By F. William Engdahl
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Global Research, July 1, 2012
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Birds
and bees are something most of us take for granted as part of nature.
The expression “teaching about the birds and the bees” to explain the
process of human reproduction to young people is not an accidental
expression. Bees and birds contribute to the essence of life on our
planet. A study by the US Department of Agriculture estimated that
“...perhaps one-third of our total diet is dependent, directly or
indirectly, upon insect-pollinated plants.”1
The
honey bee, Apis mellifera, is the most important pollinator of
agricultural crops. Honey bees pollinate over 70 out of 100 crops that
in turn provide 90% of the world's food. They pollinate most fruits and
vegetables--including apples, oranges, strawberries, onions and
carrots.2 But while managed honey bee populations have increased over
the last 50 years, bee colony populations have decreased significantly
in many European and North American nations. Simultaneously, crops that
are dependent on insects for pollination have increased. The phenomenon
has received the curious designation of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD),
implying it could be caused by any number of factors. Serious recent
scientific studies however point to a major cause: use of new highly
toxic systemic pesticides in agriculture since about 2004.
If
governments in the EU, USA and other countries fail to impose a total
ban on certain chemical insecticides, not only could bees become a
thing of the past. The human species could face staggering new
challenges merely to survive. The immediate threat comes from the
widespread proliferation of commercial insecticides containing the
highly-toxic chemical with the improbable name, neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids
are a group of insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. They act on
the central nervous system of insects. But also on bees and small song birds. Recent evidence suggests they could also affect human brain development in newborn.
Some
five to six years back, reports began to circulate from around the
world, especially out of the United States, and then increasingly from
around the EU, especially in the UK, that entire bee colonies were
disappearing. Since
2004 over a million beehives have died across the United States and
beekeepers in 25 states report what is called Colony Collapse Disorder.
In winter of 2009 an estimated one fifth of bee hives in the UK were
lost, double the natural rate.3 Government authorities claimed it was a
mystery.
And in the USA a fact sheet from the Environmenrtal Protection Agency (EPA) on Bayer AG’s Clothianidin, a widely used neonicotinoid, warned:
“Available
data indicate that clothianidin on corn and canola should result in
minimal acute toxic risk to birds. However, assessments show that
exposure to treated seeds through ingestion may result in chronic toxic
risk to non-endangered and endangered small birds (e.g., songbirds) and
acute/chronic toxicity risk to non-endangered and endangered mammals.”4
Alarming UK results
A
private UK research organization, Buglife and the Soil Association,
undertook tests to try to determine cause of the bee death. They found
that the decline was caused in part by a group of pesticides called
neonicotinoids.5 Neonicotinoids are “systemic” chemicals that kill
insects by getting into the cell of the plant. In Britain it’s widely
used for crops like oilseed rape and for production of potted plants.
The
neonicotinoids are found in the UK in products including Chinook, used
on oilseed rape and Bayer UK 720, used in the production of potted
plants which then ends up in gardens and homes around the country. The
new study examined in detail the most comprehensive array of
peer-reviewed research into possible long-term effects of neonicotinoid
use. Their conclusion was that neonicotinoid pesticides damage the
health and life cycle of bees over the long term by affecting the
nervous system. The report noted, “Neonicotinoids may be a significant
factor contributing to current bee declines and could also contribute
to declines in other non-target invertebrate species."6
The
organization called for a total ban on pesticides containing any
neonicotinoids.
The president of the UK Soil Association, Peter
Melchett, told the press that pesticides were causing a continued
decline in pollinating insects, risking a multimillion pound farming
industry. “The UK is notorious for taking the most relaxed approach to
pesticide safety in the EU; Buglife’s report shows that this puts at
risk pollination services vital for UK agriculture,” he said. 7
Indeed in March 2012 Sir Robert Watson, Chief Scientist at the British Government’s Department of Environment announced that his government was reconsidering its allowance of neonicotinoid use in the UK. Watson told a British newspaper, “We will absolutely look at the University of Stirling work, the French work, and the American work that came out a couple of months ago. We must look at this in real detail to see whether or not the current British position is correct or is incorrect. I want this all reassessed, very, very carefully."8 To date no policy change has ensued however. Given the seriousness of the scientific studies and of the claims of danger, a prudent policy would have been to provisionally suspend further uise of neonicotinoids pending further research. No such luck.
