The legal petition calling “on EPA to suspend registration of Bayer’s controversial bee-toxic pesticide, clothianidin,” was filed today and the press release is here. I thought it read well until I got to the last paragraph.
As a result of the petition, EPA may choose to suspend the use of clothianidin, or open a public comment process to evaluate the concerns voiced by beekeepers and environmental organizations.
We need to assure that the EPA is not allowed to open public comment as a dodge and an evasion. While public comment may be informative on some aspects of these issues, the status of the neonicotinoids is a legal matter, not a question of public opinion. These products not only appear to be doing great damage, but are doing so in violation of the law, and this must be addressed immediately or we may be courting an environmental disaster of monumental proportions.
