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]
 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the CONS-SPST-BIOTECH-FORUM list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp