The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) in Germany have suspended the use of eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweet corn. Reports from bee keepers in the Baden-Wurttemberg region found that two thirds of their bees died after an application of a pesticide called Clothianidin.
Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeeper's Association said, "It's a real bee emergency, 50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives." (Quoted in The Guardian)
The pesticide is produced by Bayer CropScience and is sold in Europe under the name Poncho. It was applied to sweet corn seeds earlier this spring along the Rhine. The seeds can either be treated prior to when they are in the field, or while they are planted. Tests have shown that 99% of dead bees had come in contact with clothianidin.
The chemical was able to get into the air due to an application error where the seed company failed to use the sticky substance that keeps the pesticide on the seed. Clothianidin makes its way through the plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect that comes in contact with it. The US Environmental Protection Agency claims the pesticide is "highly toxic" to honey bees.
This isn't the first case where Bayer has been blamed for extensive bee deaths. In 1995 bee keepers in North Dakota lost thousands of honey bees when rapeseed oil was treated with imidacloprid, Bayer's best selling pesticide. One third of their honey bees were killed, a situation called colony collapse disorder. The bee keepers are taking the company to court over the situation.
Imidacloprid is dubbed Gaucho in France and has been banned since 1999 after one third of the honey bee population died after it's use on sunflower seeds. It was banned as a treatment for sweet corn five years later. French authorities have recently banned the use of clothianidin as well.
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Posted under Articles, Environmental News
This post was written by Christine Pinella on May 24, 2008