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It’s no secret that neonicotinoids can harm bees and other insects—they’re designed to kill pests, after all. But an increasing body of evidence is uncovering just how serious an impact these pesticides are having on the environment.
On July 20, in response to a parliamentary question on whether Britain would lift the restrictions after Brexit, Lord Gardiner, Minister for Rural Affairs, said: “The Government keeps the developing evidence on neonicotinoids under review, advised by the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides.
“On the basis of current evidence, we support the existing restrictions.”
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wants to include a ban on pesticides linked to declining bee health in next year’s farm bill, one of several initiatives he is pushing in the legislation to reauthorize agriculture and nutrition programs.
Syngenta AG defended pesticides that several studies show are linked to bee deaths, saying the widening of a ban in Europe would lead to farmers using worse alternatives and crop yields shrinking.
The lead author of a major study which found that neonicotinoid pesticides harm honey bees has hit back against criticism from the chemical companies that part-funded the work.
Dr. Ben Woodcock from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), said Bayer and Syngenta, which produce the controversial pesticides, had looked to undermine his work after it was published, despite providing $3 million in funding.
"Life in the beehive, much more so than with ants and wasps, is based on successfully cooperating and working with the other bees in the hive." ~Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner foreshadowed the demise of the bee when what we now consider conventional practices were being introduced into agriculture, especially the breeding of bees. He warned during a lecture in 1923 that if we continued our path towards industrial agriculture the honey bee population would be in danger by the end of the century.
France’s Agriculture Minister had been pressing for the easement of a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides taking effect in 2018, but the Environment Minister refused to convinced. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe then interceded to allow the ban to stand. President Macron has indicated he will likewise uphold the ban. Corporate interests in the U.S. have been much more successful in preventing a similar action here to the bee-killing pesticide.
Scientists have found for the first time that neonicotinoid pesticides can harm honey bees in the real world.
The major new study from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) found that pesticides called neonicotinoids can cause harm to bees, a development that is likely to increase calls for a ban of the chemicals across Europe.
(Beyond Pesticides, July 3, 2017) A two-year long study conducted at 33 sites in multiple European countries to assess the effects of neonicotinoid (neonics) insecticides on three bee species in real-world environmental conditions confirms that these pesticides have a deleterious effect on bee survival. The study, the largest of its kind, explored the role of the agricultural use of neonics as seed coatings on bee health and fnds that the pesticides are persistent in the environment, contaminating pollen and nectar that bees forage, reducing colony fitness.
Until recently, beekeeping was of little interest to most Zimbabweans living in the country's eastern district of Mutasa, a lush green mountainous region about 350 kilometers (217 miles) from the capital Harare. It was a niche business like many others.
That has changed dramatically since the nonprofit organization Environment Africa started encouraging locals to get into the beekeeping business as a means of providing alternative livelihoods and protecting the forests.
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Scientific Studies
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