Not sure if the list has heard this, but it was just sent to our department.
Nick
Iowa
Germany's emergency ban
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The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL)
suspended the registration of 8 neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatment
products used in oilseed rape and sweetcorn. A few weeks after honeybee
keepers in the southern state of Baden Wuerttemberg reported a wave of
honeybee deaths linked to one of the pesticides, clothianidin (1,2).
Professor Joe Cummins had warned specifically against this class of new
pesticides (3) (Requiem for the Honeybee, SiS 34), widely used in dressing
seeds and in sprays, and "highly toxic to insects including bees at very
low concentrations." His contribution to ISIS' Briefing in the European
Parliament in June 2007 (4) (Scientists and MEPs for a GM free Europe, SiS
35) drew attention to the danger of sub-lethal doses of neonicotinoids and
Bt biopesticides in GM [genetically modified] crops, which could act
synergistically with pathogenic fungi in causing colony collapse disorder
in the honeybee, and resulted in a question to the European Commission by
German MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Hiltrud Breyer (5)
(Emergency Motion on Protecting the Honeybee, SiS 35), shortly after she
had submitted an emergency motion to ban the neonicotinoids.
Unequivocal evidence of pesticide poisoning
- -------------------------------------------
Walter Haefeker, president of the European Professional Beekeepers
Association, reporting to Chemical and Engineering News said (1),
"Beekeepers in the region started finding piles of dead bees at the
entrance of hives in early May [2008], right around the time corn seeding
takes place."
"It's a real bee emergency," Manfred Hederer, president of the German
Professional Beekeepers' Association told The Guardian (2), "50-60 per cent
of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their
hives."
The incriminating evidence was so convincing that a press release from the
Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), the German federal agricultural research
agency, stated: "It can unequivocally be concluded that a poisoning of the
bees is due to the rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from
the corn seeds."
Tests on dead bees showed that 99 per cent had a build-up of clothianidin
(sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho) produced by Bayer CropScience,
approved for use in Germany in 2004, and with some restrictions in the US
in 2003.
The pesticide was applied to the seeds in advance of being planted or
sprayed while in the field. The company blamed an application error by the
seed company, which failed to use a substance that glues the pesticide to
the seed, resulting in the chemical getting into the air. Bayer spokesman
Dr Julian Little told the BBC Farming Today that misapplication is highly
unusual. It transpired that this year's [2008] corn seed in Baden
Wuerttemberg was coated with a double dose to counteract a corn beetle
infestation (2). Unusual circumstances yes, but the lethal effect of the
pesticides has been suspected for a long time.
Beekeepers had pointed the finger for a long time
- -------------------------------------------------
According to the report in The Guardian (1), a group of beekeepers from
North Dakota in the United States is taking Bayer CropScience to court
after losing thousands of honeybee colonies in 1995, during a period when
oilseed rape in the area was treated with imidacloprid. A third of
honeybees were killed by what has since been dubbed colony collapse
disorder.
Imidacloprid is Bayer's best-selling pesticide sold under the name Gaucho
in France, but has been banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers in that
country since 1999, when a third of French honeybees died following its
widespread use; the ban on its use in sweetcorn was imposed 5 years later.
A few months ago, the company's application for clothianidin was rejected
by French authorities.
Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is safe for bees if correctly
applied. "Extensive internal and international scientific studies have
confirmed that Gaucho does not present a hazard to bees," said Utz Klages,
a spokesman for Bayer CropScience. Last year (2007), Germany's Green MEP,
Hiltrud Breyer tabled an emergency motion calling for this family of
pesticides to be banned across Europe while their role in killing honeybees
is thoroughly investigated. Her action follows calls for a ban from
beekeeping associations and environmental organisations across Europe.
As Cummins pointed out (3), these pesticides are nerve poisons and inhibit
the brain enzyme acetylcholine esterase. Sub-lethal levels of the
pesticide, which fails to kill the bee will nevertheless impair its ability
to return to the hive. Furthermore, these and other pesticides also impair
the bee's immune system, leaving it much more susceptible to attacks by
parasitic fungi and other disease agents (6, 7) (Parasitic Fungi and
Pesticides Act Synergistically to Kill Honeybees? SiS 35, Mystery of
Disappearing Honeybees, SiS 34).
