While I would agree that the evidence to date does not link any direct 
association between neonicotinoids and CCD, I am rather baffled by any 
beekeeper showing opposition to this lawsuit.  This is what is available in 
the EPA factsheet on clothianidin:

"Clothianidin is highly toxic to honey bees on an acute contact basis (LD50> 
0.0439 µg/bee). It has
the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honey bees, as well as other 
nontarget pollinators, through
the translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen. In honey 
bees, the effects of this toxic
chronic exposure may include lethal and/or sub-lethal effects in the larvae 
and reproductive effects
in the queen"

Since Poncho is used on canola, and increasingly I have more bees in canola 
fields, I would like to know more about the studies that EPA received that 
led them to make the above statement in their factsheet.  If the studies are 
not in the public domain, which obviously they are not, then I welcome any 
organization's lawsuit to get them public.  And since a lawsuit is not 
cheap, I do not really see much of a problem if some money comes from "CCD" 
even if this isn't necessarily related.  It seems to me that we are 
profitting from an increased public awareness of the importance of 
pollinators.

I would also note that in the EPA factsheet the soil half life of 
clothianidin is given as

"aerobic Soil Metabolism:    148 to 1,155 days"

also:

Mobility-Leaching:    Mobile to highly mobile
Terrestrial Field Dissipation:   277 days to 1,386 days in the 0-15 cm soil 
depth;
Potential to Contaminate Groundwater:
Based on laboratory and field studies, the available data on clothianidin 
show that the compound is
persistent and mobile, stable to hydrolysis, and has potential to leach to 
ground water and be
transported via runoff to surface water bodies.

The persistence of imidacloprid has always been a main concern of mine, and 
it appears clothianidin might be just as bad.  If Bayer would just make 
public the studies that it provides to EPA to get registration then a 
lawsuit would be unnecessary.  What would be the motivation to withold this 
information?  Why can I not access the study done on PEI to determine the 
half life of imidacloprid in the soil here?

Regards
Stan 

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