more properly through the courts. Either civil or criminal. Get rid of corporate "fines" in exchange for hard time for polluters doing real damage and you wouldn't need an extra-Constitutional "EPA".
Clothianidin is also used on tobacco. Why tobacco, the Sixth Most Pesticide Intensive Crop, is routinely left off of lists of where certain pesticides are used remains unexplained.
What better way to discredit any "health concerns" of pesticide makers and government apologists than by simply, legitimately, pointing out the links to the most popularly-hated industry on the map?
If few care if "dirty" and "sinful" smokers live or die, what about the effects on wildlife down wind and down stream near tobacco plantations? Maybe they should have "Quit the habit" of living near tobacco operations?
Incidentally, clothianidin, is just ONE pesticide made by "health industry", Bayer, that appears on lists of tobacco pesticides. Is Bayer the supplier? Who asks? Bayer does not seem to have yet been dragged into any hearings on "smoking and health" to explain itself. Bayer, and the many other tobacco pesticide suppliers (including BASF), naturally, prefer to blame "smoking" (behavior of unwitting victims) and the tobacco plant (an "act of God") for the effects of typical pesticide contaminated cigarettes. But some "lefties" blame "smoking" too. Go figure. Infiltration? Naive belief of corporate "science"?
Baja KYesterday 06:05 PM
Wonder what smoking this stuff might do to smokers?
Note the tagline ...
Can't farmers sue the pesticide manufacturers anyway?
Aren't there criminal penalties including hard time now for polluters?
How does the existence of the EPA prevent these? Does EPA approval absolve the companies of blame?
The problem is proving it. Your average farmer doesn't have the resources to take on a big company like that. Wasn't the EPA originally formed to provide the resources to look into allegations of pollution by big companies.
I have no doubt the EPA sometimes oversteps it's authority and/or it's authority is not defined sufficiently. But do we believe that they have been completely ineffective? Have they not cleaned up toxic sites? Have they not helped bring some of those responsible to justice?
Do you really want any pesticide manufacturer to put any chemical they choose into our environment without some form of review? Do you really think no preventive efforts are warranted, that the threat of getting caught after damages are incurred is sufficient?
I don't. As costly as preventive measures are, I think some are necessary. The old adage is often true "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." is sometimes true.
But I do think the EPA is out of control.
So it was the EPA. When are they going to be gone?
So it was the EPA. When are they going to be gone?
Not just say it, but mean it.
No one is going to do anything until it is FAR too late.
I think there are more than enough willing to actually do it but the Government, using the vast, high tech media and monitoring capabilities available today has been able to successfully divide us and isolate us so we can't gather in the strength need to kick them out and tar and feather them.
Any "good" the EPA may do is an example of "even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion".
“But I don’t think the EPA is out of control”
You think CO2 is a pollutant?
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