[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] Bayer Pesticides Cause Mass Death of Bees

[Bill Totten]

Pesticides cause mass death of bees

Germany: Charge against Bayer's Board of Management

Coalition Against Bayer Dangers (August 25 2008)


The German Coalition Against Bayer Dangers today brought a charge
against Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer Board of Management, with
the Public Prosecutor in Freiburg (south-western Germany). The group
accuses Bayer of marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting
the mass death of bees all over the world. The Coalition introduced the
charge in cooperation with German beekeepers who lost thousands of hives
after poisoning by the pesticide clothianidin in May this year.

Since 1991 Bayer has been producing the insecticide Imidacloprid, which
is one of the best selling insecticides in the world, often used as
seed-dressing for maize, sunflower, and rape. Bayer exports Imidacloprid
to more than 120 countries and the substance is Bayer's best-selling
pesticide. Since patent protection for Imidacloprid expired in most
countries, Bayer in 2003 brought a similarly functionning successor
product, Clothianidin, onto the market. Both substances are systemic
chemicals that work their way from the seed through the plant. The
substances also get into the pollen and the nectar and can damage
beneficial insects such as bees.

The beginning of the marketing of Imidacloprid and Clothianidin
coincided with the occurrence of large scale bee deaths in many European
and American countries. Up to seventy per cent of all hives have been
affected. In France alone approximately ninety billion bees died within
ten years, reducing honey production by up to sixty per cent.

Harro Schultze, attorney of the Coalition Against Bayer Dangers said:
"The Public Prosecutor needs to clarify which efforts BAYER undertook to
prevent a ban of Imidacloprid and Clothianidin after sales of both
substances were stopped in France. We're suspecting that Bayer submitted
flawed studies to play down the risks of pesticide residues in treated
plants". In France Imidacloprid has been banned as a seed dressing for
sunflowers since 1999 and in 2003 was also banned as a sweetcorn
treatment. The Comité Scientifique et Technique, convened by the French
government, declared that the treatment of seeds with Imidacloprid leads
to significant risks for bees. Bayer's application for Clothianidin was
also rejected by French authorities.

"Bayer's Board of Management has to be called to account since the risks
of neonicotinoids such as Imidacloprid and Clothianidin have now been
known for more than ten years. With an annual turnover of nearly 800
million Euro neonicotinoids are among Bayer's most important products.
This is the reason why Bayer, despite serious environmental damage, is
fighting against any application prohibitions", says Philipp Mimkes,
speaker of the Coalition Against Bayer-dangers. The Coalition demands
that Bayer withdraw all neonicotinoids from the market worldwide.

The accusation of flawed studies is confirmed by the Canadian Pest
Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) which judged on Bayer's Clothianidin
application: "All of the field/semi-field studies, however, were found
to be deficient in design and conduct of the studies and were,
therefore, considered as supplemental information only. Clothianidin may
pose a risk to honey bees and other pollinators, if exposure occurs via
pollen and nectar of crop plants grown from treated seeds." PRMA adds:
"It should also be noted that Clothianidin is very persistent in soil,
with high carry-over of residues to the next growing season.
Clothianidin is also mobile in soil."

In May 2008 German authorities blamed clothianidin for the deaths of
millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection
and Food Safety (BVL) suspended the registration for eight pesticide
seed treatment products, including Clothianidin and Imidacloprid, on
maize and rape.

The case is filed by the Public Prosecutor in Freiburg (Tel: +49-(0)761
2050) under the file number 520 UJs 1649/08

More Information:

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

Sierra Club urges EPA to suspend nicotinyl insecticides:
http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/whatsnew/whatsnew_2008-07-30.asp

Press Release of the Research Centre for Cultivated Plants
http://www.jki.bund.de/cln_044/nn_813794/DE/pressestelle/Presseinfos/2008/1605__BienensterbenClothianidin.html__nnn=true

Bee-keepers and environmental groups demand prohibition of pesticide
"Gaucho" · French Institutes Finds Imidaproclid Turning Up in Wide Range
of Crops · 2003 report from the "Comité Scientifique et Technique de
l'Etude Multifactorielle des Troubles des Abeilles"
http://agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/rapportfin.pdf

Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, www.CBGnetwork.org

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_14369.cfm

_____ _____ _____ _____

Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

by Alison Benjamin

guardian.co.uk (May 23 2008)


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.

"It's a real bee emergency", said Manfred Hederer, president of the
German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "fifty to sixty per cent of
the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their
hives".

Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of
clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary
of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under the trade
name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted along the
Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance of being planted or
are sprayed while in the field.

The company says an application error by the seed company which failed
to use the glue-like substance that sticks the pesticide to the seed,
led to the chemical getting into the air.

Bayer spokesman Dr Julian Little told the BBC's Farming Today that
misapplication is highly unusual. "It is an extremely rare event and has
not been seen anywhere else in Europe", he said.

Clothianidin, like the other neonicotinoid pesticides that have been
temporarily suspended in Germany, is a systemic chemical that works its
way through a plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect it
comes into contact with. According to the US Environmental Protection
Agency it is "highly toxic" to honeybees.

This is not the first time that Bayer, one of the world's leading
pesticide manufacturers with sales of 5.8 billion Euros (GBP 4.6bn) in
2007, has been blamed for killing honeybees.

In the United States, a group of beekeepers from North Dakota is taking
the company to court after losing thousands of honeybee colonies in
1995, during a period when oilseed rape in the area was treated with
imidacloprid. A third of honeybees were killed by what has since been
dubbed colony collapse disorder.

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.

Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is safe for bees if
correctly applied. "Extensive internal and international scientific
studies have confirmed that Gaucho does not present a hazard to bees",
said Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

Last year, Germany's Green MEP, Hiltrud Breyer, tabled an emergency
motion calling for this family of pesticides to be banned across Europe
while their role in killing honeybees were thoroughly investigated. Her
action follows calls for a ban from beekeeping associations and
environmental organisations across Europe.

Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based Coalition Against Bayer
Dangers, said: "We have been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids
for almost ten years now. This proves without a doubt that the chemicals
can come into contact with bees and kill them. These pesticides
shouldn't be on the market."

guardian.co.uk (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/wildlife.endangeredspecies


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