Sierra Club Press Release on USDA Stand on Honeybees

PRESS RELEASE
>Contact: Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club
>216-371-9779
>
>U.S.D.A. caves into lobbyists over massive bee deaths while Germany
>takes a major step to keep their pollinators pollinating crops
>
>In light of the mounting evidence that new seed chemical coatings are
>deadly to bees and the action of Germany to call for an immediate
>suspension of these seed treatments, the Sierra Club today reaffirmed
>its call for a U.S. moratorium on specific chemical treatments to
>protect our bees and crops, until more study can be done.
>
>Recently Germany's federal agricultural research institute noted, "It
>can unequivocally be concluded that poisoning of the bees is due to the
>rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from corn seeds."
> At issue are the neonicotinoids, including clothianidin, being used
>in a new way - as seed coatings.
>
>For years, farmers have been spraying neonicotinoids onto their crops
>to stop insect infestation. Now Bayer and Monsanto have acquired
>patents to coat their proprietary corn seeds with these neonicotinoids.
>
>"Part of the equation in the U.S. is genetically engineered corn, as
>more and more corn seeds are being gene spliced with a completely
>different species - a bacteria," said Walter Haefeker, of the German
>Beekeepers Association Board of Directors. "Bayer and Monsanto
>recently entered into agreements to manufacture neonicotinic-coated
>genetically engineered corn. It's likely that this will worsen the bee
>die-off problem."
>
>David Hackenburg, former president of the American Beekeeping
>Federation, has been urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to do
>more study. "Look at what's time based. The massive bee decimation
>started when regulatory agencies rubber stamped the use of
>neonicotinoid spraying and coating," he said.
>
>"Sierra Club joins the concern of beekeepers," said Laurel Hopwood,
>Sierra Club Genetic Engineering Committee Chair. "It's unfortunate that
>regulatory agencies are using double speak. They claim to protect our
>food supply - yet they aren't doing the proper studies. The loss of
>honeybees will leave a huge void in the kitchens of the American people
>and an estimated loss of 14 billion dollars to farmers. We expect the
>U.S.D.A. to do their job. We call for a precautionary moratorium on
>these powerful crop treatments to protect our bees and our food.
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>