Honeybees

Geachte Mevrouw de Minister,

In naam van de Belgische Bijenteeltfederatie en de Koninklijke Vlaamse Imkersbond willen wij uw aandacht vragen voor ons standpunt aangaande het neonicotinoïde-dossier waarover op 14 maart aanstaande, op Europees niveau, een stemming wordt gehouden tijdens een vergadering van SCoFCAH (section: Phytopharmaceuticals and Plant Protection Products). Uit onderzoeken, enerzijds van onafhankelijke wetenschappers en anderzijds van de Europese Autoriteit voor Voedselveiligheid, die u ongetwijfeld bekend zijn, blijkt dat drie neonicotinoïden – imidacloprid, clothianidine en thiamethoxam – al in kleine hoeveelheden letale en vooral subletale schade aan de bijen berokkenen. In synergie met fungiciden wordt de schadelijke werking nog versterkt terwijl over de interactie met andere pesticiden tot nu toe niet eens onderzoek werd verricht. Om al deze reden zijn we blij met het voorstel van Europees commissaris Toni Borg. Hoewel we vrezen dat de voorgedragen maatregelen uiteindelijk onvoldoende zullen zijn, ondermeer vanwege de remanentie van deze stoffen in de bodem, is het toch goed dat er voor belangrijke bijenplanten een pauze komt in het gebruik van bovenvernoemde middelen en vooral tijd en geld voor bijkomend onderzoek. In naam van alle imkers die bij onze verenigingen aangesloten zijn, vragen wij u met aandrang dit voorstel te willen steunen. We zijn ervan overtuigd dat u uw verantwoordelijkheid niet uit de weg zult gaan en danken u hiervoor oprecht bij voorbaat.

Le ministre de l'Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, a indiqué vendredi que la France allait soutenir le moratoire de deux ans sur certains pesticides affectant les abeilles, qui est préconisé par la Commission européenne.La Commission européenne vient de proposer, sur une partie de ces familles de molécules qui sont clairement identifiées comme perturbantes pour les abeilles, un moratoire de deux ans. Je vais soutenir la Commission européenne, a déclaré M. Le Foll sur RMC/BFM TV. Les abeilles sont victimes de plusieurs facteurs, dont l'un est le recours à un certain nombre de pesticides qui sont perturbants et qui ne sont pas interdits aujourd'hui, a-t-il expliqué. L'objectif du moratoire est de voir si, quand on ne les utilise plus, les abeilles retrouvent de la vitalité, a noté le ministre, rappelant que la France a pris une initiative: 40 millions d'euros seront mis pour un plan abeilles. La proposition de moratoire pourrait être soumise lors de la réunion des experts prévue lundi 25 février et si elle est adoptée, l'interdiction pourrait entrer en application le 1er juillet. La Commission s'est fondée sur un avis très négatif rendu par l'Autorité pour la sécurité des aliments (EFSA).

Die EU-Kommission hat das Votum über ein Verbot der Insektizide aus der Gruppe der Neonicotinoide vertagt. Enttäuscht über die Entscheidung zeigte sich der agrarpolitische Sprecher der Grünen im Europaparlament, Martin Häusling. Er wirft der EU-Kommission vor, vor dem Druck der Chemieindustrie eingeknickt zu sein. „Statt wie von ihr angekündigt möglichst rasch die Anwendung der drei Pestizide Clothianidin, Imidacloprid und Thiamethoxan als Saatgutbeizmittel, Spritzmittel und Granulat von Juli an für drei Jahre stark zu beschränken, gibt die Kommission dem Druck der Industrie nach und vertagt die für Montag vorgesehene Entscheidung in letzter Minute“, sagte er am Donnerstag. Die Hersteller hatten das drohende Verbot heftig kritisiert und einen Schaden von 17 Mrd. Euro sowie hohe Arbeitsplatzverluste befürchtet. Die negativen makroökonomischen Effekte eines Verbots von Neonikotinoiden würden außerdem zusätzliche CO2-Emissionen von einmalig 600 Mio. t bedeuten. Zudem kritisieren sie, dass die Risikoabschätzung ausschließlich auf einer wissenschaftlichen Bewertung von ausgewählten Datensätzen durchgeführt wurde. Die Bienenschutzmaßnahmen in der Praxis habe die Behörde völlig unbeachtet gelassen. Die heutigen Mittel sind aus Sicht der Firmen bienenungefährlich, abgesehen davon, dass bei der Saat überhaupt keine Bienen fliegen würden. Zudem gebe es umfangreiche Risikomanagement-Maßnahmen und etablierte abdriftmindernde Sägeräte.