References
- ----------
1. Alison Benjamin. Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee
devastation. The Guardian, Fri 23 May 2008.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/wildlife.endang
eredspecies>
2. Sarah Everts. Honeybee Loss. Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN), Wed
21 May 2008. <http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i21/8621notw7.html>
3. Cummins J. Requiem for the honeybee. Science in Society 2007; 34: 37-8.
<http://www.i-sis.org.uk/requiemForTheHoneybee.php>
4. Burcher S, Ho MW. Scientists and MEPs for a GM free Europe. Science in
Society 2007; 35: 20-5.
<http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Scientists_for_a_GM_free_Europe.php>
5. Hiltrud B. Collapse of honeybee colonies worldwide. Written Question to
the European Commission. Science in Society 2007; 35: 39.
<http://www.i-sis.org.uk/EMPH.php>
6. Cummins J. Parasitic fungi and pesticides act synergistically to kill
honeybees? Science in Society 2007; 35: 38.
<http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Parasiticfungi.php>
7. Ho MW, Cummins J. Mystery of disappearing honeybees. Science in Society
2007; 34: 35-6. <http://www.i-sis.org.uk/MysteryOfDisappearingHoneybees.php>
- --
communicated by:
ProMED-mail rapporteur Mary Marshall
[Clothianidin or
(E)-1-(2-chloro-1,3-thiazol-5-ylmethyl)-3-methyl-2-nitroguanidine is an
insecticide belonging to the nitroguanidine, a member of the subgroup of
nicotinoids and is owned by Bayer Corporation. Clothianidin is registered
for seed treatment use on corn and canola.
Based upon a battery of acute toxicity studies, Poncho 600 is classified as
Toxicity Category III. Clothianidin is classified as a "not likely" human
carcinogen. There are no to low concerns and no residual uncertainties with
regard to pre- and/or postnatal toxicity from clothianidin, and the FQPA
(Food Quality Protection Act) 10X Safety Factor has been removed. However,
due to evidence of effects on the rat immune system and that juvenile rats
appear to be more susceptible to these effects, and due to the lack of a
developmental immunotoxicity study, a 10X database uncertainty factor is
applied to all dietary exposure endpoints.
Available data indicate that clothianidin on corn and canola should result
in minimal acute toxic risk to birds. However, assessments show that
exposure to treated seeds through ingestion may result in chronic toxic
risk to non-endangered and endangered small birds (such as songbirds) and
acute/chronic toxicity risk to non-endangered and endangered mammals.
Clothianidin has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honeybees, as
well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of
clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen. Clothianidin should not present
a direct acute or chronic risk to freshwater and estuarine/marine fish, or
a risk to terrestrial or aquatic vascular and nonvascular plants.
The fate and disposition of clothianidin in the environment suggest a
compound that is a systemic insecticide that is persistent and mobile,
stable to hydrolysis, and has potential to leach to ground water, as well
as runoff to surface waters.
Clothianidin is practically non-toxic to the bobwhite quail on an acute
basis (LD50 (median lethal dose) greater than 2000 mg/kg) and practically
non-toxic to the mallard duck and the bobwhite quail on a sub-acute basis
(5-day LC50 (median lethal concentration) greater than 5040 ppm (parts per
million) and 5230 ppm, respectively). However, exposure to treated seeds
through ingestion may result in chronic toxic risk to birds (exposure of
525 ppm adversely affected eggshell thickness for Bobwhite quail).
Clothianidin is moderately toxic to small mammals on an acute oral basis
(LD50 greater than 389 mg/kg). Chronic exposure to treated seeds through
ingestion may result in reproductive and/or developmental effects.
Clothianidin is highly toxic to honeybees on an acute contact basis (LD50
greater than 0.0439 microgram/bee). It has the potential for toxic chronic
exposure to honeybees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the
translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen. In honeybees,
the effects of this toxic chronic exposure may include lethal and/or
sub-lethal effects in the larvae and reproductive effects in the queen.
