Report: 'Weight of Evidence' Links Pesticides to Colony Collapse Disorder

Pesticide Action Network
Early on May 8, beekeepers and environmental health advocates released a report highlighting the link between a specific class of pesticides—neonicotinoids—and colony collapse disorder (CCD) and called on state and federal officials to use the evidence for action to protect honeybees. The report comes a day before the Assembly Agriculture Committee discusses a policy that would urge state environmental officials to create a clear timeline and plan for protecting pollinators in California.
“In the last few months alone, several published studies have strengthened the connection between bee die-offs and neonicotinoid pesticides,” said Heather Pilatic, PhD, co-director of Pesticide Action Network and the main author of the report. “Policymakers should consider this weight of evidence and take immediate steps to protect pollinators from pesticides.”
Pesticides and Honey Bees: State of the Science documents evidence that pesticides are a key factor in explaining honey bee declines, both directly and in tandem with two leading co-factors, pathogens and poor nutrition. These studies, in U.S. and in Europe, have shown that small amounts of neonicotinoids—both alone and in combination with other pesticides—can cause impaired communication, disorientation, decreased longevity, suppressed immunity and disruption of brood cycles in honeybees.
Neonicotinoids are a relatively new class of systemic, neurotoxic pesticides that are known to be particularly toxic to honeybees and have rapidly taken over the global insecticide market since their introduction in the 1990s. Neonicotinoids (like imidacloprid and its successor product clothianidin) are used as seed treatments in hundreds of crops from corn to almonds. These products can persist for years in the soil, and, as systemics, permeate the plants to which they are applied to be expressed as pollen, nectar and guttation droplets (water exuded from plants). Honeybee exposure to this class of pesticides is widespread and in the U.S. the rate of seed treatment with clothianidin increased five-fold (0.25 > 1.25 mg/seed) around the same time that CCD symptoms were first reported in the U.S.
Pesticide corporations, including Bayer, have attempted to discredit dozens of independent studies evaluating the impacts of neonicotinoids in the last few years. At the same time, EPA allowed Bayer to continue selling neonicotinoid products even as the agency’s scientists discredited the experiments the pesticide corporation submitted as part of the pesticide’s approval.
“It’s called the ‘tobacco strategy’ because the pesticide industry is taking a page straight from the PR handbook of the tobacco industry. They deliberately sow doubt to confuse the public and delay policymaker action. It is high time we cut through the noise,” said Pilatic. “If we didn’t know enough to act a year ago, we most certainly do now.”
Beekeepers have felt the burden of pesticide corporations’ intentional confusion and agency inaction. Each year since 2006, commercial beekeepers have reported annual losses of 29-36 percent. Such losses are unprecedented, and more than double what is considered normal. Between 2003 and 2009, the number of bee colonies in California plunged at least 26 percent to 355,000 according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“The agricultural economy rests on the success of bees and beekeepers,” said Alan Henninger, owner of Henninger Hill Apiary in the Santa Clara Valley. “If California officials allow pesticide makers to continue to sell neonicotinoids, we put billions of dollars at risk.” Henninger stopped pollinating certain crops in California where he believed his bees might be exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides, and where they might interact with other bees that had been exposed to the pesticides.
Honeybees are the most economically valuable pollinator worldwide, and many high-value crops in California like almonds are entirely reliant upon pollination services by commercial beekeepers. California is responsible for more than half of the world’s production of almonds. In the 2010-2011 season alone, USDA estimated the economic value of bees at $2 billion.
“Farmers rely on bees for critical pollination services,” said Tom Frantz, an almond grower in Shafter, California. “State and federal officials should follow the science and create a clear plan of action for protection honeybees from neonicotinoid pesticides.”
The Department of Pesticide Regulation intends to finish reviewing and receiving studies from pesticide manufacturers on the lasting impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides in crops next month. Scientists, beekeepers and environmental health advocates are requesting that DPR use the State of the Science report to create a clear timeline and plan of action for addressing neonicotinoid pesticides.
And they aren’t the only ones. Assemblymember Michael Allen (Sonoma) has taken up a resolution, sponsored by the California State Grange, that would support the agency as it undertakes the next steps in the pesticide’s evaluation. The resolution is already facing opposition from industrial agriculture interests, and will be taken up in tomorrow’s hearing of the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
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theDOCK aims to innovate the Israeli maritime sector. Pexels
<p>The UN hopes that new investments in ocean science and technology will help turn the tide for the oceans. As such, this year kicked off the <a href="https://www.oceandecade.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)</a> to galvanize massive support for the blue economy.</p><p>According to the World Bank, the blue economy is the "sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of ocean ecosystem," <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019338255#b0245" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Science Direct</a> reported. It represents this new sector for investments and innovations that work in tandem with the oceans rather than in exploitation of them.</p><p>As recently as Aug. 2020, <a href="https://www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/esg-investors-slow-make-waves-25tn-ocean-economy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Reuters</a> noted that ESG Investors, those looking to invest in opportunities that have a positive impact in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, have been interested in "blue finance" but slow to invest.</p><p>"It is a hugely under-invested economic opportunity that is crucial to the way we have to address living on one planet," Simon Dent, director of blue investments at Mirova Natural Capital, told Reuters.</p><p>Even with slow investment, the blue economy is still expected to expand at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030, Reuters reported. It already contributes $2.5tn a year in economic output, the report noted.</p><p>Current, upward <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/-innovation-blue-economy-2646147405.html" target="_self">shifts in blue economy investments are being driven by innovation</a>, a trend the UN hopes will continue globally for the benefit of all oceans and people.</p><p>In Israel, this push has successfully translated into investment in and innovation of global ports, shipping, logistics and offshore sectors. The "Startup Nation," as Israel is often called, has seen its maritime tech ecosystem grow "significantly" in recent years and expects that growth to "accelerate dramatically," <a href="https://itrade.gov.il/belgium-english/how-israel-is-becoming-a-port-of-call-for-maritime-innovation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">iTrade</a> reported.</p><p>Driving this wave of momentum has been rising Israeli venture capital hub <a href="https://www.thedockinnovation.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">theDOCK</a>. Founded by Israeli Navy veterans in 2017, theDOCK works with early-stage companies in the maritime space to bring their solutions to market. The hub's pioneering efforts ignited Israel's maritime technology sector, and now, with their new fund, theDOCK is motivating these high-tech solutions to also address ESG criteria.</p><p>"While ESG has always been on theDOCK's agenda, this theme has become even more of a priority," Nir Gartzman, theDOCK's managing partner, told EcoWatch. "80 percent of the startups in our portfolio (for theDOCK's Navigator II fund) will have a primary or secondary contribution to environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria."</p><p>In a company presentation, theDOCK called contribution to the ESG agenda a "hot discussion topic" for traditional players in the space and their boards, many of whom are looking to adopt new technologies with a positive impact on the planet. The focus is on reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment, the presentation outlines. As such, theDOCK also explicitly screens candidate investments by ESG criteria as well.</p><p>Within the maritime space, environmental innovations could include measures like increased fuel and energy efficiency, better monitoring of potential pollution sources, improved waste and air emissions management and processing of marine debris/trash into reusable materials, theDOCK's presentation noted.</p>theDOCK team includes (left to right) Michal Hendel-Sufa, Head of Alliances, Noa Schuman, CMO, Nir Gartzman, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, and Hannan Carmeli, Co-Founder & Managing Partner. Dudu Koren
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