De bespreking van de EFSA -studie (over de risico's van 3 neonicotinoide insecticiden voor bijen, voor conclusies zie bijlage) in de landbouwcommissie van het Europees Parlement kan ON-LINE worden bekeken via de link:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/de/committees/video?event=2013022…
Iedereen die de video heeft bekeken zal zich niet aan de indruk kunnen onttrekken dat de lobby van de chemische industrie veel afgevaardigden zeer succesvol heeft beinvloed. Er was veel kritiek op de EFSA studie.

CropLife America (formerly known as the American Crop Protection Association) is the industry lobbying group financed by what are known as the “Big 6”: Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, Dow, BASF and Syngenta. These six global corporations have acquired 74 percent of the global pesticide market and 49 percent of the proprietary global seed market—not to mention apparent controlling interest in the EPA. The Big 6 business model is deviously simple. They sell seeds and pesticides—seeds coated with their insecticides (such as Bayer’s Ponchotreated corn) and seeds biologically engineered to grow crops impervious to their herbicides (such as Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans). To no one’s surprise, last year the Big 6 contributed $21.5 million of the $45 million spent on the “No on 37” disinformation campaign that successfully defeated California’s Proposition 37, which would have required that genetically engineered food be labeled. These days, CropLife America and its Big 6 backers are busy presenting themselves as the true friend of honeybees. On CropLife’s “Protecting Our Pollinators” webpage, the reader learns that “bees are responsible for more than just honey; the list of crops that bees help grow is extensive, and includes grapes, strawberries, avocadoes, and cucumbers.” As for the disappearing honeybee? CropLife explains: "Many of the recent studies which attempt to link neonicotinoid pesticides to [honeybee colony collapse disorder] CCD fail to recreate practical in-field solutions of pollinator exposure to pesticides or pollinator behavior, and ignore the many possible threats that bees face. Scientific literature examining the potential causes of CCD is incredibly varied and will need additional research. So what can you do to save honey bees and other pollinators? CropLife encourages people to go out and plant flowers. “I compare that to planting buffalo grass to bring back the buffalo,” says beekeeper Tom Theobald, who for 38 years has been a beekeeper in Boulder County, Colorado. “If we don’t have the bees, it doesn’t matter how many flowers we plant.”

Neonicotinoids should no longer be used on crops which attract bees and other pollinating insects, the RSPB says, in a call for the Government to support a proposed EU ban on the three most common neonicotinoid substances. The intervention of the million-member society comes after a mounting tide of evidence indicating linkages between the use of the chemicals, made by the agribusiness giants Bayer and Syngenta, and collapses in colonies of honey bees and bumblebees. More than 30 separate scientific studies in the last three years have shown adverse effects on insects from neonicotinoids, which are "systemic" insecticides, meaning they enter every part of the target plants – including the pollen and nectar which bees harvest. In January, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a scientific opinion recommending that the three main substances – imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam – should not be used on crops attractive to bees. RSPB agricultural policy officer Ellie Crane said yesterday: "We've been reviewing the science for a long time, and scientists are telling us that neonicotinoids might be killing bees.

