-----Original Message-----
From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
To: CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Mon, Nov 23, 2015 8:26 am
Subject: Pesticide makers point to other culprits in bee die-offs


    Here's what we're up against: Multinational agribusiness control    with big money to spend on PR, legal efforts, pro-neonic research    and political influence.
    
    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1df4c6fbcef443d8a59f867f962ae3cb/pesticide-makers-point-other-culprits-bee-die-offs    
    Pesticide makers point to other culprits in bee die-offs
    (EDITED)
    
    Bayer and Syngenta are fighting pressure from regulators in the U.S.    and Europe with publicity campaigns and lobbying aimed at telling    people that neonics are beneficial and safe when used correctly, and    that bees face greater peril from parasites, pathogens and poor    diets as wild flowering plants diminish.
    
    Representatives for Bayer, Syngenta and Monsanto — which coats its    seeds with neonics — are speaking at beekeepers' conferences and    visiting agricultural research universities. Bayer invites visitors,    teachers and students to its bee centers on its corporate campuses    and offers teachers a downloadable digital science lesson about    bees.
    
    Critics say that is propaganda.
    
    Bayer produces three of the world's top five neonic pesticides in a    worldwide market estimated to be worth about $3 billion, with    Bayer's two top-selling products taking about half the market.    Syngenta's best-selling neonic is worth about $1 billion in annual    sales.
    
    Bee losses in the U.S. the past five years have been especially    acute, with reported annual losses of 30 percent to 45 percent,    according to a study authored by researchers including the    University of Maryland's Dennis van Engelsdorp . The heavy death    toll continues through the spring and summer, when bee populations    are collecting pollen and should be their healthiest, the study    said.
    Across Europe and nearby countries like Algeria, beekeepers reported    17 percent of colonies lost last winter, twice that of the previous    year.
    
    That has regulators and retailers zeroing in on neonics. The EPA is    working on new risk assessments, and the European Union is reviewing    a 2 year old ban on the biggest-selling neonics from crops during    their flowering stage.
    
    "We're going to push with every ounce of our energy to get this    thing reversed," former Syngenta Chief Executive Officer Michael    Mack told stock analysts in February.
    
    Here is Sierra Club's piece on the honeybee crisis:
    https://content.sierraclub.org/grassrootsnetwork/team-news/2014/08/deepening-honeybee-crisis-and-our-food-supply
          Laurel Hopwood,  Coordinator, Sierra Club Pollinator          Protection Campaign
          Email: [log in to unmask]
           
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