Garret wrote:

> EPA pesticide fact sheet for spirotetramat
> http://www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/spirotetramat.pdf

> End-Use Products:
> This product is toxic to bees. Direct exposure to treatment or residues on blooming
> crops or weeds can lead to effects on colonies. Do not apply this product or allow it
> to drift if bees are visiting the treatment area.

Garret, David Fischer explained yesturday that all the spirotetramat formulations 
sold in the USA since they were first registered in 2008 had label directions that 
prohibited applications to blooming crops frequently visited by honey bees. So 
with no honeybee exposure, there could not have been any honeybee toxicity 
during the past year and a half when it was legal to use spirotetramat in the USA.
Yet several environmental groups, newspapers and blogs are claiming
the recent court ruling suspending the registration of spirotetramat is:

"A Victory for the Bees"
http://ucanr.org/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=2132

"A Big Win for Bees"
http://www.nrdc.org/media/2009/091229.asp

"Bees finally win a Round"
http://pollinator.info/blog/

"an important victory for both farmers and environmentalists"
"The Xerces Society and Natural Resources Defense Council, banded
together to keep the nation safe from spirotetramat."
http://tinyurl.com/y8987l4

In other words, thanks to a lawsuit filed by the NRDC and Xerces
Society, the general public, farmers as well as environmentalists
around the world now believe spirotetramat is dangerous for honeybees
when in fact the opposite is true. And more recent studies indicate 
that spiroteramat was (quoting Dave Fischer) "shown
to be safe to honey bee colonies even when sprayed on crops
during full bloom, a time when honey bees are actively foraging."

I am unaware of any other insecticide on the market today that effectively
controls sucking pest insects and yet is also safe for honey bee colonies 
even when sprayed on crops during full bloom.  So spirotetramat is actually 
a break through pollinator friendly insecticide and ironically, the pollinator 
advocacy groups in the USA have succeeded in killiing it (for the time being).

Paul Cherubini
El Dorado, Calif.

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