On 5/12/2012 1:21 AM, Dan O'Callaghan wrote:
> How does a beekeeper confirm a pesticide kill in the US? If someone on
> the list knows, please post...
Honestly there is no reason why a beekeeper would know what to do unless
they've done it before. It's not well publicized, is hard to find, and
often there are roadblocks to reporting effectively.
In Ohio, you can report it to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Our
experience this year has been they are slow to respond and for the first
case of bee kills in Ohio, they were not returning calls until the media
got involved. Even then there still are issues with response time,
chain of custody (of the samples), etc. more information and tips on
reporting, what to do, etc. can be found here:
http://www.ohiostatebeekeepers.org/resources/pesticides-and-honeybees/
In short the ODA is suppose to come out, take samples and in 3-4 months
they will provide you with a report of their findings. They may or may
not be able to tell you who the applicator was. See the OSBA website
for more info.
The Ohio State Beekeepers are also collecting data on bee kills in an
effort to push the ODA to fix their system so pesticide applicators can
notify the beekeepers as required by Ohio Law. Currently it depends on
who you talk to if they will help at all, and their databases are so
antiquated its apparently very hard for them to tell a pesticide
applicator which beekeepers to notify. Filling out the form will also
report it to the EPA.
The EPA's website is http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/ecosystem/pollinator/
It's not easy to find. Until very recently (we've been giving them lots
of feedback) the email address was not obvious and they mentioned an
online form that apparently didn't exist.
The NPIC (National Pesticide Information Center) is a clearing house for
reporting all pesticide issues (not just honey bees) http://npic.orst.edu/
This is a joint effort between the EPA and Oregon State University.
They do have a form to report bee kills, but it's very hard to find. I
can only find a page on bees covering CCD. You need to select 'Report a
Problem -> Environmental Incident'
Ignore their advice to contact your State Environmental Agency (at least
in Ohio, They've told us that they don't handle pesticide problems).
You can call their 800 number or fill out the 'Ecological Pesticide
Incident Reporting' form: http://pi.ace.orst.edu/erep/
In fact, the instructions on the form were the only place I saw it
mention bees and beekeeper on their site (other than the page on CCD in
their index). Note however, that unless they have changed it in the
past week, you must know either the pesticide applicators registration
number, or the pesticide used and it's active ingredient. This is a
huge problem for beekeepers. Few beekeepers would have any idea how to
fill this out.
So, I really don't see how any of the above is easy to find or common
knowledge for beekeepers. It's a hodgepodge of efforts, and even each
organization doesn't seem to know what the different parts of it are
doing (EPA vs state EPA vs NPIC. Each reports differently and gives
different advice. ODA also will tell you different things depending on
who you contact.) None are well publicized. (I've been told NPIC
hasn't done the advertizing they intended due to budget cuts. They
also said they didn't know if they could do anything to fix their
website so it can be found more easily due to the same.)
I only know the above from pushing the ODA and any contact we have at
the EPA and elsewhere on behalf of the Ohio State Beekeepers
Associations effort to get something done for our members about this issue.
-Tim
***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm
|