Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

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Germany has banned a family of pesticides that

are blamed for the deaths of millions of

honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer

Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended

the registration for eight pesticide seed

treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn.

 

The move follows reports from German beekeepers

in the Baden-Württemberg region that two thirds

of their bees died earlier this month following

the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

 

" It's a real bee emergency, " said Manfred

Hederer, president of the German Professional

Beekeepers' Association. " 50-60% of the bees have

died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives. "

 

Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those

examined had a build-up of clothianidin. The

chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a

subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is

sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho. It

was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted

along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are

treated in advance of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.

 

The company says an application error by the seed

company which failed to use the glue-like

substance that sticks the pesticide to the seed,

led to the chemical getting into the air.

 

Bayer spokesman Dr Julian Little told the BBC's

Farming Today that misapplication is highly

unusual. " It is an extremely rare event and has

not been seen anywhere else in Europe, " he said.

 

Clothianidin, like the other neonicotinoid

pesticides that have been temporarily suspended

in Germany, is a systemic chemical that works its

way through a plant and attacks the nervous

system of any insect it comes into contact with.

According to the US Environmental Protection

Agency it is " highly toxic " to honeybees.

 

This is not the first time that Bayer, one of the

world's leading pesticide manufacturers with

sales of €5.8bn (4.6bn) in 2007, hhas been blamed for killing honeybees.

 

In the United States, a group of beekeepers from

North Dakota is taking the company to court after

losing thousands of honeybee colonies in 1995,

during a period when oilseed rape in the area was

treated with imidacloprid. A third of honeybees

were killed by what has since been dubbed colony collapse disorder.

 

Bayer's best selling pesticide, imidacloprid,

sold under the name Gaucho in France, has been

banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers in that

country since 1999, after a third of French

honeybees died following its widespread use. Five

years later it was also banned as a sweetcorn

treatment in France. A few months ago, the

company's application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.

 

Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is

safe for bees if correctly applied. " Extensive

internal and international scientific studies

have confirmed that Gaucho does not present a

hazard to bees, " said Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

 

Last year, Germany's Green MEP, Hiltrud Breyer,

tabled an emergency motion calling for this

family of pesticides to be banned across Europe

while their role in killing honeybees were

thoroughly investigated. Her action follows calls

for a ban from beekeeping associations and

environmental organisations across Europe.

 

Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based

Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, said: " We have

been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids for

almost 10 years now. This proves without a doubt

that the chemicals can come into contact with

bees and kill them. These pesticides shouldn't be on the market. "

 

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