Beekeepers Versus the E.P.A: How a Pesticide is Affecting Bees
Last week, members in the beekeeping industry sued the Environmental Protection Agency over a chemical proven to have negative impacts on bee colonization.
“Save the Bees.” We see this call for action all over t-shirts and propaganda billboards. But how does one really save the bees? The issue is a complex one, but answers are emerging about the role of pesticides and agricultural chemicals.
Between April 2018 to April 2019, beekeepers in the United States lost an estimated 40 percent of their managed bee colonies, according to the latest survey from the Bee Informed Partnership, a nonprofit that advises beekeepers.
While scientists confirm the decline in bee colonies has many complex causes, beekeepers have expressed worries that pesticides are partly responsible. Now, the beekeeping industry is suing the Environmental Protection Agency for its participation in reinstituting the use of certain chemicals that have proven to be harmful to bee populations.
The focus of the lawsuit is specifically the E.P.A’s reauthorization of the use of sulfoxaflor. This insecticide has proven to be harmful to bees in the past; the chemical is absorbed into plants, where it is ingested by pollinating bees. The bees then return to the hive and can transfer the chemical to the entire colony. This transfer of the chemical often affects the bees’ ability to breed and survive, according to studies cited by Earthjustice, whose lawyer Gregory C. Loarie is representing petitioners.
While sulfoxaflor is the not only insecticide proven to be harmful to bees, it is a major one, and there is sufficient evident that suggests this. Scientists specifically say fault likely lies with pathogens and pesticides like neonicotinoids, which chemically resemble nicotine and include sulfoxaflor. Other countries have banned neonicotinoids. In 2013, the European Union ordered a two-year ban, and France has imposed a similar one.