[Marxism] Bayer on defensive in bee deaths

[Greg McDonald]

Bayer on defensive in bee deaths
Aug 26, 2008

Bayer CropScience is facing scrutiny because of the effect one of its  
best-selling pesticides has had on honeybees.
A German prosecutor is investigating Werner Wenning, Bayer's  
chairman, and Friedrich Berschauer, the head of Bayer CropScience,  
after critics alleged that they knowingly polluted the environment.

The investigation was triggered by an Aug. 13 complaint filed by  
German beekeepers and consumer protection advocates, a Coalition  
against Bayer Dangers spokesman, Philipp Mimkes, said Monday.

The complaint is part of efforts by groups on both sides of the  
Atlantic to determine how much Bayer CropScience knows about the part  
that clothianidin may have played in the death of millions of honeybees.

Bayer CropScience, which has its U.S. headquarters in Research  
Triangle Park, said field studies have shown that bees' exposure to  
the pesticide is minimal or nonexistent if the chemical is used  
properly.

Clothianidin and related pesticides generated about $1 billion of  
Bayer CropScience's $8.6 billion in global sales last year. The  
coalition is demanding that the company withdraw all of the pesticides.

"We're suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down  
the risks of pesticide residues in treated plants," said Harro  
Schultze, the coalition's attorney.

"Bayer's ... management has to be called to account, since the  
risks ... have now been known for more than 10 years."

Under German law, a criminal investigation could lead to a search of  
Bayer offices, Mimkes said.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Natural Resources Defense  
Council is pressing for research information on clothianidin.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the pesticide in  
2003 under the condition that Bayer submit additional data. A  
lawsuit, which the environmental group filed Aug. 19 in federal court  
in Washington, accuses the EPA of hiding the honeybee data.

The group thinks the data might show what role chlothianidine played  
in the loss of millions of U.S. honeybee colonies.

Researchers have been puzzled by what is causing the bees to  
disappear at what is considered an alarming rate.

The phenomenon, known as colony collapse disorder, threatens a $15  
billion portion of the U.S. food supply.

In the U.S. diet, about one in three mouthfuls comes from crops that  
bees pollinate.

Scientists are looking at viruses, parasites and stresses that might  
compromise bees' immune system. In the past two years, Congress has  
earmarked about $20 million to boost research.

Clothianidin, sold under the brand name Poncho, is used to coat corn,  
sugar beet and sorghum seeds and protect them from pests. A nerve  
toxin that has the potential to be toxic for bees, it gets into all  
parts of the plant that grows from the coated seeds.

In 1999, French regulators banned an older relative of Poncho and  
subsequently declined approval for clothianidin. French researchers  
found that bees were a lot more sensitive to the pesticides than  
Bayer CropScience studies had shown.

Three months ago, German regulators suspended sales of chlothianidine  
and related chemicals after the family of pesticides was blamed for  
the destruction of more than 11,000 bee colonies.

The Julius Kühn Institute, a state-run crop research institute in  
Germany, collected samples of dead honeybees and determined that  
clothianidin caused the deaths.

Bayer CropScience blamed defective seed corn batches.

The company said that the coating came off as the seeds were sown,  
which allowed unusually high amounts of toxic dust to spread to  
adjacent areas where bees collected pollen and nectar.

Bayer paid about $3 million in damages, Mimkes said.

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1193866.html
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Okay,, now that you've take a peek at that,, check out THIS article  
if you will...
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Germany and France Ban Pesticides Linked To Bee Deaths; Geneticist  
Urges U.S. Ban June 23rd, 2008

In light of recent European bans of a pesticide linked to Bee Colony  
Collapse Disorder (CCD), at least one key bee expert is calling for a  
ban of the same pesticide in the United States.

“In the United States, drastic action is needed,” says Canadian  
geneticist Joe Cummins, explaining that U.S. farmers and beekeepers  
shouldn’t have to wait for more evidence or for an air-tight  
explanation for the complex syndrome, which threatens one in every  
third bite of food in the United States. Now most apiarists and  
scientists realize that pesticides are a factor in CCD, he says.

Cummins’ remarks, in an interview with GreenRightNow, come less than  
a month after Germany’s ban of clothianidin, a pesticide commonly  
used to keep insects off of corn crops. Germany banned the pesticide  
after heaps of dead bees were found near fields of corn coated in the  
pesticide, and in response to scientists who report that the  
insecticide severely impairs, and often kills, the honeybees that  
corn and other crops depend on for pollination.

The German government took the extraordinary action to protect bees  
and other essential pollinators, stating that there is now enough  
compelling evidence connecting the chemical to Bee Colony Collapse  
Disorder (CCD) in that country.

The ban also will likely fuel the European debate over genetically  
modified food, which involves treating crop seeds to resist harm from  
pesticide treatments. Critics of such modified foods say they are  
harming the environment, and have unknown human consequences, for  
little or no crop gain. Some scientists in Europe have called for  
their ban.

Bee Colony Collapse has been threatening bees, and the crops they  
serve, around the world for the past several years.

In other parts of Europe, including France, studies of other  
pesticides have shown they are negatively impacting bee behavior –  
and contributing to the collapse of entire bee colonies. France has  
outlawed the use of the pesticide imidacloprid — which like  
clothianidin is classed as a “neonicotinoid.” Imidacloprid has been  
linked to disoriented behavior in honeybees – and may help explain  
why many CCD cases result in abandoned hives.

“I think the Environmental Protection Agency would be well advised to  
put an immediate emergency ban on the neonicotinoid seed-treatment  
pesticides. I would say on all pesticides,” says Cummins.

The ban in Germany, and Cummins’ call for a U.S. ban, should be no  
surprise to the EPA. The agency’s own fact sheet on clothianidin  
shows that it has known of the dangers to bees since it conditionally  
approved the chemical in 2003.