Monarch butterflies and the neonicotinoids

“The pine forests of the mountains of central Mexico are unrecognizable in winter. The oyamel firs shiver with butterflies, tens of millions of them alighting on trees in clusters of rustling black and orange, seeking warmth and protection during the cold months. This striking phenomenon – the only one of its kind in the world – may not exist in thirty years.” The Tragic Driver Behind Monarch Decline, Pollinator Stewardship Council.

The Xerces Society recently reported a 99.4 decline of the West Coast Monarch population, 2000 individuals counted in 2020, where just a few short years ago there were millions. Until now the decline was attributed primarily to the elimination of milkweeds by Roundup. but for the past 15 years there were a few of us saying that the loss of milkweeds was only a part of the problem. This article published by the Pollinator Stewardship Council, The Tragic Driver Behind Monarch Decline, finally confirms the role neonicotinoids were playing. The environmental damages from neonics are escalating geometrically and the human population may be next on the list.

The neonics are an ecosystem issue

“Environmental experts say saving pollinators and ecosystems will take more than a new administration or state and federal bans of a few individual neonics. Real solutions may also require closing regulatory loopholes, updates to the EPA pesticide registration process, and a more concerted effort to help farmers deal with insects in less toxic ways.” Beyond Bees, Neonics Damage Ecosystems and a Push for Policy Change is coming, Civil Eats, February 2, 2021.

The Shell Oil Company had it right when they discovered the neonicotinoid family of pesticides in 1984, concluding that there was no practical use because the neonics killed everything. Ten years later Bayer Corporation offered to buy the rights to the neonics despite the warnings of Shell, claiming that they would handle the downside. They did so, as they had with many other pesticides, by denial, diversion and distraction, denying that the neonics had any role in the damages, diverting attention to a whole host of other potential culprits and distracting the discussions from the real causes. This worked for some of their earlier poisons, but not for the hyper-toxic neonicotinoids. Purely for profit Bayer chose to put the earth and all of its inhabitants at risk and now we are beginning to see the results. While we were assured that the poisoning would be limited to insects and other low level life forms that has proven not be the case and the human species will soon be at risk.

I would like to make one caveat to the Civil Eats article linked above. The Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) reports the most recent annual colony losses at 44%. BIP is an instrument of the chemical industry, intended to skew colony losses toward things like mites, and ignore the role of neonics. I spoke just this past week with a Colorado commercial beekeeper with several thousand colonies who says that his losses this year will be on the order of 80% and this is what I hear from commercial as well as hobby beekeepers all over the U.S. Don’t be misled by the BIP diversions.

I encourage all of you to read the Civil Eats piece completely and carefully, including the links. because it brings up to date many of the concerns raised over the past 15 years by Henk Tennekes, Graham White, Dave Goulson, myself and others.

As Daniel Raichel, a staff attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council says at the end, “It is a bee issue for sure, but it’s really an ecosystem issue. It’s an everything issue.”

Listen to Tom Theobald read Henk Tennekes’ last interview

It’s finally out, the narration of Henk Tenneke’s last interview  before his death. Stay on long enough to listen to the conversation between Terry and me because there is some important information there as well. Things must change if the arthropods are to survive, and humans along with them.

Henk Tennekes, Author of The Systemic Pesticides, A disaster in the Making was a Dutch Toxicologist who researched neonicotinoids, the most used agro chemicals on the planet. Henk wrote his book when he saw that these poisons would break the food chain at it’s most critical link, the insect/invertebrate life system of the planet.

Bayer and Academia at Wageningen University (EU equivalent to UC Davis University), who portray themselves as leaders in pollinator health, both blacklisted him and worked to destroy his career. They put a shot across the bow to those who would blow the whistle and expose the cozy relationship of Honeybee Academia and the chemical industry.

Henk’s accent was difficult to understand, so I asked Tom Theobald, friend of Henk and activist beekeeper from Colorado, to stand in and read as Henk from the transcript. If you’d like the original interview of Henk please email me for a copy. Marc Pieterse, a Dutch admirer of Henk’s work, took the time to translate Henk’s interview into a transcript. Thank you Marc and Tom for all your help. And thank you Henk for seeing the future and warning us, even if you paid dearly for it. – Terry Oxford

Pollinators and Power: Graham White interviewed by Terry Oxford

Once again, I find it  unnecessary to add much to Terry Oxford’s preface to this interview with Graham White.

This is an important interview and Terry was the only one with the foresight to record Graham’s thoughts before we lost him. Anyone trying to understand the pesticide wars that have been forced upon us must listen to it. Graham had an encyclopedic memory and he covers the pesticide wars, and the history of the neonicotinoids in great detail. While I was a party to many of the incidents he relates, even I learned many details that have escaped my memory.

I would encourage all of you to visit Terry’s site, Pollinators and Power, Urban Bee San Francisco. where you will find a number of other powerful interviews.

