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Bayer CropScience is
facing scrutiny
because of the
effect one of its
best-selling
pesticides has had
on honey bees.
A German prosecutor
is investigating
Werner Wenning,
Bayer's chairman,
and Friedrich
Berschauer, the head
of Bayer CropScience,
after critics
alleged that they
knowingly polluted
the environment.
The investigation
was triggered by an
Aug. 13 complaint
filed by German
beekeepers and
consumer protection
advocates, a
Coalition against
Bayer Dangers
spokesman, Philipp
Mimkes, said Monday.
The complaint is
part of efforts by
groups on both sides
of the Atlantic to
determine how much
Bayer CropScience
knows about the part
that clothianidin
may have played in
the death of
millions of
honeybees.
Bayer CropScience,
which has its U.S.
headquarters in
North Carolina's
Research Triangle
Park, said field
studies have shown
that bees' exposure
to the pesticide is
minimal or
nonexistent if the
chemical is used
properly.
Clothianidin and
related pesticides
generated about $1
billion of Bayer
CropScience's $8.6
billion in global
sales last year. The
coalition is
demanding that the
company withdraw all
of the pesticides.
"We're suspecting
that Bayer submitted
flawed studies to
play down the risks
of pesticide
residues in treated
plants," said Harro
Schultze, the
coalition's
attorney.
"Bayer's ...
management has to be
called to account,
since the risks ...
have now been known
for more than 10
years."
Under German law, a
criminal
investigation could
lead to a search of
Bayer offices,
Mimkes said.
On this side of the
Atlantic, the
Natural Resources
Defense Council is
pressing for
research information
on clothianidin.
The U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency
approved the
pesticide in 2003
under the condition
that Bayer submit
additional data. A
lawsuit, which the
environmental group
filed Aug. 19 in
federal court in
Washington, accuses
the EPA of hiding
the honeybee data.
The group thinks the
data might show what
role chlothianidine
played in the loss
of millions of U.S.
honeybee colonies.
Researchers have
been puzzled by what
is causing the bees
to disappear at what
is considered an
alarming rate.
The phenomenon,
known as colony
collapse disorder,
threatens a $15
billion portion of
the U.S. food
supply.
Beekeeper Zac Browning shipped his hives from Idaho to
California to pollinate the blossoming almond groves. He
got a shock when he checked on them, finding hundreds of
the hives empty, abandoned by the worker bees.
The losses were extreme, three times higher than the
previous year.
"It wasn't one load or two loads, but every load we were
pulling out that was dead. It got extremely depressing
to see a third of my livestock gone," Browning said,
standing next to stacks of dead bee colonies in a
clearing near Merced, at the center of California's
fertile San Joaquin Valley.
Among all the stresses to bee health, it's the
pesticides that are attracting scrutiny now. A study
published Friday in the scientific journal PLOS (Public
Library of Science) One found about three out of five
pollen and wax samples from 23 states had at least one
systemic pesticide - a chemical designed to spread
throughout all parts of a plant.
EPA officials said they are aware of problems involving
pesticides and bees and the agency is "very seriously
concerned."
The pesticides are not a risk to honey sold to
consumers, federal officials say. And the pollen that
people eat is probably safe because it is usually from
remote areas where pesticides are not used, Pettis said.
But the PLOS study found 121 different types of
pesticides within 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples.
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