SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
EPA Acknowledges Neonics' Harm to Bees, Then 'Bows to Pesticide Industry'
'This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it'
Jan 13, 2017
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday published two bee-related announcements, but with both, say environmental groups, the agency has failed the pollinators.
One was its "Policy to Mitigate the Acute Risk to Bees from Pesticide Products." It states that the "policy is not a regulation or an order and, therefore, does not legally compel changes to pesticide product registrations."
The other release was a set of draft risk assessments for three neonicotinoids, or "neonics." They are the most widely used class of insecticides, and they have been linked to bee harm. The new assessments were for clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran, and an updated assessment on another, imidacloprid, was also included.
Those assessments, according to Paul Towers, policy advocate and spokesperson for Pesticide Action Network, "are full of gaps and continue to ignore many of the most significant threats from neonicotinoids, particularly when they're used as seed coatings on common crops," their most frequent use.
Yet "[e]ven in their limited scope, these risk assessments clearly show harm to bees and other pollinators from uses of neonics," said Larissa Walker, program director for the Center for Food Safety's pollinator program.
Added Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health program: "It's outrageous that on the same day the EPA acknowledged these dangerous pesticides are killing bees it also reversed course on mandating restrictions on their use," referring to the agency's backing away from a 2015 proposal.
"This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it," Burd said.
The Center also referred to the policy's failure to mandate restrictions as "a deep bow to the pesticide industry."
To truly take steps to protect bees, as well as our environment, said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth, the EPA "should take bee-toxic pesticides off the market."
The announcements came during the final days of the Obama administration, and as President-elect Donald Trump has already made clear he'll be heading an anti-science administration, with picks like Scott Pruitt, whose record is "completely antithetical" to the mission of the EPA, which Trump wants him to lead.
"It's shocking that the EPA's response to the crisis of declining pollinators and the abundant science linking that decline to neonicotinoid insecticides is to meekly offer a policy encouraging industry to consider restricting pesticide use in limited situations where plants are blooming while commercial honeybees have been brought in to work the fields," the Center for Biological Diversity's Burd continued. "This is a rejection of science that should be deeply troubling to all Americans as we move into a Trump administration."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday published two bee-related announcements, but with both, say environmental groups, the agency has failed the pollinators.
One was its "Policy to Mitigate the Acute Risk to Bees from Pesticide Products." It states that the "policy is not a regulation or an order and, therefore, does not legally compel changes to pesticide product registrations."
The other release was a set of draft risk assessments for three neonicotinoids, or "neonics." They are the most widely used class of insecticides, and they have been linked to bee harm. The new assessments were for clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran, and an updated assessment on another, imidacloprid, was also included.
Those assessments, according to Paul Towers, policy advocate and spokesperson for Pesticide Action Network, "are full of gaps and continue to ignore many of the most significant threats from neonicotinoids, particularly when they're used as seed coatings on common crops," their most frequent use.
Yet "[e]ven in their limited scope, these risk assessments clearly show harm to bees and other pollinators from uses of neonics," said Larissa Walker, program director for the Center for Food Safety's pollinator program.
Added Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health program: "It's outrageous that on the same day the EPA acknowledged these dangerous pesticides are killing bees it also reversed course on mandating restrictions on their use," referring to the agency's backing away from a 2015 proposal.
"This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it," Burd said.
The Center also referred to the policy's failure to mandate restrictions as "a deep bow to the pesticide industry."
To truly take steps to protect bees, as well as our environment, said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth, the EPA "should take bee-toxic pesticides off the market."
The announcements came during the final days of the Obama administration, and as President-elect Donald Trump has already made clear he'll be heading an anti-science administration, with picks like Scott Pruitt, whose record is "completely antithetical" to the mission of the EPA, which Trump wants him to lead.
"It's shocking that the EPA's response to the crisis of declining pollinators and the abundant science linking that decline to neonicotinoid insecticides is to meekly offer a policy encouraging industry to consider restricting pesticide use in limited situations where plants are blooming while commercial honeybees have been brought in to work the fields," the Center for Biological Diversity's Burd continued. "This is a rejection of science that should be deeply troubling to all Americans as we move into a Trump administration."
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday published two bee-related announcements, but with both, say environmental groups, the agency has failed the pollinators.
One was its "Policy to Mitigate the Acute Risk to Bees from Pesticide Products." It states that the "policy is not a regulation or an order and, therefore, does not legally compel changes to pesticide product registrations."
The other release was a set of draft risk assessments for three neonicotinoids, or "neonics." They are the most widely used class of insecticides, and they have been linked to bee harm. The new assessments were for clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and dinotefuran, and an updated assessment on another, imidacloprid, was also included.
Those assessments, according to Paul Towers, policy advocate and spokesperson for Pesticide Action Network, "are full of gaps and continue to ignore many of the most significant threats from neonicotinoids, particularly when they're used as seed coatings on common crops," their most frequent use.
Yet "[e]ven in their limited scope, these risk assessments clearly show harm to bees and other pollinators from uses of neonics," said Larissa Walker, program director for the Center for Food Safety's pollinator program.
Added Lori Ann Burd, director of the Center for Biological Diversity's environmental health program: "It's outrageous that on the same day the EPA acknowledged these dangerous pesticides are killing bees it also reversed course on mandating restrictions on their use," referring to the agency's backing away from a 2015 proposal.
"This is like a doctor diagnosing your illness but then deciding to withhold the medicine you need to cure it," Burd said.
The Center also referred to the policy's failure to mandate restrictions as "a deep bow to the pesticide industry."
To truly take steps to protect bees, as well as our environment, said Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth, the EPA "should take bee-toxic pesticides off the market."
The announcements came during the final days of the Obama administration, and as President-elect Donald Trump has already made clear he'll be heading an anti-science administration, with picks like Scott Pruitt, whose record is "completely antithetical" to the mission of the EPA, which Trump wants him to lead.
"It's shocking that the EPA's response to the crisis of declining pollinators and the abundant science linking that decline to neonicotinoid insecticides is to meekly offer a policy encouraging industry to consider restricting pesticide use in limited situations where plants are blooming while commercial honeybees have been brought in to work the fields," the Center for Biological Diversity's Burd continued. "This is a rejection of science that should be deeply troubling to all Americans as we move into a Trump administration."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.