Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Neonic Pesticides Killing Bees Taking Active Public Action

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Neonic Pesticides Killing Bees Taking Active Public Action

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Neonic pesticides killing bees have gained notoriety as one of the primary substances responsible for wiping out large populations of honeybees in the United States and resulted to low production of honey in the market.

Neonic pesticides killing bees may soon be difficult to circulate

Although the Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps to study the effect of neonicotinoids as pesticides, it has not imposed any restriction to inhibit the use of these pesticides.

Also known as neonicotinoids, neonics are commonly used as an effective pesticide that creates an outer layer of protection on corn and soybean seeds.

Minnesota governor Mark Dayton issued a directive to step into establishing the needed restriction on the use of neonics in agriculture.

If there is a compelling need to use neonics for some plantations, farmers are required to declare and justify the need for them to use these pesticides.

Consequently, the Department of Agriculture orders that they will increase their regular inspections and strengthen enforcement to make sure that agricultural practices limit, better yet, to avoid using neonics in their farms.

Legislature needed to uphold the restriction

Legislators are now looking into legal steps to ensure that more states are taking action to in still measures that would strongly regulate, or better yet, restrict the use or neonic-active pesticides in the agriculture industry.

This also came in heels pf legislation was passed by the Maryland General Assembly restricting the sale and use of pest control products using neonics, while other states are also looking at pollinator health in order to follow suit according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Obama administration has already instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to assess the actual impacts of pesticides containing neonicotinoids, especially on the population of bees.

Studies show that neonics can adversely affect a bee’s health, making them vulnerable to microscopic mites or other environmental threats.

Ortho has already started the phasing out of neonics in their pesticide formulations. Whole some of the products will be reformulated, others will be discontinued as early as 2017. The company assures that it will finish the phaseout of neonicotinoids in their products by 2021.

Today, many beekeepers wake up each day with the uncertainty of what the coming production season would bring as losses as starting to increase by as much as 25% each year – from honeybee mortality to hive damage.

For several years beekeepers have been suffering huge losses, especially during the winter season where based on statistics, beekeepers are losing almost a third of their hives due to honeybee mortality and hive damage and replacing damaged stocks are costly.

According to a recent report by the Bee Informed Partnership, a non-profit group of research centers and universities, revealed that beekeepers are having an average of 30% losses every year ranging from a lot of actors like climate change, parasites, pesticides and loss of forage, among others.

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