EU Passes Ban on Bee-Killing Pesticides

EU Passes Ban on Bee-Killing Pesticides

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post

The pesticide industry, mainly Bayer and Syngenta, raised a big fuss
about a pesticide ban in the European Union - a heated debate over there
for awhile now. They saw lost profits - we saw potential for bee
extinction and severe food loss as bees are the co-creators of the
majority of the world's food supply. They focused on the short-term
complications for farmers who may not be prepared for
a neonicotinoid ban and offered unacceptable help like more flowers around sprayed fields and "more research" while denying the clear damage coming from their products.

The initial ban crumbled
- it was more of a hung jury - so there was still chance for a decision
from the Commission. Last week, Europe decided to be the first
continent to issue a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides - those deriving
from chemicals closely related to nicotine and attack the nervous system
of pests (and bees and birds). Looks like this ban, hailed as a
"victory for bees" will last for two years. Alternative pesticides will
have to go through rigorous testing in light of the recent, dire
situation.

The Independent reports:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">More than 30 separate scientific studies have
found a link between the neonicotinoids, which attack insects' nerve
systems, and falling bee numbers. </blockquote>UK,
Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Austria and Portugal
voted against the ban. Some countries abstained, and Belgium, Bulgaria,
Denmark, Estonia, Spain, France, Cyprus, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg,
Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden voted for a
pesticide ban.

Chemical companies Bayer and Syngenta lead the billion dollar
neonicotinoids market - a class that includes multiple chemicals
implicated in massive bee decline. It's been persuasively argued that
the mass die-off could set off a global food crisis - thus the abrupt action. Just since October 2012, in the United States, bees have declined by almost 50 percent!
Other longer-term statistics are just as frightening - imagine if that
rapid decline were happening to pandas, tigers, or whales - or humans?
It would certainly feel like an urgent situation.


Scientists are frustrated that they have to scramble to provide more
proof of the danger, as the safety impact for these chemicals were not
rightly evaluated to begin with. The EPA is blamed for being lax and
allowing conditional registration – that’s why multiple groups are suing them for bee and bird death.

Syngenta Chief Operating Officer John Atkin told Greenwise Business in early April:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">This comprehensive plan will bring valuable
insights into the area of bee health, whereas a ban on neonicotinoids
would simply close the door to understanding the problem. Banning these
products would not save a single hive and it is time that everyone
focused on addressing the real causes of declining bee populations.</blockquote>What a deludi-noid. There are other culprits to the bee decline, but how could eliminating one of the killers not save one single hive. See more below why this is asinine and why these companies don't actually care about their farmers.

Does this pose difficulties to farmers? Yes. Unfortunately, this is a
tangled knot that should have never been. It started when these
chemicals entered the market for the sake of convenience and for
large-scale industrial farming, and then were constantly defended by
environmental agencies. Some farming practices are beginning to topple –
and a sudden ban doesn’t leave much prep time for alternatives. I long
for the world to reunite with biodiverse polycultural practices.

One of our reader comments:
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Greenpeace writes on their website: "The
elimination of these bee-killers is only the first step in protecting
bees and agriculture in Europe. The only long-term solution is a shift
away from chemical-intensive agriculture to ecological farming
practices." Nice words, and they sound good, but... who will pay for
this scenário? Who will grant food for nowadays 7 billion on earth? How
can we grow food in tropical regions, and how can we do this without
expanding aor last resorts of vast land into agricultural arable land?
It's easy to say bann bee killig pesticides, but it is not so easy to
grant our food growing in tropicl regions where many, and I say many
caterpillars, bugs and flies eat up our crops just as fast as they grow.
Ouf course we NEED our bees, but we also have to face a bitter truth:
we are a few billions too many for a healthy earth, neonicotinoid
insecticides on the end of the food and it´s price chain enusres that
our supermarkets still have food for all...</blockquote>To that all I can say is: Why
wasn't this addressed decades ago? Rachel Carson sounded the warning
bells in the '60s. But now the dam is about to break and flood. Pesticide
makers have, for decades, negotiated their way into staying: DDT was
too toxic as Rachael Carson showed us, so the answer to that was organophosphates; those were dangerous to animals and humans so the answer to that was neonicotinoids
and here the cycle continues until massive animal die-off is just too
big to ignore. And - there are ways to feed the world, and GMO and
spraying practices don't lead to larger yields, but do breed
superbug and superweed resistance, and kill the co-creators of our food.

Even though Bayer and Syngenta act like they’re fighting for farmers and
their expenses, they use farmers as scapegoats and blame them for their
products’ damage. So why would they want to continue trusting them?
Farmers of all types are really getting the shaft. PR Watch is great for catching companies in these low maneuvers.

It is estimated by researchers that even by stopping the use of
bee-killing chemicals, the loss of pollinators is so great, that it will
take 5-10 years to recover them and get back to the "good ol' days."
Even so, the EU ban is a brave step toward correcting a severe
environmental problem that unfortunately went neglected for far too long
- let's hope there is some help and direction for those farmers stuck
holding the bag and bee keepers looking at their empty hives.

Source:-
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/05/eu-passes-ban-on-bee-killing-pesticides.html