“I thought I’d give you a ‘behind-the-scenes’ look into the death of my bees in California. I started out last spring in the Midwest with 3,150 healthy bee colonies; of which 992 still survive, and most of those are very weak. More than 2,150 of my valuable bee colonies are now extinct.” A Midwestern beekeeper friend has earned his living as a migratory bee-farmer for almost 40 years; his son represents the fourth generation of this family to enter the beekeeping business. For most of those decades, the practice of migratory beekeeping was relatively trouble-free; the bees were not harmed by being trucked around America; there was no warning of impending disaster. All of that changed with the coming of the new systemic pesticides, the neonicotinoids. During summer in the Midwest, colonies build-up on pollen from maize, and dandelions while gathering nectar from soybeans, alfalfa, clovers and linden trees. Sadly, the maize and soybeans are seed-treated with systemic neonicotinoid insecticides, which emerge later, in the pollen and nectar, to poison the bees. To make matters worse, later in the season, those same crops are sprayed with additional: fungicides, herbicides and insect-growth-regulators (IGRs). Combined with the systemic neonicotinoids, these react ‘synergistically’, to produce a witches’ brew of poison that is far more toxic than any pesticide on its own.

Am 25. Februar werden VertreterInnen der 27 Mitgliedsstaaten der Europäischen Union in Brüssel über ein Verbot der bienengefährlichen Saatgutbeizen aus der Gruppe der Neonicotinoide abstimmen. Eingebracht wurde der Antrag von der Europäischen Kommission höchstselbst, nachdem die EFSA als oberste europäische Zulassungsbehörde für Pestizide nach jahrelanger Prüfung zum Schluss gekommen war, dass diese Pestizide maßgeblichen Anteil am europaweit grassierenden Bienensterben haben dürften. „Die bevorstehende Abstimmung ist die letzte Chance für Landwirtschaftsminister Berlakovich, sich doch noch zum Schutz der Bienen zu bekennen. GLOBAL 2000 fordert Berlakovich daher mit allergrößtem Nachdruck auf, diesmal dem Druck der Agrochemie-Lobby sowie einzelner unbelehrbarer 'Interessensvertreter' Stand zu halten und dem Kommissionsvorschlag zuzustimmen!“

A parasite affecting honeybees has been spotted in Scotland for the first time, potentially posing a new threat to our battered bee population. The new study, published in Parasitology Research, says the Nosema Ceranae parasite is already widespread in bee colonies throughout mainland Scotland. There are two possibilities,' says Dr Christopher Connolly of the University of Dundee, one of the study's authors. 'Either the parasite came in a long time ago and has gone unnoticed because it's fairly innocuous. Or it has come in more recently, spread very rapidly and could be a more serious problem. At the moment it's an unknown threat.' Bee populations around the world are collapsing under the weight of habitat change and disease. The EU recently proposed a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides after research suggested they may also be affecting bee numbers. In the UK, two species of bumblebee have been declared extinct, and the number of managed honeybee colonies has fallen by more than half in 20 years.

The goal of this work was assess the toxic effects of thiamethoxam on newly emerged worker bees of Apis mellifera (africanized honeybee—AHB). Initially, we determined that the lethal concentration 50 (LC50) of thiamethoxam was 4.28 ng a.i./microliter of diet. To determine the lethal time 50 (LT50), a survival assay was conducted using diets containing sublethal doses of thiamethoxam equal to 1/10 and 1/100 of the LC50. The group of bees exposed to 1/10 of the LC50 had a 41.2% reduction of lifespan. When AHB samples were analyzed by morphological technique we found the presence of condensed cells in the mushroom bodies and optical lobes in exposed honeybees. Through Xylidine Ponceau technique, we found cells which stained more intensely in groups exposed to thiamethoxam. The digestive and regenerative cells of the midgut from exposed bees also showed morphological and histochemical alterations, like cytoplasm vacuolization, increased apocrine secretion and increased cell elimination. Thus, intoxication with a sublethal doses of thiamethoxam can cause impairment in the brain and midgut of AHB and contribute to the honeybee lifespan reduction. Using these data, the Spanish ecotoxicologist Francisco Sánchez-Bayo calculated that the toxicity of thiamethoxam to honey bees follows the Druckrey-Küpfmüller equation ctn = constant, where c = exposure concentration, t = median time to lethal effect, and n= time reinforcement exponent, always greater than 1. The actual value of n for thiamethoxam's toxicity to honey bees = 2.21 (r2=0.9, p<0.001). For imidacloprid, the actual value of n = 4.5.