Posted on 02/07/2015 9:10:38 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Several top environmental groups have joined with the honey bee industry to urgently demand that President Obama ban a pesticide many blame for the downfall of the world’s No. 1 food pollinator before it is too late.
Fearing that Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency is delaying action, the groups took the unusual step to press Obama directly in a letter that said inaction could jeopardize food supplies.
“We hope that you will prioritize action on this issue of vital importance to our food system, economy and environment and make saving bees a key piece of your legacy as president,” said the letter provided to Secrets.
It was signed by Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice; Peter Lehner, executive director of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth U.S., and nine other green CEOs.
At issue is a new pesticide called “neonicotinoid.” Many in the bee industry blame them for the decade-long die-off of honey bees.
“If current rates of bee die-offs continue,” the letter says, “it is unlikely that the beekeeping industry will survive EPA’s delayed timeline, putting our agricultural industry and our food supply at serious risk.”
Obama has asked EPA to move on the issue, but the industry suspects the agency will call for more studies and delays in acting on the pesticide already banned in some countries.
Honey bee pollination is responsible for some $20 billion to the U.S. economy, and responsible for pollinating the nation’s nuts, fruits and veggies. But a mysterious killer has been wiping millions of hives and the pesticide is the top target of blame.
Foot-dragging EPA Nanny State PING!
Thanks for the ping!
It was signed by Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice
Earthjustice?
Same communists, different group
This NEW pesticide is responsible for for the decade-long die-off of honey bees??
How new is it?
The signatories don’t sound like people you could rust. If it’s that obvious, wouldn’t you at least have some ag school deans on board?
How ironic I wrote rust instead of trust.
Whether Obastard saves the bees depends which way they vote. Dead bees all vote Democratic. He isn’t certain which way the live bees went in the 2012 and mid-term elections, however. Decisions, decisions.
The bees are dying off? I wish they told that to the three that stung me last year. I have been cycling for 30+ years, and I had never been stung by a bee while riding. Last year I got stung three times, once on my tongue. And that three was a small fraction of the number that bounced off my glasses, helmet, and body.
Did you check the date on the story?
This story has been around since at least 1973, if not longer.
The names have changed, the cast and story line still the same.
Those might not be bees.
My thought as well!! And it's been longer than a decade that "colony collapse" has been going on. I spoke with a bee keeper at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo well over 10 years ago about it. And it had been going on a while before that! Next thing you know they'll be blaming fracking...
How could it be pesticides when it’s already been decided it’s global warming?
Why is the Fed Govt thought to be the solution to the bee problem? They almost always make things worse.
I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.~~Ronald Reagan
I saw something like 4 butterflies this past Summer. Lawn chemicals are to blame I believe. My lawn is mostly green weeds. Worst in my neighborhood!
I don’t chem-bomb my lawn, either. It seems to do fine on its own, weeds and all.
I cringe at linking to this source, but it is really one of the very, very few things they actually got right (IMHO)
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2014/05/smoking-gun-bee-collapse
The source link for the actual study is within. And it’s not just the bees...
I wonder how much of the collapse can be blamed on trucking the bees around from field to field.
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