Researchers: Honeybee deaths linked to seed insecticide exposure

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120111KrupkeBees.html

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=5]Researchers: Honeybee deaths linked to seed insecticide exposure[/font]

January 11, 2012

[font size=3]WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Honeybee populations have been in serious decline for years, and Purdue University scientists may have identified one of the factors that cause bee deaths around agricultural fields.

Analyses of bees found dead in and around hives from several apiaries over two years in Indiana showed the presence of neonicotinoid insecticides, which are commonly used to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting. The research showed that those insecticides were present at high concentrations in waste talc that is exhausted from farm machinery during planting.

The insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam were also consistently found at low levels in soil - up to two years after treated seed was planted - on nearby dandelion flowers and in corn pollen gathered by the bees, according to the findings released in the journal PLoS One this month.

"We know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees," said Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology and a co-author of the findings.

…[/font][/font]

[ProfessionalLeftist]

1. Doesn't say who makes the insecticide

And how many friends they have at the FDA. Any ideas?

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Who

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothianidin

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=3]Clothianidin is an insecticide developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer AG. …

… Seed treatment uses of clothianidin, corn in particular, have been revoked or suspended in Germany, Italy and Slovenia. The suspensions are reflective of E.U. pesticide law and are generally associated with acute poisoning of bees from pesticide dust being blown off of treated seeds, especially corn, and onto nearby farms where bees were performing pollinator services. …[/font][/font]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamethoxam

[font face=Times,Times New Roman,Serif][font size=3]… Thiamethoxam was developed by Syngenta but a patent dispute arose with Bayer which already had patents covering other neonicotinoids including imidacloprid. In 2002 the dispute was settled, with Syngenta paying Bayer $120 million in exchange for worldwide rights to thiamethoxam. …

… The substance is toxic to bees …[/font][/font]

[Javaman]

3. You mean the same stuff that has been banned in Germany and France because...

IT KILLS BEES!

Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/wildlife.endangeredspecies

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.

Snip

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.

much more at link...

And...

Clothianidin – Registration Status and Related Information

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/clothianidin-registration-status.html#status

Basic Information
EPA originally evaluated clothianidin for registration through a North American Free Trade Agreement Joint Review (PDF) (18 pp, 120 k, about PDF) with Canada in 2003. During that process, we identified it as an alternative to organophosphate and carbamate pesticides. Both of these classes of older insecticides are very highly acutely toxic to bees and, unlike clothianidin, are also very highly acutely toxic to humans and wildlife. When EPA granted the initial registration for clothianidin seed treatment uses in 2003, the Agency determined that the uses met the risk/benefit and safety standards for registration as required by federal law.

more at link...

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So to recap:

European nations care about their bees and their people but here in the US, not so much.

[glinda]

4. kick