Graham White of the UK was the most intelligent and outspoken soldier for pollinators and nature.  He was the most well-researched, well read and well rounded honeybee advocate who knew everything about the chemical industry’s control of our food system.  In this interview Graham speaks about the history of chemical agriculture, how the pest control industry took control of the Honeybee Associations in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU and why all you hear from Beekeeping Associations is a deafening silence about pesticides. He also outs the Entomologists from Public Universities for their cozy, ‘friends with benefits’ relationship with the chemical corporations who have infinite money to spend.  

Graham passed away this year.  Graham was my very wise friend.  I learned a lot from him in hours long calls.  We talked about the corruption of our food system and official Bayer/Monsanto enablers like COLOSS, BIP and Project Apis M.  Toward the end of his life I asked if we could start recording our calls.  I wished I’d done it sooner. I have two interviews and the 2nd one is coming soon.  I don’t know if anyone had such a reservoir of information on the poison industry.  Graham is sorely missed. – Terry Oxford

Neonicotinoids are also killing birds

Horrifyingly but perhaps unsurprisingly, scientists now believe that bees aren’t the only animals that are adversely affected by neonicotinoids. Many bird species, too, appear to be in decline.” The pesticide that caused bee colonies to collapse is killing birds now,” Salon, August 18, 2020

 

A new research paper suggests that those same chemicals that are so toxic to bee populations are also killing off birds at an alarming rate. “Insecticides are killing bees, birds, and who knows what else,” BGR, August 19, 2020

What have I been saying for the past several years? Neonics are going into the environment annually at a toxic equivalent to 400 billion pounds of DDT, on top of billions remaining from previous years. Despite the chemical industry’s best efforts, it is becoming harder and harder to hide the environmental devastation they have wrought.

If anything the findings in this study in Nature Sustainability are lower than what is actually occurring. The honey bee losses, for example, are reported to be about 43% annually, statistics coming from the Bee Informed Partnership, but if you talk to commercial beekeepers those figures are more like 80% or more, and for many of them there may be a complete turnover of their colony population in the course of a year.

The problem with neonicotinoids: important info for new beekeepers

I’m resurrecting another interview I did, The Problem with Neonicotinoids, previously posted on Tom’s Corner in 2018. I did this one with old friend Kim Flottum along with moderator and new friend Jeff Ott. 

I’m bringing these interviews to the fore for a number of reasons. First, I think they are important and they represent what some of my concerns are. Second, we have had a lot of new beekeepers enter the craft in the last few years and I think these postings are important for them to listen to. And finally, while I do not dismiss any of the other challenges that beekeepers face today, I believe that ultimately it is the neonicotinoids and the massive environmental poisoning they represent that are leading to the bee deaths we are experiencing, and we must address these and the knowledge of these hazards must be passed on to a younger generation of beekeepers. If you scroll down you will see that we have lost some important voices just with the past few months.

Take the time to listen to this podcast, and when you finish scroll down and listen to the others as well.

Remembering Henk Tennekes

Another sad message to share. Dutch toxicologist Henk Tennekes died  July 7, 2020. Henk had been in increasingly poor health for some time. His passing is the loss of another leading voice in the war against pesticides in general, and neonicotinoids in particular.

Henk entered the scene in 2011 with his book, A Disaster in the Making. He applied his years as a toxicologist in cancer research to actions we were seeing with the neonicotinoids, introducing us to the Haber’s rule, the Druckrey-Kupfmuller equation and the dose-time relationship. In short, he demonstrated that the action of neonics is cumulative and irreversible, that there is no safe dose, and given sufficient time, even the smallest exposure can lead to death.

Henk was excoriated mightily by the chemical industry and even within his own profession, ironically a measure of the validity of the concerns he raised, which made them all very uncomfortable. Even today the “Plant More Flowers For the Bees” movement ignores the message Henk brought to us and few researchers appear willing to grasp the enormity of the environmental poisoning he warned of.

Henk’s last words were reported to have been “be careful with the earth.”  Are we? Will we?

Rest in peace, Henk. You did your best, your battle is over now, and the rest falls to those of us who remain.

-Tom Theobald

I include two links which expand on Henk’s work.

The first is a powerpoint published by the Hampshire Beekeepers Association which talks a little about Rachel Carson, and then Henk’s work and his book, A Disaster in the Making.

The second is an interview June Stoyer and I did with Henk in 2013.

Pesticide battles: who will pick up the torch?

The loss of my friend Graham White (scroll down for a remembrance of Graham) brought home to me very clearly that those of us who have been fighting the pesticide battles for decades need to pass the torch to a younger generation while we are still here to answer questions and offer guidance.

While my focus for the past 15 years has been the neonicotinoid family of pesticides and the toll they have taken on honey bees, the challenge goes far beyond the honey bees and far beyond the neonicotinoids.