EPA Corruption
In
the United States the government agency responsible for approving or
banning chemicals deemed dangerous to the environment is the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 2003, over the clear warnings
of its own scientists, the EPA licensed a neonicotinoid called
Clothianidin, patented by the German Bayer AG together with a Japanese
company, Takeda. It is sold under the brand name Poncho. It was
immediately used on over 88 million acres of US corn in the 2004 crop
and since that time, the shocking death of more than one million
beehives across the corn prairies of the Midwest has been reported. 9
The
political appointees at EPA at the time allowed Bayer to receive a
license for Poncho despite the official judgment of EPA scientists that
Clothianidin was “highly toxic to bees by contact and oral exposure”
and that is was “highly mobile in soil and groundwater - very likely to
migrate into streams, ponds and other fields, where it would be
absorbed by wildflowers” - and go on to kill more bees and non-target
insects like butterflies and bumblebees. The warning, from a leaked EPA
memo dated September 28, 2005 summarizes the Environmental Fate and
Effects Division’s Environmental Risk Assessment for Clothianidin,
which it said “will remain toxic to bees for days after a spray
application. In honey bees, the effects of this toxic exposure may
include lethal and/or sub-lethal effects in the larvae and reproductive
effects to the queen.”10
The
EPA scientists judged it to be many times more toxic than Bayer’s other
nicotinoid, Imidacloprid, sold under the brand name Gaucho, which
itself is "7,000 times more toxic to bees than
DDT.”11 DDT was banned in the USA in 1972 after numerous studies proved
its toxic effects on both animals and humans.
Then
in January of this year another US Government agency, the US Department
of Agriculture, published a significant new report from scientists
under the direction of Jeffrey Pettis of the USDA Bee Research
Laboratory. The study, published in the German scientific journal,
Naturwissenschaften, was explosive.
The
Pettis study concluded after careful control experiments with bees
exposed and not exposed to neonicotinoids clearly demonstrated that
there was “an interaction between sub-lethal exposure to imidacloprid
(Bayer’s Gaucho—w.e.) at the colony level and the spore production in
individual bees of honey bee gut parasite Nosema.” Moreover, the study
went on, “Our results suggest that the current methods used to evaluate
the potential negative effect of pesticides are inadequate. This is not
the first study to note a complex and unexpected interaction between
low pesticide exposure and pathogen loads... We suggest new pesticide
testing standards be devised that incorporate increased pathogen
susceptibility into the test protocols. Lastly, we believe that subtle
interactions between pesticides and pathogens, such as demonstrated
here, could be a major contributor to increased mortality of honey bee
colonies worldwide.”12
Renowned Dutch toxicologist, Dr. Henk Tennekes reported that, unlike claims from Bayer and other neonicotinoid manufacturers, bees living near maize fields sprayed with the toxic pesticides are exposed to the neonicotinoids throughout the entire growing season, and the toxin is cumulative. Tennekes noted, “Bees are exposed to these compounds and several other agricultural pesticides in several ways throughout the foraging period. During spring, extremely high levels of clothianidin and thiamethoxam were found in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of treated maize seed. We also found neonicotinoids in the soil of each field we sampled, including unplanted fields.” 13
Effect on Human Brain?
But
most alarming of all is the evidence that exposure to neonicotinides
hahs horrific possible effects on humans as well as on birds and bees.
Professor Henk Tennekes describes the effects:
There
is also growing evidence suggesting persistent exposure to plants
sprayed with neonicotinoids could be responsible for damage to the
human brain, including the recent sharp rise in incidents of autism in
children.
Tennekes, referring to recent studies of the effects of various exposures of neonicotinoids to rats, noted,
Referring to studies recently published in the magazine, Science, Brian Moench noted:
The brain of insects is the intended target of these insecticides. They disrupt the bees homing behavior and their ability to return to the hive, kind of like “bee autism.” But insects are different than humans, right? Human and insect nerve cells share the same basic biologic infrastructure. Chemicals that interrupt electrical impulses in insect nerves will do the same to humans. But humans are much bigger than insects and the doses to humans are miniscule, right?
During
critical first trimester development a human is no bigger than an
insect so there is every reason to believe that pesticides could wreak
havoc with the developing brain of a human embryo. But human embryos aren’t out in corn fields being sprayed with insecticides, are they? A
recent study showed that every human tested had the world’s
best-selling pesticide, Roundup, detectable in their urine at
concentrations between five and twenty times the level considered safe
for drinking water.16
The
most alarming part of the neonicotinoid story is that governments and
the EU to date are content to take little or no precautionary steps to
stop even suspected contamination from neonicotinoids pending through
long-term tests that would determine finally if they are as dangerous
as considerable and growing scientific evidence says.
