The Bee Population Supports Our Lives.

The Bee Population Supports Our Lives. If bees are endangered, so are humans and the world's animals and plants.

Via Claire Thompson for Grist, part of the Guardian Environment Network

guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 January 2012 10.25 EST

Article history The Guardian, there is an article on the bee population. Without bees, no one eats.

For our homes, gardens, and farms, we need bees to ensure beautiful flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, and food for ourselves and our animals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/13/honeybee-problem-critical-point

As noted by writer Tom Philpott, the EPA's scientists blamed pesticides for the cause of bee decline: "...specifically neonicotinoids (derived from nicotine), as a key factor. And neonicotinoids are a relatively new factor in ecosystems frequented by honeybees -- introduced in the late 1990s, these systemic insecticides have gained a steadily rising share of the seed-treatment market." Much of the pesticide in question is used on corn, often that is genetically-modified.

Here is a memo from the EPA, which states about clothianidin:

"Clothianidin's major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees)...Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis." (page 2).

Participate in this issue with local, state, or federal agencies.
Check information on websites, such as PANNA, Pesticide Action Network North America.


Via Grist. Leaked Document Shows EPA Allowed Bee-Toxic Pesticide Despite Own Scientists' Red Flags. By Tom Philpott. December 10, 2010.
Via http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-12-10-leaked-documents-show-epa-allowed-bee-toxic-pesticide-