News from the BBKA

So, clothianidin kills millions of bees in Germany, wipes out around 7000 beekeepers, and all you can say is, "... we are not aware of any problem in the UK related to any seed treatments and bees."

I'm sure our European colleagues are grateful for such a caring and supportive response. It is approved at about half the dosage rate as was apparently used in Germany - so does that mean you will be content if only half the number of bees die here?

This is limp, pathetic and unworthy of an organization whose job it should be to protect the bees.

Clearly they aren't even willing to learn from others' bad experiences and just call for an outright ban of these products. When the bees are dead, there is nothing left to do.

There are a number of issues to do with the Pesticides Safety Directorate's attitude. I contacted the PSD about the safety of Imidacloprid - given the mass deaths of bees in France and the subsequent banning of the pesticide in France - and was told that the 'data they had received from Bayer' led them to believe that there was no threat to bees!

I was shocked to realise that in the UK we do not have any truly independent laboratory or watchdog holding pesticide manufacturers to account. The PSD merely asks Bayer for the figures - and accepts their figures as 'true'.

In France, Bayer told the authorities that, in Bayer's field trials the 'LD50' for Imidacloprid - the 'Lethal dose that kills 50% of the subject animals' was 50,000 parts per billion.

The French carried out their own independent tests and found that the LD50 level for bees was in fact 5 parts per billion.

The difference between Bayer's results and the French independet lab results was a factor of 10,000. In other words, Bayer's figures were wrong by 1 million per cent!

Visit the UNAF website at: http://www.unaf-apiculture.info/ Check out the 'Pesticides' archive - marked with a Union Jack because they have translated it into English for you - and read the paper entitled:

"Behaviour of Imidacloprid in Fields. Toxicity for Honey Bees" bt Dr Bonmatin.

The crucial passage is in his conclusion:

"Our data reveals the presence of imidacloprid in pollens with average values of 3 µg kg – 1 (sunflowers and maize). Thus,imidacloprid appears to be bioavailable for bees in fields,in a range of concentrations corresponding to that of sub-lethal effects on bees and especially concerning the foraging activity (Colin and Bonmatin 2000; Colin 2001). This risk situation with respect to sunflowers and maize is worsened when considering (i) the additional toxic action of several imidacloprid metabolites (Nauen et al.1998; Oliveira et al.2000)as well as (ii) the very low concentrations inducing chronic mortality of bees which are in the 0.1 –1 µg kg – 1 range (Suchail et al.2001; Belzunces 2001). The commercialisation and the use of Gaucho ® on sunflowers have been suspended in France since 1999 (J.O.R.F.1999)."

His research shows bees become disoriented and uncoordinated after feeding on OSR pollen and nectar with Imidacloprid present at just fractions of 1 part per billion. If the nerve impulses of a bee are blocked - which is what Imidacloprid does - it will be unable to navigate, fly, smell, see or -in the case of a queen - mate.

Bees which are unable to navigate, fly or see do not make it back to the hive. Which is why there are no 'incidents' of poisoning. Beekeepers merely notice that a colony is reducing in numbers; queens disappear, fail to mate, fail to return from mating, are superseded within a month of mating - or colonies die out after feeding on stored honey - contaminated with Imidacloprid - over a 6 month winter.

The CSL is quoted above as saying: "However, we are not aware of any problem in the UK related to any seed treatments and bees. There have not been any incidents reported to the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS.) to date which could be connected to the use of seed treatments."

Once again - what 'incidents' could be reported? I have spoken to beekeepers in various parts of the UK this week and have heard repeatedly that people have lost 30%, 40%, 50%, 60% of their colonies this winter; in Morayshire one person has lost 12 out of 12 - 100%,

Are these incidents? Is this all just down to a 'bad winter' , or varroa? Or is it the culmination of long term, sub-lethal poisoning of hives via stored honey - as a result of the use of systemic insecticides like Imidacloprid?

Who is going to research this? Will the PSD research it - or CSL? Apparently they simply ask Bayer - and Bayer tells them everything is OK, just like they told the French - before the government banned Imidacloprid.

Dr Miles Thomas of the Central Science Laboratory reports that Imidacloprid was used on over 1.4 million acres of crops in the UK in 2004. The chemical is a systemic insecticide and specifically attacks the nervous system; as a neuro-toxin it has a lethal effect on bees at just 5-10 part per billion in nectar and pollen. However, one independent French study found it had sub-lethal behavioural effects on bees at just 0.1 ppb - a dosage of 50-100 times less than the lethal effect.

The pesticide is dusted onto the seeds of oilseed rape and other crops but it migrates throughout the growing plant and is found in: sap, leaves, nectar and pollen. Imidacloprid is neuro-toxic - it attacks the nervous system of all animals including invertebrates: worms, insects, bees, butterflies, ladybirds etc. It also poisons birds. The 'target' species are aphids, flea beetles and any soil invertebrates which attack seeds and roots. However, Imidacloprid also kills non-target-species including bees, earthworms, woodlice, caterpillars, moths etc.

"Currently it [the BBKA] is campaigning to raise the level of Government funding for research into the diseases which threaten to wipe out our honey bees." What is the point campaigning to increase Government funding, when the cause of the bee deaths is already known?

The precautionary principle is usually a sound one and the Government should apply it here, banning further use of chemicals that have been proven to cause problems elsewhere until independent investigations have proven them to be harmless. This year's maize is already in the ground and so the opportunity should be taken to monitor the effects on local bees and other wildlife.

There is clearly a lack of independant research in the use of these chemical in the UK. Using the -safety first principal- surely these potentially dangeruous chemcials be banded until the facts are clearer.

I am not a member of the BBKA, but have noticed the alarming absence of the bees wasps, and all flying insects around the fruit trees in full blossom this spring in my garden. Last year I was puzzled and concerned to find dead and dying bees on my lawns. I do not and never have used insectacides. I live in Cleveleys in the North West of Lacashire, and it would appear that the insect population has disapeared completely from the surrounding country side. No bees or wasps butterflies on the clover or dandylions, or even stuck on the windscreen. There is however intensive farming of Rape being grown. What is the Dept of Agriculture doing are they aware of the situation. Very concerned citizan.