Bayer AG and neonicotinoids
In
early 2011 the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report on
bee mortalities around the world. Bayer neonicotinoids, Poncho and
Gaucho, are listed there as a threat to numerous animals.
According
to the UN report, "Systemic insecticides such as those used as seed
coatings, which migrate from the roots through the entire plant, all
the way to the flowers, can potentially cause toxic chronic exposure to
non-target pollinators. Various studies revealed the high toxicity of
chemicals such as Imidacloprid, Clothianidin, Thiamethoxam and
associated ingredients for animals such as cats, fish, rats, rabbits,
birds and earthworms. Laboratory studies have shown that such chemicals
can cause losses of sense of direction, impair memory and brain
metabolism, and cause mortality." 17
Yet Bayer AG shows no signs of voluntarily stopping production and distribution of its toxic neonicotinoids. The
German pharmaceutical giant counts among its historic achievements one
it prefers today to forget-- the first synthesis of something it
marketed as cough medicine in 1898 under the trade name, Heroin, taken
from the “heroic” feeling it gave to Bayer workers on whom it was
tested. 18 According to the German citizen watchdog group, Coalition
against BAYER Dangers, Gaucho and Poncho have been among BAYER's
top-selling pesticides: “In 2010, Gaucho sales were valued at US$ 820
million while Poncho sales were valued at US$ 260 million. Gaucho
ranked first among BAYER's best-selling pesticide, while Poncho ranked
seventh. It is striking that in the 2011 Annual Report no sales figures
for Gaucho and Poncho are shown.”19
Ban in many EU Countries
Unlike
the United States, several EU countries have banned use of
neonicotinoids, refusing to accept test and safety reports from the
chemical manufacturers as adequate. One case in point was in Germany
where the Julius Kühn-Institut - Bundesforschungsinstitut für
Kulturpflanzen (JKI) in Quedlinburg a state-run crop research
institute, collected samples of dead honeybees and determined that
clothianidin caused the deaths.
Bayer
CropScience blamed defective seed corn batches. The company gave an
unconvincing counter claim that the coating came off as the seeds were
sown, which allowed unusually high amounts of toxic dust to spread to
adjacent areas where bees collected pollen and nectar. The attorney for
a coalition of groups filing the suit, Harro Schultze stated, "We're
suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the risks
of pesticide residues in treated plants. Bayer's ... management has to
be called to account, since the risks ... have now been known for more
than 10 years."20
Significantly,
in Bayer’s home country, Germany, the German government has banned
Bayer’s neonicotinoids since 2009. France and Italy have imposed
similar bans. In Italy, the government found that with the ban, bee
populations returned in number, leading to an upholding of the ban
despite strong chemical industry pressure.21
Despite
the alarming evidence of links between neonicotinoids and bee colony
collapse disorder, as well as possible impacts on human foetal cells
and brains, the reaction so far in the European Union Commission has
been scandalously slow. Brussels has been so weak in responding that
the Office of EU Ombudsman has initiated an investigation into why.
European Union Ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandou said he had opened an
investigation after a complaint from the Austrian Ombudsman Board, who
said the European Commission had failed to take account of the new
evidence on the role of neonicotinoids in bee mortality. "In its view,
the Commission should take new scientific evidence into account and
take appropriate measures, such as reviewing the authorisation of
relevant substances," said a statement from the EU Ombudsman's office.
The
ombudsman has asked the Commission to submit an opinion in the
investigation by June 30, after which it will issue a report.
Recommendations by the ombudsman are non-binding. The Commission in
response has said it has asked the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)
to carry out a full review of all neonicotinoid insecticides by April
30 and that it would take appropriate measures based on the findings.22
Giving
EFSA final say on food safety for Europe’s consumers and insects is
tantamount to asking the foxes to guard the hen house today. EFSA is
heavily influenced by members with conflicts of interest and dubious
ties to the same agribusiness interests represented by Bayer AG and
other agriculture chemical multinationals.23
Bayer
is one of six global companies tied to development of patented GMO
seeds and related chemicals, controlling inputs into the entire food
chain. As
a tightly inter-linked group, Monsanto, Dow, BASF, Bayer, Syngenta and
DuPont control the global seed, pesticide and agricultural
biotechnology markets. This concentration of power over world
agriculture is unprecedented. As one observer noted, it enables them to
“control the agricultural research agenda; dictate trade agreements and
agricultural policies; position their technologies as the
‘science-based’ solution to increase crop yields, feed the hungry and
save the planet; escape democratic and regulatory controls; subvert
competitive markets.” 24
Dutch
toxicologist Tennekes and Alex Lu, associate professor of environmental
exposure biology at Harvard’s Department of Environmental Health are
among a growing number of scientists around the world calling for an
immediate and global ban on the use of the new neonicotinoid
pesticides.25 Professor Lu calls for a very simple test: "I
would suggest removing all neonicotinoids from use globally for a
period of five to six years. If the bee population is going back up
during the after the ban, I think we will have the answer." That should
be more than food for thought in Washington, Brussels and elsewhere.
