In a message dated 6/26/99 7:43:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> I just finished reading Carl Johansen's POLLINATOR PROTECTION HANDBOOK.
> In it he says that many states have regulations stating the time of day
that
> certain pesticides can be applied "as to prevent hazards to bee
pollinators."
>
> Does anyone know how I could go about finding information on application
> regulations/guidelines in NY, WA, FL, and CA? Any clues on who to call?
All states have an agency that enforces pesticide laws. In many states it
is the environmental agency. Here in South Carolina it is a specialized
enforcement unit under Clemson University. Most of them should have web sites
by now. You need to go to the state government's main page and do some
searching. When you find the head person, e-mail them for a copy of the laws.
South Carolina has also been placing their entire law code on the
internet. I don't know if it is finished, but this is another source of
answers to your question.
You should also be aware that the primary operative protection for bees is
in Federal law, the 1972 act called FIFRA (I believe "Federal Insecticide,
Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act"). The specific law for each pesticide is now
placed on the label of that material, and it is a violation to use the
pesticide not in accordance with the label directions. It is a criminal act
to willfully violate label directions.
Prior to FIFRA, in many court decisions about bee poisonings in the
'40's, '50's, and '60's, bees were declared to be "trespassers" and the
courts always made it the responsibility of the beekeeper to "protect" them.
Private property interest reigned in favor of the applicators (though some
crop duster planes got burned).
FIFRA set aside the "trespasser" concept, and recognized bees as an
environmental resource, making the applicator responsible for their
protection. That is why you find bee protection directions on the labels
under "Environmental Hazards" Americans have traditionally had a high regard
for private property. But this has some limitations. You can no longer kill
songbirds, poach wild game, fish with dynamite, poison your stream, or kill
the bees that forage on your property.
The core of environmental laws are federally mandated, but state
enforced. States can make laws more stringent than the federal law, but
cannot make them more lenient. For example, Connecticut has a law that bans
the use of Penncap M after a certain date (June 15?), because there was so
much damage.
But states frequently make an "end run" around federal law, by providing
applicators a means to evade the label directions, and pass back the
responsibility to the beekeepers, by beekeeper notification setups. These
schemes can, and should be challenged, because they weaken the federal law,
but you know how hard it is to get beekeepers to do anything as a whole. And
any pesticide advisors that tells applicators to call the beekeeper and
require them to "protect" the bees, is making a recommendation of misuse. He
should be prosecuted, because he is giving applicators a way to evade
compliance with the label directions.
The pre-FIFRA mindset is strong, because beekeepers are politically weak,
and the interests that use pesticide are strong. Enforcement is best in areas
where growers know they need bees (orchard and vegetable areas) and is very
weak in other areas such as cotton country (where growers "think" they don't
need bees, and they have a lot of clout with Clemson and other universities).
The vector control people have been lobbying EPA for exemption from bee
protection directions, a back door way of admitting that they routinely break
the law.
Dr. Roger Morse is one of the few people within the system with the
courage and the prestige to stand up and be counted. He told the medfly folks
in Florida that, if they were killing bees, they were misusing the pesticide.
I look to our bee experts within the university/extension system to pull
for implementation and enforcement of the label directions, as they should be
doing. But they are bought and paid for by the system, which is bought and
paid for by large corporations and powerful agricultural groups, such as
cotton growers. Most of the time they wimp out (including Carl Johansen), and
go back to pre-FIFRA mentality, leaving beekeepers holding a bag that has
driven many into bankruptcy. There is NO WAY, I can chase to multiple sites
on any given day during cotton bloom and "protect" my bees. And a hobby
beekeeper is not going to be in good standing with his boss, if he has to
stay home and "protect" his bees, every time a neighbor sprays. We have got
to insist on enforcement of the labels, and these labels place the
responsibility squarely on the applicators.
I watched a Cornell fruit advisor try to stand up for better enforcement
of the label laws (this in a fruit belt, where growers know they need
pollinators, yet too many poison them anyway), and he got badly reamed out by
his superiors. To my knowledge he has never said another word about it.
> I am also wondering if these regulations are in place to protect bees in
> general or just managed hives. If it was primarily for managed hives, I'd
> expect there to be more regulations in the states that rely heavily on crop
> pollination.
The labels do not distinguish between feral and domestic honeybees, nor
even for other bee species, but regulators commonly avoid including wild
bees, citing "history" of the law as precedent. I don't know if this would
hold up in a challenge, as all bees are an environmental resource.
Wild bees are more apt to be damaged than domestic ones (especially where
the "call your beekeeper" schemes rule), and have less chance of recovery,
since they don't have a beekeeper to try to salvage them. Of course bees
can't defend themselves, so those who have a keeper to fight for an end to
pesticide misuse have a better chance than wild ones.
> Thanks in adavance for any input!! I am new at locating this type of
> informtaion, and the book was a bit grey about who exactly to call. It
> could
> be different in each state- which would further complicate things!!!
To protect bees:
1. Get copies of labels of materials commonly used in your area. Thoroughly
know the law. Know what blossoms the bees are working.
2 Carry a camcorder when blooming crops, or crops with intermingled
blooming weeds, are being sprayed. Report applications, as "suspected"
violations, if you think the label is being violated. Record the applications
and the bees visiting the blossoms in the treatment area.
3. Be assertive. I've had inspectors refuse to come, refuse to take samples,
or delay to where samples won't show anything. I've filed personal civil
rights claims against some of them. They usually come the same day now. It's
an uphill fight to get protection, though the bees are an environmental
resouce, and we are citizens who do have rights.
Common violations that cause bee kills:
1. Orchard floor has clover, mustard or other attractive weeds growing; bees
coming to them are killed by insecticide applications for the fruit.
2. Applications for mosquitoes, medflies, gypsy moths, grasshoppers, etc.
that are made when bees are foraging on blossoms in the treatment area.
-Often done by public agencies, who should know better. I try to contact them
ahead of time, let them know bees are foraging in the treatment area, offer
to help them determine what hours bees are working, and warn them that I will
seek criminal charges if they violate the label. So far it hasn't changed
practices much; they are stuck in a pre-FIFRA groove. Every year the mosquito
control people run ads in the paper asking beekeepers to notify them where
they keep bees, so they can be notified of pending applications).
We just had a clearcut violation here in Heminway, when the county
sprayed for mosquitoes at midmorning when all the spring bloom was open, just
prior to a festival. I am awaiting to see if the regulators will file
criminal charges. If they don't, I will swear out a warrant myself, and am
looking into the possibility of including the regulators, who try to "look
the other way," for a fellow public official.
3. Non-attractive crops that have attractive blossoms growing as weeds, such
as mustard in wheat.
4. Orchardists "jump the gun" on petal fall applications, before full petal
fall.
(I will soon be posting some aids for cotton applicators to monitor bee
foraging in order to comply with the laws. I'll try to post this info here as
well.)
[log in to unmask] Dave Green Hemingway, SC USA
The Pollination Scene: http://users.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html
The Pollination Home Page: http://www.pollinator.com
Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop (Varietal Honeys and Beeswax Candles)
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