Here are the answer from Walter Haefeker, President of the European
Professional Beekeepers Association, and at the end further information
from the Coalition against BAYER Dangers webpage.

Question:

Could you please send me light on this debate. Was there a proper lawsuit
in the 2008 Bayer bee killing in Germany? Could you provide sources, please.


Answer

There are small law suits going on all the time, but 2008 it was beekeepers
demonstrating at the regulatory agency in charge of pesticide approvals,
that led to the first ban.

The big lawsuits against Bayer were in France by UNAF.

Canola treatment with the three neonics will be banned in the EU from dec.
1st for two years.

The Canadian research was submitted to EFSA as part of the reevaluation of
the three neonics and was not deemed to be good evidence of safety.

Question:
Does this means the 2008 Bayer compensation to affected beekeeper was by
there own (Bayer) motivation without any lawsuit? or does it means there
was no compensation at all?

Answer:
There was compensation by Bayer to avoid a lawsuit. The government
administered the compensation payments on behalf of Bayer and forced the
beekeepers to sign a document releasing the manufacturer of all liabilities
and waiving all rights to take legal action in the future.

The government also actively reduced the payments to beekeepers to save
Bayer money. This became a huge problem for professional beekeepers with
bank loans, because the amounts were not anywhere near the actual losses
and they would have had to declare bankruptcy the moment they sign the
release.

We advised them not to sign and helped them to negotiate better deals.

All in all this was a totally disgraceful performance of the government and
Bayer.

This is just the synopsys. I could write a book about this. We spend days
and days trying to financially rescue beekeepers.

---------------

From the Web of the  Coalition against BAYER Dangers

http://www.cbgnetwork.org/2596.html
The German Coalition against Bayer Dangers today brought a charge against
Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer Board of Management, with the Public
Prosecutor in Freiburg (south-western Germany). The group accuses Bayer of
marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting the mass death of bees
all over the world. The Coalition introduced the charge in cooperation with
German beekeepers who lost thousands of hives after poisoning by the
pesticide clothianidin in May this year.

The case is filed by the Public Prosecutor in Freiburg (Tel: +49-(0)761
2050) under the file number 520 UJs 1649/08

http://www.cbgnetwork.org/2821.html
No investigation against Bayer Management
After the massive bee deaths in Germany in 2008 the Bayer management was
sued for downplaying the risks of neonicotinoids, submitting deficient
studies to authorities and thereby accepting the huge losses of honey bees.
However, the state attorney refused to investigate the case. The charge was
closed with the justification that the substances were approved, so the
sales could not be illegal.

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