Notes:
1 S.E. McGregor, Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants, 1976, USDA Agriculture. Handbook 496, p. 1
2
Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany), Countermotion to shareholder
meeting: BAYER Pesticides causing bee decline, Press Release, April 11,
2012.
3Louise Gray, Beekeepers lose one fifth of hives, 24 August, 2009, The Telegraph, accessed in http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6069218/Beekeepers-lose-one-fifth-of-hives.html
4 Anon., Clothianidin a Neonicotinoid Pesticide Highly Toxic to Honeybees and other pollinators, March 20, 2007, accessed in http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2007/03/clothianidin-a-neonicotinoid-pesticide-highly-toxic-to-honeybees-and-other-pollinators/.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Michael McCarthy, Government to reconsider nerve agent pesticides, The Independent, 31 March 2012, accessed in http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/government-to-reconsider-nerve-agent-pesticides-7604121.html
9 Henk
Tennekes, They’ve turned the Environment into the Experiment and WE are
all the experimental Subjects, January 19, 2011, accessed in http://www.boerenlandvogels.nl/en/content/they%E2%80%99ve-turned-environment-experiment-%E2%80%93-and-we-are-all-experimental-subjects.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12
Jeffrey S. Pettis, et al, Pesticide exposure in honey bees results in
increased levels of the gut pathogen Nosema, Naturwissenschaften-The
Science of Nature, 13 January, 2012, accessed in http://www.springerlink.com/content/p1027164r403288u/fulltext.html
13 Henk Tennekes, Honey Bees Living Near Maize Fields Are Exposed To Neonicotinoids Throughout The Growing Season, January 5, 2012, accessed in http://www.farmlandbirds.net/en/taxonomy/term/3.
14 Henk Tennekes, Prenatal exposures to pesticides may increase the risk of neurological disease later in life, March 20, 2012, accessed in http://www.farmlandbirds.net/en/content/prenatal-exposures-pesticides-may-increase-risk-neurological-disease-later-life
15 Henk
Tennekes, The neonicotinoids may adversely affect human health,
especially the developing brain, March 20, 2012, accessed in http://www.farmlandbirds.net/en/taxonomy/term/3.
16 Brian Moench, Autism and Disappearing Bees A Common Denominator?, April 2, 2012, Common Dreams, accessed in http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/04/02.
17 Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany), op cit.
18 Richard
Askwith, How aspirin turned hero: A hundred years ago Heinrich Dreser
made a fortune from the discovery of heroin and aspirin, Sunday Times,
13 September 1998, accessed in http://opioids.com/heroin/heroinhistory.html.
19 Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany), op cit.
20 ENS, German Coalition Sues Bayer Over Pesticide Honey Bee Deaths, August 25, 2008, accessed in http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-25-01.asp
21 Roberta Cruger, Nicotine Bees Population Restored With Neonicotinoids Ban, May 15, 2010, accessed in
22 Henk Tennekes, EU response to bee death pesticide link questioned, April 24, 2012, accessed in http://www.farmlandbirds.net/en/taxonomy/term/3.
23 Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Europe Observatory, Open letter regarding conflicts of interest EFSA’s
Management board , Brussels, March 4, 2011, accessed in http://www.corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/files/openletter/EFSA%20management%20board%20conflicts%20of%20interest.pdf
24 Andrew
Olsen, Chemical Cartel, Chemical Cartel, June 28, 2010; see also, F.
William Engdahl, Saat der Zerstörung: Der Dunkele Seite von
Genmanipulation.
25 Henk
Tennekes, Imidacloprid and Colony Collapse Disorder - Scientists Call
for Global Ban on Bee-Killing Pesticides, April 5, 2012, accessed in http://www.farmlandbirds.net/en/taxonomy/term/3.
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