Currently there are more than 17,000 pesticide products on the market in the U.S., and scientists say there is much that remains unknown about their impact on the environment, including the effect of combinations of compounds. While many credit the EPA with doing a good job at making sure pesticides are safer and safer for humans, they have a lot to answer for when it comes to honey bees.
Sources within the EPA tell us that agency scientists have been voicing concern over the neonicotinoids since they first came up for registration over 15 years ago with special concern raised over impact to honey bees. Our sources also told us, however, that scientists can't even suggest a connection between pesticides and colony losses for fear of being ostracized and excluded from meetings. With decisions being made by administrators, who are not necessarily scientists, sources say they don't even know themselves what goes into these ultimate decisions of what to approve for sale. And sources report that EPA scientists feel demoralized, when they work so hard to get risk assessments out that decision makers ultimately ignore.
Critics of pesticide regulation point to how Congress has set up the program in the first place. Unlike in Europe where they have the option to use a precautionary principle to keep a pesticide off the market until science proves it to be safe. In the United States, the EPA is mandated to consider many options, and only one of those is the science. It must also consider a range of other factors, such as economic, political and social factors.
Currently there are more than 17,000 pesticide products on the market in the U.S., and scientists say there is much that remains unknown about their impact on the environment, including the effect of combinations of compounds. While many credit the EPA with doing a good job at making sure pesticides are safer and safer for humans, they have a lot to answer for when it comes to honey bees.
Ultimately, when it comes to the systemics, even our sources inside the EPA acknowledge, a complete redesign of how the EPA determines safety risks of pesticides may be the best bet for bees.
Dan Rather Reports airs Tuesdays on HDNet at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. This program is now available on iTunes. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Source: The Huffington Post, September 22, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-rather/honeybees-pesticides-food-chai…
Dan Rather's Report on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9BkfaVCv84
Attached is an article on the influence of Bayer Cropscience on Dutch policy makers (which appeared in the magazine "Vrij Nederland" on April 4, 2012).
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