An investigation by Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust has revealed that there is evidence of an increasing link between neonicotinoid pesticides and bee deaths in Britain. Buglife reviewed data from Fera, the Government’s agricultural research organisation, (attached) and found that there have been several cases in the last two years when the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme has implicated neonicotinoid pesticides in mass bee deaths. Not only that, but the number of reported incidents have been rising in recent years and, importantly, an increasing proportion of the incidents are associated with neonicotinoid pesticides.
"Buglife has been very concerned about mounting scientific evidence that chronic exposure from neonicotinoid pesticides is damaging bee and wild pollinator health: this new evidence that there are also increasing numbers of mass fatalities of bees linked to neonicotinoid pesticides is truly shocking" said Matt Shardlow, Buglife Chief Executive.
The Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) relies on people notifying the Government of an incident and sending in bees for analysis by Fera. Attached is a report by Dr Bernie Doeser, a beekeeper and spray liaison officer, which outlines the issues with the system, and why so few poisonings are reported. WIIS is no doubt just the tip of the iceberg.
Source: farminguk.com, 05.04.2011
http://www.farminguk.com/news/Neonicotinoid-implicated-in-Honeybee-mass…
BBC R4 Farming today, 07.04.2011 : Julian Little, Bayer vs Matt Shardlow, CEO Buglife (Dr. Jeff Pettis was also interviewed): Scroll forward to 6.58 mins to skip other reports:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0100jpv/Farming_Today_07_04_2011/
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