Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

[Guest guest]

Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

Alison Benjamin guardian.co.uk, Friday May 23 2008 Article history

Bees gather around a honeycomb. Photograph: Reso/Rex Features

 

Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the

deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer

Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for

eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and

sweetcorn.

 

The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-

Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this

month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

 

" It's a real bee emergency, " said Manfred Hederer, president of the

German Professional Beekeepers' Association. " 50-60% of the bees have

died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives. "

 

Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of

clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a

subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under

the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn

planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance

of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.

 

The company says an application error by the seed company which failed

to use the glue-like substance that sticks the pesticide to the seed,

led to the chemical getting into the air.

 

Bayer spokesman Dr Julian Little told the BBC's Farming Today that

misapplication is highly unusual. " It is an extremely rare event and

has not been seen anywhere else in Europe, " he said.

 

Clothianidin, like the other neonicotinoid pesticides that have been

temporarily suspended in Germany, is a systemic chemical that works

its way through a plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect

it comes into contact with. According to the US Environmental

Protection Agency it is " highly toxic " to honeybees.

 

This is not the first time that Bayer, one of the world's leading

pesticide manufacturers with sales of €5.8bn (£4.6bn) in 2007, has

been blamed for killing honeybees.

 

In the United States, a group of beekeepers from North Dakota is

taking the company to court after losing thousands of honeybee

colonies in 1995, during a period when oilseed rape in the area was

treated with imidacloprid. A third of honeybees were killed by what

has since been dubbed colony collapse disorder.

 

Bayer's best selling pesticide, imidacloprid, sold under the name

Gaucho in France, has been banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers in

that country since 1999, after a third of French honeybees died

following its widespread use. Five years later it was also banned as a

sweetcorn treatment in France. A few months ago, the company's

application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.

 

Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is safe for bees if

correctly applied. " Extensive internal and international scientific

studies have confirmed that Gaucho does not present a hazard to bees, "

said Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

 

Last year, Germany's Green MEP, Hiltrud Breyer, tabled an emergency

motion calling for this family of pesticides to be banned across

Europe while their role in killing honeybees were thoroughly

investigated. Her action follows calls for a ban from beekeeping

associations and environmental organisations across Europe.

 

Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based Coalition Against Bayer

Dangers, said: " We have been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids

for almost 10 years now. This proves without a doubt that the

chemicals can come into contact with bees and kill them. These

pesticides shouldn't be on the market. "

 

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday May 23

2008. It was last updated at 12:46 on May 23 2008.

 

 

What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure

that just ain't so.

- Mark Twain

[Guest guest]

:-( Let's hope it will be a permanent ban.

 

JO

 

, fraggle <EBbrewpunx wrote:

>

> Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

> Alison Benjamin guardian.co.uk, Friday May 23 2008 Article history

> Bees gather around a honeycomb. Photograph: Reso/Rex Features

>

> Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the

> deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of

Consumer

> Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for

> eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and

> sweetcorn.

>

> The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-

> Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this

> month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

>

> " It's a real bee emergency, " said Manfred Hederer, president of the

> German Professional Beekeepers' Association. " 50-60% of the bees

have

> died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives. "

>

> Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up

of

> clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a

> subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe

under

> the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn

> planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in

advance

> of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.

>

> The company says an application error by the seed company which

failed

> to use the glue-like substance that sticks the pesticide to the

seed,

> led to the chemical getting into the air.

>

> Bayer spokesman Dr Julian Little told the BBC's Farming Today that

> misapplication is highly unusual. " It is an extremely rare event and

> has not been seen anywhere else in Europe, " he said.

>

> Clothianidin, like the other neonicotinoid pesticides that have been

> temporarily suspended in Germany, is a systemic chemical that works

> its way through a plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect

> it comes into contact with. According to the US Environmental

> Protection Agency it is " highly toxic " to honeybees.

>

> This is not the first time that Bayer, one of the world's leading

> pesticide manufacturers with sales of €5.8bn (£4.6bn) in 2007,

has

> been blamed for killing honeybees.

>

> In the United States, a group of beekeepers from North Dakota is

> taking the company to court after losing thousands of honeybee

> colonies in 1995, during a period when oilseed rape in the area was

> treated with imidacloprid. A third of honeybees were killed by what

> has since been dubbed colony collapse disorder.

>

> Bayer's best selling pesticide, imidacloprid, sold under the name

> Gaucho in France, has been banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers

in

> that country since 1999, after a third of French honeybees died

> following its widespread use. Five years later it was also banned

as a

> sweetcorn treatment in France. A few months ago, the company's

> application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.

>

> Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is safe for bees if

> correctly applied. " Extensive internal and international scientific

> studies have confirmed that Gaucho does not present a hazard to

bees, "

> said Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

>

> Last year, Germany's Green MEP, Hiltrud Breyer, tabled an emergency

> motion calling for this family of pesticides to be banned across

> Europe while their role in killing honeybees were thoroughly

> investigated. Her action follows calls for a ban from beekeeping

> associations and environmental organisations across Europe.

>

> Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based Coalition Against

Bayer

> Dangers, said: " We have been pointing out the risks of

neonicotinoids

> for almost 10 years now. This proves without a doubt that the

> chemicals can come into contact with bees and kill them. These

> pesticides shouldn't be on the market. "

>

> This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Friday May 23

> 2008. It was last updated at 12:46 on May 23 2008.

>

>

> What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we

know for sure that just ain't so.

> - Mark Twain

>