EPA Buzz Kill?

I’ve always found bees to be fascinating. Their dancing. Their behavior. Their amazing chemical communication.

 And, that element of danger. I am allergic to bee stings---so despite my fascination, they kinda scare me too.

 And, hey, I am not alone. There are plenty of folks at NRDC who care about bees. That is part of the reason for the suit announced last week to help get to the bottom of one aspect of a vexing and scary issue facing scientists today. Bees are disappearing, literally. Nobody knows for sure why. But there are lots of theories on what is behind the phenomenon that has come to be known as colony collapse disorder (CCD).

We are far from alone in our concern. The bee and science communities have been ringing alarm bells over abandoned hives and die-offs for years. But the central problem is that NOBODY knows the cause of CCD for sure. Not the researchers working feverishly. Not the media. Not the beekeepers. And not NRDC.

Now is the time for more information, not less, about the potential causes of CCD.

According to the USDA, one out of every mouthfuls of food that you stuff into your face likely has a connection to bees and their industrious pollinating efforts. Despite their impact on the American diet, food supply, and economy (bees pollinate $15 billion in American crops); the federal government has been slow to move on this issue.

That’s why NRDC is suing the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to get a look at some documents that might shed light on one of the factors that many believe are part of the scary CCD equation. In 2003, EPA granted a conditional registration to a new pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience, with the condition that Bayer submit studies about their product’s impact on bees. These studies should be public records, but EPA refused to disclose the results of these studies. In fact, they wouldn’t even say whether the studies had even been submitted at all.

The pesticide in question, clothianidin, was temporarily taken off the shelves in Germany due to concerns about its impact on bees. A similar insecticide was banned in France years ago. In the US these chemicals are still in use despite lingering fears among bee specialists that pesticides, including clothianidin and its chemical cousins, are a possible factor in CCD. And just this week, a group in Germany filed suit to permanently ban the chemical from their shores. I’ve heard that a British group is looking to do the same in the UK.

Since we announced the suit, it has gotten a lot of coverage. The EPA sent a letter expressing frustration over the suit, but at the same time they have quietly posted a lot of previously unavailable information online. Since last week, a good chunk of the documents we requested have been posted on EPA.gov. It is not all of the information that NRDC is asking for, but it does represent a nice start.  It’s unfortunate that we had to sue for EPA to start making this information available.  We would have preferred keeping this out of the courts.

Are pesticides really connected to CCD?

In discussions of colony collapse disorder, there are some things that seem to pop up on everyone’s radar and these pesticides are among them. We want to see that all the info is out there so it can contribute to the ongoing research into the causes of CCD. And, we want to see whether the science being used to evaluate these critical regulatory decisions is being scrutinized appropriately once it is received. Because if we don’t work together to get this thing figured out quick…

No tomatoes.

No almonds.

No cucumbers.

No apples.

No cheese.

No onions.

No broccoli.

No squash.

No carrots.

No cashews.

No cherries.

No avocadoes...

...No bees.  And that might be the scariest thing of all...