Leaked document: EPA knowingly approved bee-killing pesticide

[irishspirit]

A Colorado beekeeper recently obtained a leaked document revealing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows a popular crop pesticide is killing off honey bees, but has allowed its continued approval anyway. Despite opposition from its own scientists, EPA officials first gave the a-okay to Bayer CropScience’s toxic pesticide clothianidin in 1993 based on the company’s own flawed safety studies. But now it has been revealed that the EPA knew all along about the dangers of clothianidin and decided to just ignore them.

By now, most people know that honeybees are dying off at an incredibly disturbing rate. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), a condition where bees stray from the hive and never find their way back, is nixing millions of nature’s pollinators every year. Previous studies have pinpointed various environmental toxins as the primary culprits, including toxic pesticides like clothianidin (http://www.naturalnews.com/028429_c…).

http://blacklistednews.com/Leaked-document%3A-EPA-knowingly-approved-bee-killing-pesticide-/12177/0/6/6/Y/M.html

[Anchor]

Here is the leaked memo http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/Memo_Nov2010_Clothianidin.pdf


Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

EPA - Elite Protection Agency

What a bunch of ***** <- insert your favourite term here

John..

[MorningSong]

From Wiki:


Clothianidin is an insecticide developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer AG. Similar to thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, it is a neonicotinoid. Clothianidin is absorbed by plants and then released in pollen and nectar to kill pests. Because of this, it is also dangerous to pollen- and nectar-eating insects like bees.

Clothianidin was first given conditional registration for use as a pesticide by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in April of 2003, pending the completion of additional study of its safety to be done by December of 2004 (later extended to May of 2005). The study wasn't completed until August of 2007. Clothianidin was granted an unconditional registration for use as a seed treatment for corn and canola on April 22, 2010.[1] According to a leaked memo internal to the EPA, the agency considers that "acute toxicity studies show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis to honey bees". [2] Nevertheless, clothianidin is still approved for use in the United States.

Clothianidin is being studied regarding mass dieoffs of honeybees in some parts of Europe. Use of clothianidin was prohibited by the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety on May 15, 2008[3] until new studies can prove the innocuousness of the product.[4] Other countries banning clothianidin include France, Italy and Slovenia.[5]

In August 2008, the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency after the latter agency failed to provide records related to studies regarding clothianidin's possible effects on bees.[6] When the study was ultimately released it was criticized for lacking proper control groups; bee colonies were placed within fields of clothianidin-treated canola and untreated canola that were located within easy foraging range of each other, permitting each colony to feed off of both fields.[1] An internal EPA memo from November 2010 indicates that several EPA researchers have also concluded that the study was flawed, with deficiencies sufficient to render it of only "supplemental" value.[2]

Here in the alps where I live, CCD is a big problem and yet there is nearly no "big" (there are small farms) agriculture in the area for at least 100km radius. And this insecticide is supposedly banned in Italy (maybe not other neonicotiniods, though). I'd like to know what the other causes for CCD are... I am sure this is one and I am glad that it has been admitted finally!

[onawah]

http://www.naturalnews.com/030939_honey_bees_crops.html
(NaturalNews) Sometimes a scientific press release is really a bogus red herring. A recent study hailed by the press as solving the mystery of CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder could be one. The study claims to solve the disappearance of bees that pollinate many food crops. It purports to be a breakthrough in the CCD mystery.

But is it really, or is it a red herring to cover up the real source of honey bee distress?

The Study Summarized

The study, hailed by the mainstream media as a cause for hope, merely isolates the two diseases that apparently finish off the bees. One is viral, IIV or invertebrate iridescent viruses, and the other, Nosema, is fungal. The study concluded that although these pathogens are individually common among bees, the combination of the two is always present in a collapsed bee colony.

Here`s the study`s "only solution": Isolate the diseased bees and cull them from the colony. This seems more in line with that notorious Vietnam War quote, "...destroying a village to save it". This "solution" does nothing to keep the bees from becoming diseased in the first place.

According to Dr. Jennifer Sass of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the study does not address what lowers bees` immunity to allow both diseases to occur simultaneously. She asks, "what is weakening the bees?"

The Usual Suspect Ignored

The NRDC sued the EPA in 2008, demanding that the EPA release Bayer`s test results for its top selling neonicotinoid pesticide. This type of pesticide is used to soak crop seeds, allowing the toxic agent to permeate the whole plant. It`s capable of killing all insects. The EPA had suspended its concerns of toxicity to bees and reversed its stance against Bayer`s neonicotinoid pesticide based solely on Bayer`s test results.

The tests claimed that the pesticide wouldn`t kill bees if used properly. But France and Italy, after suffering huge honey bee losses, banned neonicotinoids upon determining that even low sub lethal dosages completely disorient the bees. They lose their ability to gather pollen and return home to their hives. They mysteriously disappear, leaving behind empty hives.

In 2003, 13 bee keepers in the USA Dakotas area filed a class action suit against Bayer, claiming that large quantities of Bayer`s neonicotinoid, imidacloprid, had accumulated in their hives` bees wax and caused a 60 percent loss of their bees. Bees that were not dead were observed unable to function normally. The bee keepers` loss happened to occur after surrounding crop fields had used Bayer`s pesticide.

It seems the person who led the questionable study, Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, is alleged to have more than one conflict of interest. He developed high tech scanning equipment to spot the diseased bees and created a company to sell the equipment. Even more intriguing is the fact that he had received funding for his study from Bayer.

It is alleged by some who really want to get to the bottom of CCD that publicizing Bromenshenk`s results would give the scientific community and the public a red herring to displace further scrutiny into pesticides. Bayer was enjoying a lot of sales revenue from imidacloprid.

Amazingly, Bromenshenk had originally signed on as an expert witness with the 13 bee keepers` class action suit against Bayer; then, he dropped out. Soon after, he received his funding from Bayer.

Now Dr. Daniel Mayer is involved as the expert witness for the beekeepers. His accurate findings from 17 bee fields were suspiciously excluded from the suit by a Judge in Pennsylvania. Endangering our food supply for immediate gain is increasing, and our government enables this.

Sources for more information

CCN/Fortune Report on What the Lead Researcher of CCD Report Didn`t Disclose by Katherine Eban http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/08/new...

Who is Killing our Honey Bees http://www.healthiertalk.com/who-ki...

Bayer Pesticide Linked to CCD by David Gutierez http://www.naturalnews.com/024362_b...

UK Telegraph Report on CCD Study
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardenin...

Conflicts of Interest for Lead Researcher of CCD by Ethan Huff
http://www.naturalnews.com/030027_c...



About the author
Paul Fassa has managed to survive the Standard American Diet (SAD) and his youthful folly by deprogramming gradually from mainstream health ideology and studying holistic health matters informally with his wife while incorporating them into his lifestyle as a vegetarian.
He also practices Chi-Lel Chi Gong, and he is trained as a polarity therapy practitioner. He is dedicated to warning others about the current corruption of food and medicine and guiding others toward a better direction for health. You can visit his blog at http://healthmaven.blogspot.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/030939_honey_bees_crops.html#ixzz1ANLv6PzO