EPA Restricts Use of Pesticides Suspected of Killing Bees

[peoli]

Source: NBC

The EPA has issued a moratorium on use of a type of pesticide theorized to be responsible for plummeting bee populations. Neonicotinoids are a class of common pesticides that recent research has pointed to as being harmful to birds, bees and other animals. The EPA previously approved their use, but outcry over the damage being done has caused the agency to reverse course while more studies are done. On Thursday, the EPA sent letters to people and companies that have applied for outdoor use of the pesticide, saying that new use permits won't be issued.

New uses of neonicotinoids will no long be approved "until the data on pollinator health have been received and appropriate risk assessments completed," the EPA letter reads. Existing permits to use them, however, will not be rescinded — something wildlife and environmental advocacy groups are unhappy with.

"If EPA is unable to assess the safety of new uses, the agency similarly is not able to assess the safety of the close to 100 outdoor uses already approved," said the Center for Food Safety's Peter Jenkins in a statement criticizing the EPA's actions. Other organizations of beekeepers, environmentalists, and farmers echoed the sentiment.

Though it isn't calling an end to all uses of neonicotinoids, the EPA says in its letter that it is taking the problem seriously: "EPA considers the completion of the new pollinator risk assessments for these chemicals to be an agency priority."

Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/epa-calls-halt-use-pesticides-suspected-killing-bees-n334936

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A half-assed first step....

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Half an ass is better than none?

Ie, it's better than no moratorium on new permits.

[peoli]

2. Yes, half-assed is better than none. n/t

[Trillo]

3. Half assed? More like the whole ass just isn't gonna get any fatter.

Neonics should probably not be approved for any agricultural or landscaping plant uses, too much danger to bees.

[Fred Sanders]

4. We will get the full meal deal when we elect the next President...the EPA can only do so much, sir.

Why post a positive OP and then rag on it??

Consider an edit, with respect, might get more recs., and an actual critique might help.

[Trillo]

7. The whole first paragraph is BS!

It is cleverly written, but if you read a little further, "New uses of neonicotinoids will no long be approved". That means all existing uses will continue, but the writer has somehow construed this as "restricts use", that's even in the title.

[Fred Sanders]

8. Understand that the EPA may not have the legal power to retroactively cancel permits.

This is excellent news, you can rag on it all you like, it is excellent news.

You can tell by the hair aflame bonfire being lit in reaction by the chemical industry and their Republican corrupt politicans bought and paid for.

[peoli]

9. Fred, I am happy.

Very happy. But I am also impatient and a huge environmentalist and I wish it was more and happened sooner.

[Fred Sanders]

12. Yes, I know, but the glass is half full...you know Obama is doing all he can....with a coup underway...

[Buzz Clik]

19. There is a lot of pushback on these regulations. And it is not just the chemical companies.

Keep in mind that farmers very much want to retain the use of these chemicals, and the inability to use them has had consequences:

Neonicotinoid ban hit UK farmers hard

Peter Kendall surveys his crop of oilseed rape. At this time of year, he should usually be looking at healthy green cotyledons (young shoots), but the leaves are full of holes.

The driest September on record has meant a plague of flea beetle. The pest is normally controlled by coating the seeds in a systemic pesticide called neonicotinoid.

The chemical, related to nicotine, is absorbed by the plant as it grows, making it resistant to bugs and viruses.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/01/neonicotinoid-uk-farmers-rapeseed-crop-bees-pesticide

[A Little Weird]

5. Great news!

I wish they would rescind existing permits as well but at least it's something.

[Red1]

6. The suspicion

has been there for years..for the biologists and entomologists...
its been dead certain.

Govt shoulda shut them all down just as soon as the populations (bee) started
to decrease..its been pretty obvious.

But in the usofa? We'll wait till the water us up to our knees before
we go out and shut off the coal burners. After all its only food..

[erronis]

14. Having personally seen the USDA in (in)action, this is an improvement. Now for glyphosate -

and other non-proven harmless chemicals dusted in our environments?

Or the several thousand industrial chemicals that aren't tested for biological harm since they have been used for years and are grand-fathered in?

[Buzz Clik]

21. The real problem with glyphosate is overuse and inappropriate use.

Putting glyphosate on food crops near harvest makes me cringe. Spraying it on a fallow field is not big deal.

[cstanleytech]

16. Yes but suspicion is just that....a suspicion. Whats needed now is solid data that

supports a ban on the products current approved uses though and hopefully they can find such data sooner rather than later.

[Buzz Clik]

20. I think this is overstated:

The suspicion has been there for years..for the biologists and entomologists...
its been dead certain.

Actually not quite true. The entomologists still are not of one mind that the neonicotinoids are the only problem. Along with mites, viruses, and problems associated with high-fructose artificial food provided by the beekeepers, neonicotinoids are a likely suspect, but it is not definitive.

[calimary]

10. It's a start, at least.

[obxhead]

13. Exactly.

You have to start somewhere.

Even if they made a total ban today, it will still take years before the grandfathered in product is used up and finally taken out of use.

[JDPriestly]

11. I watched a Netflix movie on how plants talk or communicate. It discussed

a type of wild tobacco plant and explained that the nicotine in the plant was the plant's defense against certain insects -- a poison to anything that has muscles I think it said.

My grandfather used tobacco to kill insects on his farm -- or at least put it on fenceposts with that purpose in mind.

Nicontine exists because it is useful to the tobacco plant. If I smoked, I would look into the safety of nicotine.

I think this is the video:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2338524490/

[Major Nikon]

17. Nicotine sulfate is approved for use under the National Organic Program

It's been used for around 100 years as an insecticide.

Many, if not most, plants have some sort of insecticidal properties and humans have been putting those properties to use for just about as long as humans have been around.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

15. U.S. can always be trusted to do the right thing....

As a last resort.

Glad they're finally getting started.

[LiberalArkie]

18. Bees are defiantly returning this year. I can't not walk out in my yard as it is covered with bees

in the weeds. I need to mow down the weeds but I think I am going to wait until the bees move on. I have never seen so many.

[Eric Stratton]

22. Yeah....this was done in Europe....

with proven results. Of course, everyone can anticipate the horrible backlash from "freedom lovers" and Monsanto to this environmental and food resource protection.

[gregcrawford]

23. How in helll can they conduct accurate risk assessments...

... of pollinator health if they continue to allow the use of neonics? That's fucking asinine.

[czarjak]

24. Hey now...

Our esteemed state senator Charles Perry says EPA regulations are "punishment, government overreach". Guess what party he's a member of.