More industry responses:

http://tinyurl.com/cdg87my
A spokesman for Syngenta said: "No evidence from the field has 
ever been presented that these pesticides actually damage bee
health, with the case against them resting on a few studies 
which identify some highly theoretical risks."

http://tinyurl.com/cfz5sxh
"We can use them safely and not endanger the health of bees," 
says David Fischer environmental toxicologist with Bayer
CropScience. "There is not a correlation with the use of these
products and the loss of colonies. What tends to be publicized
is not an accurate reflection of the weight of the evidence."

http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/04/24/3
When Gaucho was taken off the market, Fischer added, the health
of the country's bees did not improve. He also pointed out that
imidacloprid has been widely used in the United States since the
mid-1990s, but the sharp decline in bees did not come until
about a decade later. Fischer's remarks were largely confirmed
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has done extensive
research on the issue.

Dr. Julian Little, Bayer CropScience
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22339191

"We have two controls for all of this. One is France; we've had 
massive restrictions on these products for over 10 years, have
we seen any improvement in bee health? No.
The other control is Australia where neonicotinoids are used in 
exactly the same way as in the UK, same formula same crops 
and they have the healthiest bees on the planet. The difference 
there is they don't have varroa [mites]."

"What we have been upset about is how [lab based] research 
[on the effect of neonicotinoids] has been put into policy. Because 
when you repeat it with real bees, real colonies in real fields, you 
don't see any effect."

"The varroa mite is key," says Dr Little. "If you don't have varroa 
you have healthy bees regardless of whether neonicotinoids 
are used."

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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