EU bans household soaps,
citing harm to bees
April 1, 2014

In a surprise move, the European Union acted this morning to
prohibit the sale of all man-made soaps for household use. The permanent ban,
which takes effect immediately, is partly a response to a recent study
linking massive die-offs of bees to the use of soaps in everyday life. The action also follows a massive online petition drive
spearheaded by British actor Jason Robbins.
The study was the result of an epiphany Robbins had after
hiring an exterminator to deal with a wasp problem. “I had a nest of
yellowjackets under a tree in my backyard and I called a pest control company.
The exterminator, who marketed his business as environmentally friendly, killed
the little buggers by dumping a bucket of warm, soapy dishwater down the hole.
I was quite pleased that I didn’t have to smell the nasty insecticides these
guys usually use.
“But it got me thinking,” he added. “We use this stuff
everywhere. Dish soaps, hand soaps, bath soaps - if they’re that toxic to wasps,
aren’t they bad for the bees too?”
As it turns out, they are. In areas of Latin America and the
southwestern United States where Africanized bees are a problem, a common
method of killing a problem colony is to douse them with soapy water.
Soapy water is also commonly used by organic growers as a
“natural” repellent for plant pests.
Like many people, Robbins had been hearing for years about
the precipitous declines in honeybee populations. He’d also heard a variety of
possible causes – from parasites to pesticides, even cellphone towers.
But soap was a culprit that none of the so-called experts
had ever mentioned. “The answer may have been right in front of our faces,” Robbins
said. “Actually, right ON our faces, and on our hands, hair and the rest of our
bodies. And if it’s on the bodies of the beekeepers, it naturally gets
transferred to the bees.
“I mean, if you look at these commercial beekeepers, hardly
any of them are wearing gloves. Not only are they touching and handling the honeycombs,
but the bees are crawling around on their hands and arms. You know a lot of these
guys probably wash their hands after they go to the loo, and if you’ve ever
used soap on your hands, you know that residue stays on there for awhile. Sure,
it may not kill the bees outright, but what about the sublethal effects?”
A recent study done at Rhode Island State University tested
just such sublethal effects. Led by Dr. Stanislaus Wegger, scientists at the university’s
Insect Studies Lab confined worker bees in screened hives, fed them a diet of
sugar water dosed with a leading brand of dishwashing soap, and compared their
resulting lifespans to those of free-range controls.
It wasn’t even close. The soaped bees died an average of
eight days sooner than the control bees. Given that the average worker bee’s
lifespan is between six and eight weeks, that is a significant difference. “These
were field-relevant doses,” said Dr. Wegger. “Clearly, this is the cause of
worldwide bee die-offs,” he added, “and no doubt some of the other extinctions
we’re seeing these days. The sooner these dangerous substances are banned, the
sooner our fragile planet can begin to heal.”
Making matters worse, say researchers, is the fact that many
soaps come with floral scents that can actually attract bees. So bees might
actually be seeking out toxins that will shorten their lifespan.
Industry skeptical
Not everyone is convinced. Detergent makers were predictably
outraged by the EU’s new rules. “There is no evidence that this edict will save
bees,” said British home products giant Baker and Knowles in a prepared
statement, “one poorly designed study notwithstanding.”
“This is just ridiculous,” added one industry insider. “The
French haven’t used soap in years, and there’s no indication that their bee
populations are any healthier than those elsewhere on the continent.”
But Robbins is undeterred. “That’s just the profit motive
talking,” he said in an interview. “How many billions of euros will these
chemical companies – these monsters –
spend to defend the indefensible? They are poisoning our planet, one species at
a time. It has to stop.”



Eugene Makovec
Foley, Missouri USA
:)

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