I stumbled on these two videos a day or two ago and listened to refresh my own memory.

They were done about 10 years ago. I was struck by how little has changed in the intervening years. Ten years of poisoning have continued at massive levels while the regulators drag their feet.

So for those of you who share our concerns over what is being done to the earth and it’s inhabitants, including us, I bring these 2 interviews back to the surface to provide a context to the issues we face today.

I also encourage those of you who are interested to scroll back through earlier postings. While far from complete, they provide much of the history of the battles we have waged. It is the homework, the stuff you need to understand if there is any hope of confronting the issues with knowledge and intelligence. The more you know the better you will be able to confront the challenges.

Here’s the torch. My hope is that some of you will pick it up.

Pollinators and Power: Jeff Anderson interviewed by Terry Oxford

When I post something like this Jeff Anderson interview on Tom’s Corner it is usually with a preface from me, but I could hardly do better than the words of Terry Oxford. This is another powerful interview by Terry, who in addition to her podcasts, has her 15 minutes of fame as the San Francisco Rooftop Beekeeper.

“Jeff Anderson, owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms is a long time migratory beekeeper with thousands of hives and a front line activist fighting the powerful pesticide interests in our regulatory agencies, the EPA, USDA, BIP and powerful Ag Public Universities.  All are entrusted to care for bees and beekeepers, but they don’t. They protect the chemical industries interests or as Jeff calls them, The Bayer Boys.  For years Jeff has done everything he could to protect his bees from agro-chemicals.  This interview was hard for me.  Its long because I just couldn’t cut his words.  What he has to say is so telling, so critically important and the impact on me has been lasting. I didn’t sleep for two nights after this interview.  Jeff never wanted to be an activist but the system was set against bees and nature ever surviving our crops.  An impressive man, I really honor his work and depth of knowledge and experience.  Please listen…it heats up as it goes.” -Terry Oxford

This is an excellent interview by Terry, well worth your time if you want to understand the history and perhaps the future of some of the monumental challenges we face in the world of agriculture and pesticides. Jeff Anderson and I have been fellow travelers on these issues for more than 20 years, but even I found this conversation enlightening, bringing clarity to things I had been involved in, but that had blurred a little with time. Jeff is an invaluable keeper of many of the details and he is an invaluable resource to all of us.

These are extremely important issues we face, which go far beyond bees and beekeepers. Interviews like this don’t just fall off the shelf, they take many hours of effort. Please take the time to honor the work of Terry and Jeff.

In very unusual move, EPA reopens public comment period for neonicotinoids

The EPA is required to evaluate and determine if toxic chemicals should be re-registered  on a 15 year cycle and several of the heavily used neonicotinoids have come up for review: clothianidin, thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, dinotefuron and acetamiprid. Typically there is a 30 day comment period as a part of the review process, there was one in 2018 and a 30 day extension, two more in 2020,  which closed on May 4th.

In collaboration with leading scientists who have been intimately connected with the controversy over the neonicotinoid family as outspoken critics and casualties, the Pollinator Stewardship Council and the Ecdysis Foundation filed three excellent letters at the close of the most recent comment period.  These are powerful reflections on the neonics, collectively calling for a ban on all outdoor uses.  Click here to read the Ecdysis Foundation’s Letter to the EPA.  Here’s the Pollinator Stewardship Council’s Letter to the EPA dated April 24th, 2020. And a second letter to the EPA from the Pollinator Stewardship Council dated May 3rd.

“Neonicotinoids hurt farmers and society far more than they help us.” – Ecdysis Foundation

In a very unusual move, 2 weeks after the close of what was to be the final comment period, the EPA granted another 30 day extension, supposedly at the request of “stakeholders” who wanted more time. As if 60 days in 2018 and another 60 days in 2020 open for comment were not enough.

My guess is that the poison industry was caught flat footed by the quality of the PSC letters and perhaps others like them. They thought re-registration would be a slam dunk by an EPA well under their control, but now they are nervous and want more time to strengthen their arguments. It will be interesting to see what the source is of the letters filed in the next 30 days.

It may already to late for the environment unfortunately. These neonics are toxic poisons with half lives of years. It will take decades for the environment to purge itself of these chemicals even if they are stopped today. The evidence is that as a consequence of their heavy and widespread use that most of the U.S. is poisoned at toxic levels, far above the EPA’s Threshold For Environmental Damage. Their effect is cumulative and irreversible, meaning that even the tiniest doses, over time, can result in death. To approve the re-registration of these poisons knowing what we know pushes the controversy into the realm of criminality – knowingly poisoning the earth and the people for profit.

Take the time to read carefully and absorb what is said in the 3 letters, and if you haven’t already done so you might consider submitting a letter of you own, if for no other reason than to balance what is likely to be an industry lobbying tsunami.