Imidacloprid is a relatively new insecticide, having first been registered
for use in the UK in 1993 and in the United States in 1994. It is a
systemic insecticide, chemically related to the tobacco toxin, nicotine. It
works by blocking the elements of the insect nervous system, which are more
susceptible to the toxic effects of imidacloprid than those of warm-blooded
animals.
Imidacloprid is manufactured by Bayer CropScience. Since its launch in
1991, products containing imidacloprid have gained registrations in about
120 countries and are marketed for use on over 140 agricultural crops. With
annual sales of more than Euro 600 million (2001), imidacloprid is one of
the top selling products of Bayer CropScience. It is marketed under a
variety of names including Gaucho, Admire, Confidor, and Winner.
Imidacloprid has a wide range of uses -- soil, seed, and foliar. It is used
to control sucking insects such as rice-, leaf-, and plant hoppers, aphids,
thrips, and whitefly. It is also effective against soil insects, termites,
and some species of biting insects, such as rice water weevil and Colorado
beetle, but has no effect on nematodes or spider mites. It can be used as
seed dressing, as soil treatment, and as foliar treatment in different
crops including rice, cotton, cereals, maize, sugar beet, potatoes,
vegetables, citrus fruit, apples and pears, and stone fruit. In European
countries such as France, UK, and Holland, imidacloprid is widely used as
an insecticide in sugar beet crops.
Imidacloprid can be phytotoxic (toxic to plants) if not used according to
manufacturers instructions, and it has a tendency to reduce seedling
emergence and crop vigour.
There have been restrictions on the use of Gaucho (imidacloprid) in France
since the 1990s because of concerns over the product's toxicity to bees. In
January 1999 the government suspended Gaucho for use on sunflowers. The
insecticide retained its authorisation for use on cereals, sugar beet, and
maize. The Ministry of Agriculture decision ruled that in the absence of
sufficient technical and scientific evidence linking the use of Gaucho to
the decline in the bee population, a temporary suspension of the product
nationwide would help 'limit the risks of exposing bees to the potentially
detrimental effects of Gaucho'.
Early in 2003, the Ministry decided to prolong Gaucho's ban on sunflowers
by 3 years as 'no distinctive scientific factor has emerged reversing this
decision.' Bayer has expressed regret that the ban on sunflowers has not
been lifted as 'no improvement has been observed' in French bee populations
since the product was suspended in 1999. It is now thought that the
replacement insecticide fipronil, is also having an impact on bee
populations.
There have been similar concerns raised in Canada. Prince Edward Island
beekeepers have reported serious losses of bees, which they believe since
1995 is linked to residues from imidacloprid. Potatoes on the island have
been treated with soil applications of Admire (imidacloprid) to prevent
Colorado potato beetle. It is believed that the rotational clover and
canola crops have sublethal residues of imidacloprid in the pollen and
nectar, which cause slow death of bees in the colony. It may be that bees
on the island may be affected by the cumulative effects of applications of
Admire. Beekeepers have experienced high colony losses of 50-80 per cent
since 1999. New Brunswick has been increasing the use of Admire since 1998.
Beekeepers in potato areas have reported large losses of 50-60 percent in
2001 and 2002, which may be attributable to the use of Admire. Similar
figures are reported in potato areas of Ontario.
The reports from the chemical company that bees are sensitive to these
chemicals indicate there are some insecticidal toxicity studies done. It is
likely through these studies that it was identified that imidacloprid kills
fleas, and later became the product marketed as "Advantage" by Bayer.
However, bees are sensitive but this article provides presumptive
conclusion these chemicals are responsible for colony collapse disorder.
But it is not a study that provides conclusive and reproducible evidence.
Nevertheless, the ban from bee areas may be extremely important to
preserving the bee colonies.
Portions of this comment were extracted from
<http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/clothianidin.pdf> and
<http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/imidaclo.htm>. - Mod.TG]
[see also: 2007
- ---
Colony collapse disorder, apis - USA: (FL) 20071026.3490
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA (Multistate) (03): agent identified
20070907.2960
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA : (Multistate) (02) 20070503.1435
Undiagnosed die-off, apis - USA (Multistate) 20070208.0497]
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