fact sheet - Center for Food Safety

APRIL 2013 FACT SHEET

POLLINATORS & PESTICIDES

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of food we eat is from a crop pollinated by honey bees. Yet, over the past decade, we have witnessed an alarming decline in honey bee populations around the world. Commercial beekeepers lost an average of 36% of their hives in 2011 according to U.S.D.A. More recently, beekeepers have reported average annual losses of 40-50%, with some as high as 100%.i NE OF EVERY THREE BITES

Recently, a number of scientific studies have linked bee declines to pesticide use, illustrating the overwhelming effects that toxic chemicals are having not just on honey bees, but also on native bees and other critical beneficial insects. Even though Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Sweden have taken action to restrict the use of certain pesticides devastating our pollinator species, our environment, and our future food security, the U.S. still allows their unrestricted use.

million honey bee colonies are rented for U.S. crop pollination services.iii Unfortunately, these critical pollinators are now declining at alarming rates. For instance, the number of managed honey bee colonies in the U.S. has dropped from over 5 million in 1940 to less than 2.5 million today.iv Additionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lists nearly 40 pollinator species as threatened or endangered, and several more are currently being considered.v Commercial beekeepers across the country are suffering astronomical hive losses, severely crippling their ability to meet pollination contracts for a variety of crops, including almonds, apples, berries and row crops. As numerous peer-reviewed studies have indicated, pesticides have significant adverse effects not just on honey bees, but also on native bees and other critical beneficial insects. While certain other factors, such as pathogens, parasites, poor nutrition and habitat loss may also play a role, the toxicity of pesticides on pollinating species is undeniable.

VANISHING POLLINATORS While the honey bee is the primary pollinating species our food crops depend upon, native species of other bees and insects are also essential. Many of our fruits, vegetables and nuts are reliant upon pollinators for their production. In fact, without these species, 70% of plants would be unable to reproduce or provide food. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, of the 100 crop varieties that provide 90% of the world’s food, 71 are pollinated by bees. In North America, honey bees alone pollinate nearly 95 kinds of fruits, such as almonds, avocados, cranberries and apples, in addition to commodity crops like soy.ii The health of pollinators is directly linked to our country’s food security. Pollination services are also a core component of global agricultural production, valued at over $125 billion annually. The value of pollination services in the U.S. is estimated to be $15-$20 billion annually. Each year, about 2

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THE ROLE OF PESTICIDES IN POLLINATOR DECLINE Specifically, the pesticides linked to pollinator declines are a group of nicotine-based insecticides called neonicotinoids. In the early 1990s, the first neonicotinoid, imidacloprid (Gaucho), was introduced to the U.S. by Bayer CropScience.vi Other neonicotinoid chemicals that have since entered the market include clothianidin, thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid and dinotefuran. Unlike traditional pesticides that are typically applied to the surface of plants, neonicotinoids are systemic— meaning they are absorbed and then spread throughout the entire plant. One way honey bees and other pollinators are exposed to these unique insecticides is through pollen and nectar when visiting plants. Neonicotinoids are also concerning because they persist in the environment and can accumulate quickly. This characteristic

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POLLINATORS & PESTICIDES

has caused contamination of surface water, groundwater, and soil, endangering species that inhabit these ecosystems. Harmful effects from this type of contamination have been identified in aquatic invertebrates, and additional concern exists with respect to long-term impacts on waterfowl, rangeland birds, and other wild animals.

INTERNATIONAL ACTION While the U.S. has avoided taking action to protect honey bees and other pollinators, the international community has been much more proactive—with numerous countries imposing suspensions and restrictions on uses of neonicotinoids. In January 2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a stark review of the risks that neonicotinoid pesticides pose to bees, concluding that exposure from pollen and nectar was only acceptable on crops that were not attractive to honey bees. Based on the EFSA review, the European Commission proposed measures for a two-year ban on certain neonicotinoids across the European Union, including the prohibition of use on crops that are attractive to bees—such as maize and oil seed rape—as well as banning the sale of products containing these pesticides. On April 5, 2013, the U.K. House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee released their heavily anticipated report Pollinators and Pesticides. Based on weeks of parliamentary hearings, the report calls for a moratorium in the U.K. on three specific neonicotinoid pesticides by 2014 and an immediate halt of their use in private gardens and homes.

REGULATORY FAILURE BY EPA HAS EXACERBATED THE POLLINATOR CRISIS

USDA has several bee research labs and scientists studying honey bee health. Yet EPA rarely communicates with this agency and is not required to consult with USDA scientists prior to new pesticide registrations. Instead, EPA continues to fall back on the use of “best management practices” and better incident reporting as a solution to the problems with neonicotinoids. However, these best management practices are not enforceable, and EPA’s incident reporting plan is seen by beekeepers as untrustworthy and inadequate, by the agency’s own admission. EPA is currently working under a 2018 deadline for reviewing the registration of certain neonicotinoids. Five more years of colony losses at this rate leaves little hope that the beekeeping industry will survive this delayed timeline.

CENTER FOR FOOD SAFETY LAWSUIT AGAINST EPA In March 2013, Center for Food Safety (CFS) joined with beekeepers and other environmental organizations to file a lawsuit against the EPA for its failure to protect pollinators from two neonicotinoid chemicals—clothianidin and thiamethoxam. The coalition, represented by attorneys for CFS, seeks suspension of the registrations of these neonicotinoids that have repeatedly been identified as highly toxic to honey bees, clear causes of major bee kills, and significant contributors to the devastating ongoing mortality of bees known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). The suit challenges EPA’s conditional registration of these pesticides and their labeling deficiencies. The lawsuit was filed one year after CFS, along with 25 commercial beekeepers and other environmental groups, filed an emergency petition with the EPA to suspend the use of clothianidin, a request that EPA denied.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a conditional registration to the neonicotinoid clothianidin in 2003 without performing a required field study to establish that the pesticide would have no “unreasonable adverse effects” on pollinators. Granting conditional registration was contingent upon the subsequent submission of an acceptable field study, but this requirement was never met. EPA continues to allow the use of clothianidin over a decade after acknowledging that it had an insufficient scientific basis for allowing it in the first place. Additionally, the product labels on the pesticides containing neonicotinoids are inadequate to prevent excessive damage to non-target organisms, which is a second violation of the requirements for using a pesticide and warrants removing all such mislabeled pesticides from the market. Finally, EPA did not consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as required under the Endangered Species Act on the potential effects of clothianidin on federally-listed threatened and endangered species.

JOIN THE BEE PROTECTIVE CAMPAIGN! CFS has several things you can do to get involved in our Bee Protective campaign! Visit our website to download a list of bee-toxic garden products to avoid, bee-friendly plants to choose, take the pledge to protect bees in your own home or garden, and get involved in your city or campus.

To take action visit our website at www.centerforfoodsafety.org

i Michael Wines, “Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms, ” New York Times, March 28, 2013. ii UNEP, “Emerging Issues: Global Honey Bee Colony Disorder and Other Threats to Insect Pollinators,” 2010. iii Renée Johnson, “Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder,” Congressional Research Service, January 7, 2010. iv “Honey Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder,” USDA ARS. http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572#losses v “Pollinators Federally-listed as Endangered or Threatened Species,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. http://www.fws.gov/pollinators/Programs/Endangered.html vi “Imidacloprid Summary Document,” Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2008-0844-0002;oldLink=false