EPA Withholds Pesticide Information While Bees Die
A conservation organization has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to release information about a pesticide linked to dramatic declines in honeybee populations. The pesticide was approved on the condition that the manufacturer study the effects of the chemical on the bee species. The EPA has received the studies but refuses to release them to the public, even though a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was filed.
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An EPA fact sheet from 2003 states clothianidin is potentially toxic to honeybees, as well as other pollinators, though residues in nectar and pollen. Bayer maintains that clothianidin does not pose long-term risks to bees.
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Existing research, as well as much anecdotal evidence, has convinced French (phokks - Ed.) and German (America-haters - Ed.) agricultural authorities to suspend use of clothianidin until evidence of its safety to bees is established. Despite having the same facts before them, the EPA has not taken similar precautions.
Instead, the EPA has repeatedly used "emergency exemption provisions" under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to approve use of clothianidin in five states. The agency has also used the emergency provisions to approve use of IMD 163 times in 26 states. These emergency exemptions are intended to allow unregistered use of pesticides for a limited time if EPA determines that an emergency condition exists. (I guess all the bees dying is not an emergency... Ed.)
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