Movento (Bayer ag chemical threat to bees). Food production dependent on pollinators.
See the appended press release. Congratulations to the Natural Resources Defense Council in the U.S.!
It is insanity to be putting more chemicals that kill bees into the environment when we know the vast amounts of our food crops that cannot be produced if the pollinators disappear. We know the bees are disappearing. I suspect we know it because bees are raised commercially, they have direct monetary value.
I do not know if anyone is keeping track of other pollinators such as wasp populations which do not have any “ownership” and hence no financial value as far as our antiquated economic measurements are concerned.
I sent the (next posting) to the Bureaucrats who are responsible for the pesticides used in Canada. I see where others have sent letters to Stephen Harper (pm AT pm.gc.ca or harper.s AT parl.gc.ca), and to the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz (ritz.g AT parl.gc.ca). (People in Saskatchewan should definitely contact (phone or email) Ritz – he is from North Battleford.)
The Ministers and Bureaucrats in Health and in Environment should also receive a wave of protest over the licensing of spirotetramat. (The Dept of Health is responsible for the licensing of the chemicals.)
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA, INFORMATION ON SPIROTETRAMAT:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/part/consultations/_pmrl2008-19/index-eng.php
May 29, 2008; Date Modified: 2009-03-23
“…The evaluation of these spirotetramat applications indicated that the end-use products have merit and value and that the human health and environmental risks associated with their proposed uses are acceptable.”
The appended press release talks to the environmental risks. We have circulated information about the bee situation; people know it from the media. You can google to get more information. Statements such as this from the Government are deception. The risk (killing off of pollinator populations) is not acceptable. Common sense tells you that. I cannot understand these so-called “experts”.
NOTE: By googling the name of one of the responsible bureaucrats (Connie Moase) I came up with this website. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/part/fpt/_wg-gt/pdntewg-gtdpresnc-eng.php If you scroll down you will find names and email addresses for a number of bureaucrats from across Canada, a “working group”. I also sent the following email to them.
If I thought that yelling at them would work, I’d do it. What they are doing is madness, in the service of these corporations.
Thanks to Larry for drawing the U.S. court decision which makes the sale of spirotetramat immediately illegal, to attention.
the nastiest chemical known to bees, at least up until “Movento,” the neonicitanoid family, continues to be used with abandon, in North America
Regards, Larry
=====
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Josh Mogerman at 312-651-7909
Big Win for Bees: Judge Pulls Pesticide
Bee toxic Movento pulled from market for proper evaluation
NEW YORK (December 29, 2009) – A pesticide that could be dangerously toxic to America’s honey bees must be pulled from store shelves as a result of a suit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Xerces Society. In an order issued last week, a federal court in New York invalidated EPA’s approval of the pesticide spirotetramat (manufactured by Bayer CropScience under the trade names Movento and Ultor) and ordered the agency to reevaluate the chemical in compliance with the law. The court’s order goes into effect on January 15, 2010, and makes future sales of Movento illegal in the United States .
“This sends EPA and Bayer back to the drawing board to reconsider the potential harm to bees caused by this new pesticide,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. “EPA admitted to approving the pesticide illegally, but argued that its violations of the law should have no consequences. The Court disagreed and ordered the pesticide to be taken off the market until it has been properly evaluated. Bayer should not be permitted to run what amounts to an uncontrolled experiment on bees across the country without full consideration of the consequences.”
In June 2008, EPA approved Movento for nationwide use on hundreds of different crops, including apples, pears, peaches, oranges, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, almonds, and spinach. The approval process went forward without the advance notice and opportunity for public comment that is required by federal law and EPA’s own regulations. In addition, EPA failed to evaluate fully the potential damage to the nation’s already beleaguered bee populations or conduct the required analysis of the pesticide’s economic, environmental, and social costs.
Beekeepers and scientists have expressed concern over Movento’s potential impact on beneficial insects such as honey bees. The pesticide impairs the insect’s ability to reproduce. EPA’s review of Bayer’s scientific studies found that trace residues of Movento brought back to the hive by adult bees could cause “significant mortality” and “massive perturbation” to young honeybees (larvae).
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America . USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. Yet bee colonies in the United States have seen significant declines in recent years due to a combination of stressors, almost certainly including insecticide exposure.
“This case underscores the need for us to re-examine how we evaluate the impact of pesticides and other chemicals in the environment,” said Colangelo. “In approving Movento, EPA identified but ignored potentially serious harms to bees and other pollinators. We are in the midst of a pollinator crisis, with more than a third of our colonies disappearing in recent years. Given how important these creatures are to our food supply, we simply cannot look past these sorts of problems.”
The court decision is available at http://docs.nrdc.org/wildlife/wil_09122901.asp
More information on threats to honey bees at www.BeeSafe.org
# # #
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York , Washington , Chicago , Los Angeles , San Francisco and Beijing .
______________________________
Josh Mogerman
Senior Media Associate
Natural Resources Defense Council
Midwest Program
312-651-7909 – o | 773-531-5359 – m
(Please note that my phone numbers have changed.)