Emergency Pesticide Ban for Saving the Honeybee

[G_j]

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/honeybeePesticideBan.php
ISIS Press Release 09/06/08

Emergency Pesticide Ban for Saving the Honeybee

Prof. Joe Cummins’ warning against neonicotinoid pesticides in the killing of honeybees was dramatically confirmed, resulting in swift action on the part of the German Government. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho


Germany’s emergency ban

The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) suspended the registration of eight neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatment products used in oilseed rape and sweetcorn. a few weeks after honeybee keepers in the southern state of Baden Württemberg reported a wave of honeybee deaths linked to one of the pesticides, clothianidin <1, 2>. Prof. Joe Cummins had warned specifically against this class of new pesticides <3> (Requiem for the Honeybee, SiS 34), widely used in dressing seeds and in sprays, and “highly toxic to insects including bees at very low concentrations.” His contribution to ISIS’ Briefing in the European Parliament in June 2007 <4> (Scientists and MEPs for a GM free Europe, SiS 35) drew attention to the danger of sub-lethal doses of neonicotinoids and Bt biopesticides in GM crops, which could act synergistically with pathogenic fungi in causing Colony Collapse Disorder in the honeybee, and resulted in a question to the European Commission by German MEP Hiltrud Breyer <5> (Emergency Motion on Protecting the Honeybee, SiS 35), shortly after she has submitted an emergency motion to ban the neonicotinoids.

[mdmc]

1. Save the honeybees NOW!

thanks for the link:toast:
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/honeybeePesticideBan.php

[hedgehog]

2. We notice the bees; I wonder what other insects we're wiping out that

may be vital links in the ecosystem?

[ogsbee]

3. I've seen a grand total of 3 honeybees this year

All on clover. The dandelion number collapsed this year. Next year there should be even fewer. Is clover also an annual?

Are any of these pesticides used in cities, for West Nile perhaps?

[G_j]

4. Requiem for the Honeybee

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/requiemForTheHoneybee.php

Requiem for the Honeybee

Neonicotinoid insecticides used both in sprays and seed dressing may be responsible for the collapse of honeybee colonies. Prof. Joe Cummins

A fully referenced version of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here

An electronic version of this report, or any other ISIS report, with full references, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please e-mail the title of the report to: [e-mail]

Neonicotinoid insecticides are harmful to the honeybee

There has been a great deal of concern over the decline of the honeybee across the US, Europe and Australia <1> (The Mystery of Disappearing Honeybees, this series). The United States National Research Council (USNRC) Committee of the Status of Pollinators in North America report <2> focused on the impact of parasites, fungi, bacteria and viruses, but did not pay much attention on the impact of pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops, which may have lethal or sub-lethal effects on the bee’s behaviour or resistance to infection. There have been strong responses to the report on that account. On the other hand, any suggestion that GM crops and pesticides may be causing the decline of honeybees is met with heated denial from the proponents.

Certainly, honeybees are declining both in areas where GM crops are widely grown, and in other areas where GM crops are released in small test plots. Is there a common thread that links both areas? Yes there is, the universal use of systemic pesticide seed dressing in GM crops and conventional crops; in particular, the widespread application of a relatively new class of systemic insecticides - the neonicotinoids - that are highly toxic to insects including bees at very low concentrations. Systemic pesticide seed dressings protect the newly sprouted seed at a vulnerable time in the plant’s development. Seed dressings include systemic insecticides and fungicides, which often act synergistically in controlling early seedling pests.

The neonicotinoid insecticides include imidacloprid, thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and several others. Imidacloprid is used extensively in seed dressing for field and horticultural crops, and particularly for maize, sunflower and rapeseed (canola). Imidacloprid was detected in soils, plant tissues and pollen using HPLC coupled to a mass spectrometer. The levels of the insecticide found in pollen suggested probable delirious effects on honeybees <3>. For several years since 2000, French and Italian beekeepers have been noticing that imidacloprid is lethal to bees, and the insecticide is suspected to be causing the decline of hive populations by affecting the bee’s orientation and ability to return to the hive.

,,,,

[lovuian]

5. Yep its the pesticides and GM products

now where is America they are just going to let them die

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WO7ewbO5EzM

Believe me for the country to ban them it was a HAVE TOO or Bees will be extinct

[G_j]

6. thanks much, informative..

:thumbsup: