Niger Delta Farmers Welcome Shell Court Ruling

Published on : 31 December 2009 - By Sophie van Leeuwen

A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday it had the...

Four Anti-Mountaintop Removal Activists Arrested at Home

Published by Sparki, Dec. 30th'09

Iran is not the only place where government agencies are...


Mountaintop removal coal mine in southern WV encroaching on a small community. Photo by Vivian Stockman Ohio Valley Coalition

Anti-Mining Activist Assassinated in El Salvador

Mon. 21 Dec '09 - CISPA - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

Demand an investigation and...
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Editor's Note: The atrocious record of Canadian mining companies abroad just keeps getting worse.

Led by our Prime Minister, that killer of justice and democracy, Canada just keeps racing to the bottom. Just how far will we sink? l.p.

Arctic Melt Top Weather Story of Decade, if Not Century: Enviro Cda's Phillips

Wed Dec 30'09 - By Pat Hewitt, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The big Arctic melt of...

Good News for Bees (At Least American Ones): Judge Bans Chemical

Contact: Josh Mogerman

Bee-toxic Movento pulled from market for proper evaluation.

Honey bee hive. l.p. photo

NEW YORK (December 29, 2009) – A pesticide that could be dangerously toxic to America’s honey bees must be pulled from store shelves as a result of a suit filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Xerces Society. In an order issued last week, a federal court in New York invalidated EPA’s approval of the pesticide spirotetramat (manufactured by Bayer CropScience under the trade names Movento and Ultor) and ordered the agency to reevaluate the chemical in compliance with the law. The court’s order goes into effect on January 15, 2010, and makes future sales of Movento illegal in the United States .

“This sends EPA and Bayer back to the drawing board to reconsider the potential harm to bees caused by this new pesticide,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. “EPA admitted to approving the pesticide illegally, but argued that its violations of the law should have no consequences. The Court disagreed and ordered the pesticide to be taken off the market until it has been properly evaluated. Bayer should not be permitted to run what amounts to an uncontrolled experiment on bees across the country without full consideration of the consequences.”

In June 2008, EPA approved Movento for nationwide use on hundreds of different crops, including apples, pears, peaches, oranges, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, almonds, and spinach. The approval process went forward without the advance notice and opportunity for public comment that is required by federal law and EPA’s own regulations. In addition, EPA failed to evaluate fully the potential damage to the nation’s already beleaguered bee populations or conduct the required analysis of the pesticide’s economic, environmental, and social costs.

Beekeepers and scientists have expressed concern over Movento’s potential impact on beneficial insects such as honey bees. The pesticide impairs the insect’s ability to reproduce. EPA’s review of Bayer’s scientific studies found that trace residues of Movento brought back to the hive by adult bees could cause “significant mortality” and “massive perturbation” to young honeybees (larvae).

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops grown in America . USDA also claims that one out of every three mouthfuls of food in the typical American diet has a connection to bee pollination. Yet bee colonies in the United States have seen significant declines in recent years due to a combination of stressors, almost certainly including insecticide exposure.

“This case underscores the need for us to re-examine how we evaluate the impact of pesticides and other chemicals in the environment,” said Colangelo. “In approving Movento, EPA identified but ignored potentially serious harms to bees and other pollinators. We are in the midst of a pollinator crisis, with more than a third of our colonies disappearing in recent years. Given how important these creatures are to our food supply, we simply cannot look past these sorts of problems.”

The court decision is available at http://docs.nrdc.org/wildlife/wil_09122901.asp

More information on threats to honey bees at www.BeeSafe.org

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has 1.3 million members and online activists, served from offices in New York , Washington , Chicago , Los Angeles , San Francisco and Beijing .

______________________________

Josh Mogerman

Senior Media Associate

Natural Resources Defense Council

Midwest Program

jmogerman@NRDC.org

Check out my blog at: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jmogerman

Tweeting at: http://twitter.com/JoshatNRDC

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Editor's Note: This is good, but perhaps not great news. For one thing, it is a US decision. It will obviously not be binding in CA, where the stuff has been on the market since last summer. If we could each let our respective MPs/MLAs know about our concerns, maybe our reluctant regulators in this country could do something similar. Besides, the nastiest chemical known to bees, at least up until "Movento," the neonicotinoid family, continues to be used with abandon, in North America! l.p.
To read a version of my latest story about pollinators, please go to the online version of "Sasquatch" Saskatchewan's newest, alternative magazine - here.

Science left behind in Copenhagen Coverage

Dec. 30 '09 Comment: By thegreenpages contributing editor Fraser Los

After all the late-night hand-wringing by bleary-eyed world leaders, the Copenhagen climate conference...

Canada Successfully Destroys Parody Websites

Published on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Climate Policy Remains Deplorable - by The Yes Men

The government of Canada has used...