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Tom's Corner

Lack of bees threatens almond crop

Here it comes.

“Valley agriculture is facing a shortage of bees; up to half of the nation’s honey bee population has died off over the winter.” – KFSN, Fresno, Cailfornia

Our toxic countryside

From beekeeper Graham White. Highly recommended.

Please see an article I wrote for the International Beekeepers Quarterly Magazine, Neonicotinoids – Our Toxic Countryside. It is intended as a general introduction to the wider issues for the naive beekeeper, or for any general reader. – Graham White

Screen shot, Our toxic countryside

As expected, sulfoxaflor has surfaced again

In June of 2012 beekeepers learned that a Section 18 had been granted by the EPA for use of a product called sulfoxaflor on cotton. A Section 18 allows the use of an unregistered product. This came as a complete surprise to leading beekeepers, who had been meeting with the EPA regularly in Washington but were apparently intentionally kept in the dark. This is an interview I did on the sulfoxaflor issue for The Organic View Radio Show in July. While it drags a bit in places I think it lays the groundwork for the discussions to come.

As expected, sulfoxaflor has surfaced again. The EPA has announced the opening of the comment period on sulfoxaflor and they appear to have every intention of registering this product. They have apparently learned nothing from the experience with clothianidin, or perhaps they have, and that is that they have no obligation to honor the law, will not be held accountable by Congress or anyone else, that they are merely a marketing arm of big ag and the chemical industry, and that they had better just get in line and dance for that master if they hope to hold their jobs. Read the announcemet closely. The second paragraph (below) could have been written by the chemical lobby and may very well have been.

TThe EPA is seeking comment on its proposed decision to conditionally register the new active ingredient sulfoxaflor, formulated as a technical product and two end-use products for use in production agriculture. The proposed use sites are barley, bulb vegetables, canola, citrus, cotton, cucurbit vegetables, fruiting vegetables, leafy vegetables, low growing berry, okra, ornamentals (herbaceous and woody), pistachio, pome fruits, root and tuber vegetables, small fruit vine climbing (except fuzzy kiwifruit), soybean, stone fruit, succulent, edible podded and dry beans, tree nuts, triticale, turfgrass, watercress and wheat.

The agency finds this decision to be in the public interest because the registration of this pesticide for use on these crops will provide growers with a new pest management tool to kill a broad spectrum of piercing/sucking insects, including species that are difficult to control. For example, the agency granted a Section 18 Emergency Exemption in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana for use of unregistered sulfoxaflor on cotton to control the tarnished plant bug, an insect that has developed resistance to alternative registered pesticides. Sulfoxaflor is also a valuable new tool for managing the development of pesticide resistance.

The EPA’s proposed decision document and supporting documents will be posted at www.regulations.gov under EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0889 for a 30-day public comment period.

There is only one word in the EPA’s title which has any remaining validity, “agency,” but they are not agents of the people. There is no consideration of the environmental consequences of their decisions and the only protection is the protection of the pesticide companies and big ag.

They propose to repeat the experience with clothianidin, which is to release this product to the market under a conditional registration with many serious questions unanswered  and do the testing in the field, at the expense of beekeepers and the larger environment. If this doesn’t stop right here and the EPA is held to account, we face many more years chasing this chemical and enduring the damages it is sure to inflict.

Are we winning?

I’m not quite ready to declare any victories, but the EU Report, Existing Scientific Evidence of the Effects of Neonicotinoids on Bees sent to me by Dr. Henk Tennekes certainly represents a significant change in the perception of the problem.

It will be interesting to see how, or if, the EPA factors this into their handling of the neonicotinoids. Their response to criticisms raised in the Earth Focus documentary was “If, at any time during the reevaluation, the science indicates that neonicotinoid pesticides used according to the label instructions are not meeting the protection standards of FIFRA the EPA will take the necessary regulatory action.” This is a long string of weasel words providing for multiple opportunities for rationalization and evasion, but even with that it will be difficult for the EPA to dismiss the questions raised here without being seen as even more of an embarassment than they already are

“There is every reason for hope …” Graham White on the UK testimony

This is a compendium of information that came from Graham White this morning:

Dear all,

Please find a summary PDF which comprises all of the evidence submitted to the Parliamentary Inquiry by a wide range of witnesses. They include vivid descriptions from a wide range of ecologists, entomologists and other researchers, of the ongoing collapse in UK populations of bees, bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies, pollinating insects, beetles . . and the associated collapse in the populations of insectivorous farmland birds, amphibians and other wildlife on farms.

If you have the motivation and the time, please watch the following four VIDEOS of the evidence sessions. They are extremely revealing. In the video of 21st November for example, Dr Lyn Dicks of Cambridge describes the population collapse of over 2/3 of the species of common British moths – in terms of range. Dr Dicks and Dr Dave Goulson point out that almost no research into monitoring common insect populations has been funded for several decades. It seems we are living through an ecological collapse in Europe, but apart from beekeepers and ornithologists, few people are even noticing the collapse. They also said it is virtually impossible to get funding to investigate this decline of common insects.

Video, House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, November 21, 2012, (morning session)
1. Pesticide Action Network UK, and Buglife
2. National Farmers Union, and Soil Association

Video, House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, November 21,2012 (afternoon session)
1. Professor Dave Goulson, Stirling University, Professor Graham Stone, Edinburgh University, Dr James Cresswell, Exeter University, and Dr Lynn Dicks, Cambridge University

Video, House of Commons Environmental Committee, November 28, 2012
1. Syngenta, and Bayer CropScience
2. Dr Nigel Raine, University of London, Dr Chris Connolly, University of Dundee, Professor Simon Potts, University of Reading
3. UK Pesticides Campaign

Video, House of Commons Environmental Committee, December 12, 2012
1. Advisory Committee on Pesticides
2. Lord de Mauley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and officials

This may turn out to be a definitive historical document – the first time that a wide range of information has been available to ordinary MPs and the wider public. The Committee’s eventual report will undoubtedly mark a watershed in public awareness of the role of neonicotinoids in the UK.

There is every reason for hope, since Chairwoman Joan Walley is sharp and incisive; her questions to industry and civil servants have been extremely probing and it is clear that she sees through the lies, evasions and PR spin of the poison-makers. Equally, she does not seem deflected by the smoke-screens being chugged out by the civil servants, the Advisory Cttee on Pesticides and the Chemical Regulations Directorate.

The rest of the Cttee have also asked very probing questions. They appear to be digging into all the dark corners of regulatory failure and industry’s misleading deceptions, so there is every reason for optimism about their eventual recommendations.

Regards

Graham White

Tom Theobald’s Corner

Founding member Tom Theobald speaks out about the EPA and clothianidin.

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