Stop Bayer’s killing of bees and their censorship

This video says about itself:

The buzz about pesticides – by Nature Video

Oct 21, 2012

Bees, the most important pollinators of our crops, are in trouble. All over the world, their populations are decreasing and scientists want to know why. In this video, Nigel Raine and Richard Gill introduce us to the bumblebees they study at Royal Holloway near London. Their experiments show that two commonly used pesticides affect foraging behaviour and brood development, making bumblebee colonies more likely to fail.

Read the Nature paper here.

Translated from daily Trouw in the Netherlands:

‘Bayer corporation’s bee poison should go off the market’

Joop Bouma – 10/04/13, 15:00

The authority deciding which pesticides are permitted in the Netherlands, the Ctgb in Wageningen, should immediately prohibit the use of the insecticide imidacloprid, pending studies on the harmful effects of the neurotoxin on bees.

Nature and Environment says this after reading the scientific studies which formed the basis for the admission of the pesticide. The environmental organization calls on fruit and vegetable producers to no longer use the substance. The pesticide of manufacturer Bayer is suspected of causing much mortality among bees.

Nature and Environment received access from manufacturer Bayer to the studies in a closed reading room. They were not allowed to make copies, partly because Bayer wants to keep the studies secret to competitors.

After reading the scientific publications Nature and Environment concludes that the toxicity of the pesticide is ‘probably much greater for bees than Ctgb and Bayer claim. The organization says that the review of the studies by the Ctgb is ‘very flimsy’.

In tests with the controversial insecticide, according to Nature and Environment, ‘atypically strong’ bee species were used. Moreover, they only looked at mortality among bees and not at additional effects, such as distortion of the sense of direction. Many of the studies commissioned by Bayer lasted no longer than a few days, according to Nature and Environment. “While the effects of imidacloprid on bees take much longer to become apparent.”

“The approval for imidacloprid should be immediately suspended until we know more about its harmfulness” said Sijas Akkerman, food expert of Nature and Environment. “And the studies should be made public soon.” The Ctgb is still studying the criticism of Nature and Environment, which arrived yesterday at the pesticide authority’s. “We take this seriously and will look at it carefully.”

Today, the court in The Hague will ruling in an appeals procedure. The Bees Foundation filed suit on publication of the studies. The Ctgb decided earlier to publish part of them, but the Bees Foundation wants all studies to be available to anyone who wants to see them.

Bayer in turn in a counterclaim has asked for the studies which the Ctgb wants to publish to stay secret. Bayer offers the Bees Foundation to have access to the studies in a closed reading room, like happened with Nature and Environment. But the Bees Foundation insists on full disclosure. Nature and Environment also says that the studies should be made public as soon as possible to make scientific research and a thorough assessment possible.

Previously, the European Court had ruled that the underlying studies about another pesticide (propamocarb) must be disclosed. A European Convention requires that citizens should have free access to environmental information.

Greenpeace began a campaign yesterday about the bee mortality. The organization calls for a ban on new pesticides, like the agent of Bayer.

Meanwhile, the court in The Hague has decided that, for the time being, the studies will stay secret. On 18 June, there will again be a session about this.

About Bayer, from Wikipedia:

The Bayer company then [after World War I] became part of IG Farben, a German chemical company conglomerate. During World War II, the IG Farben used slave labor in factories attached to large slave labor camps, notably the sub-camps of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.^[2] IG Farben owned 42.5% of the company that manufactured Zyklon B,^[3] a chemical used in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and other extermination camps. After World War II, the Allies broke up IG Farben and Bayer reappeared as an individual business. The Bayer executive Fritz ter Meer, sentenced to seven years in prison by the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal, was made head of the supervisory board of Bayer in 1956, after his release.^[4]