A Last (Chemical) Gasp for Bees?
Colony collapse disorder threatens food crops valued at $15 billion a year. New research says farm chemicals put our food system at risk.
Newly published scientific evidence is bolstering calls
for greater regulation of some of the world’s most widely used
pesticides and genetically modified crops. (Photo by Brian Wolfe)
Earlier this year, three independent studies linked
agricultural insecticides to colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that
leads honeybees to abandon their hives.
Beekeepers have reported alarming losses in their hives
over the last six years. The USDA reports the loss in the United States
was about 30 percent in the winter of 2010-2011.
Bees are crucial pollinators in the ecosystem. Their loss
also impacts the estimated $15 billion worth of fruit and vegetable
crops that are pollinated by bees in the United States.
The studies, conducted in the United States, France, and
the United Kingdom, all pointed to neonicotinoids, a class of chemicals
used widely in U.S. corn production, as likely contributors to colony
collapse disorder. The findings challenged the EPA’s position—based on
studies by Bayer CropScience, a major producer of the neonicotinoid
clothianidin—that bees are only exposed to small, benign amounts of
these insecticides.
The new studies found that bees are exposed to potentially
lethal amounts of neonicotinoids in pollen and in dust churned up by
farm equipment. They also found that exposure to neonicotinoids can
reduce the number of queen bees and disorient worker bees.
An alliance of beekeepers and environmental groups filed a
petition on March 21 asking the EPA to block the use of clothianidin in
agricultural fields until the EPA conducts a sound scientific review of
the chemicals.
Meanwhile, farm chemicals and the biotech industry have
come under fire for the problem of pest resistance. Some weeds and bugs
have become less susceptible or immune to the chemicals or biotechnology
used to control them.
In March, national experts on corn pests published a
letter to the EPA describing how rapidly rootworms are becoming
resistant to the larvae-killing gene in Monsanto’s genetically
engineered “Bt” corn. The letter warns that the EPA should move to
regulate Bt corn—by requiring, for example, non-GM buffer zones—with
“some sense of urgency.”
In a similarly alarming trend, Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soy and corn, which are genetically modified to tolerate the active
ingredient in Roundup, are associated with the creation of “super
weeds.” The widespread use of these crops has led farmers to vastly
increased use of the herbicide, leading to the development of resistant
weeds.
The agriculture industry has responded to Roundup’s
failure by developing new crop varieties resistant to another
pesticide/herbicide, 2,4-D. An ingredient of Agent Orange, 2,4-D is
linked to birth defects,
hormone disruption, and cancer. Last December, Dow AgroSciences LLC
asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to approve the new varieties
for cultivation.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License
No comments:
Post a Comment