You may have heard that our honeybee populations are in trouble.
Estimates are that since 2007, over 10 million beehives have been wiped out. During the winter of 2012 alone, U.S. beekeepers lost nearly half of the colonies they were operating, with some losing all of them. In early summer 2013, two Congressional Democrats co-sponsored new legislation called “Save America’s Pollinators Act of 2013” to take emergency action to save the remaining bees in the U.S.
Scientists were puzzled at first as to what was causing the massive die-off. There are still various theories out there, but more recent research has pointed to specific family of pesticides called “neonicotinoids.” Recently, the European Commission adopted a proposal to restrict the use of three pesticides belonging to the neonicotinoid family for a period of two years, after a scientific report identified “high acute risks” for bees exposed to them. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released new labels for all of these pesticides explaining methods to minimize harm to bees, but has not taken any additional steps to protect them-or our food supply.
Now, according to a recent study by Friends of the Earth, this same type of pesticide is showing up in garden-store plants often used for local vegetable and flower gardens.
Could you have contaminated plants in your garden?
Local Garden Plants May Contain Pesticides
The study reported finding traces of neonicotinoid pesticides in seven of 13 plants purchased from garden stores in California’s San Francisco Bay Area; in Washington D.C., and in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Plants affected included tomatoes, squash, salvia, and flowers.
“Our investigation is the first to show that so-called ‘bee-friendly’ garden plants contain pesticides that can actually poison bees,” said Lisa Archer, director of the Food and Technology Program at Friends of the Earth, “with no warning to gardeners.”
These pesticides are widely used on big industrial crops like corn. The problem is that the plant actually absorbs the pesticide, then later “expresses” it through its nectar and pollen. This makes the pesticide super effective at killing harmful insects-but it also harms bees when they are exposed to it.
50,000 Bees Killed
It was only a couple months ago that over 300 wild honeybee colonies were wiped out in Oregon when a contractor mistakenly sprayed 55 linden trees in a Target parking lot with a potent neonicotinoid called “dinotefuran” to control for aphids. Bees started dropping dead everywhere not only in the immediate vicinity, but in surrounding towns. A later report described more bees killed by what is suspected to be the same pesticide in a nearby Oregon town, prompting the state’s Department of Agriculture to place a 180-day ban on the use of dinotefuran.
The bees were foraging on the blossoms of the trees when the landscaping crew sprayed them. An estimated 50,000 were killed in what was called the largest event of its kind ever recorded.
Commercial greenhouses and nurseries commonly treat potting soil and plants with these pesticides before they leave the store. Vera Krischik, an entomologist at the University of Minnesota, said that imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid found in many home and garden products, expresses itself in soil-treated plants like garden flowers at a much higher dose than for seed-treated plants like corn. That means dead honeybees and other beneficial insects.
“Bees have enough troubles,” Emily Marquez, staff scientist at Pesticide Action Network, told Friends of the Earth. “There’s no need for home gardens to add to the problem.” She went on to say that widespread use of these pesticides is contributing to “major” bee kills around the globe. Even at doses that don’t kill, the pesticides weaken immune systems and impair brain function, making it harder for bees to find food sources and return to their hives.
How You Can Help
Estimates are that a third of everything we eat depends on honeybee pollination. They’re an essential part of our ecosystem, pollinating nearly 90 commercial crops worldwide, including coffee, most fruits and vegetables, and cotton.
“Bees contribute to global food security,” said Bernard Vallat, the director-general of the World Organization for Animal Health, “and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster.”
What can you do to help save our honeybee populations? Here are several tips-please write in if you have more:
- Go organic-by keeping your yard and garden chemical free, you’ll cut down on honeybee exposure to harmful pesticides. Choosing organic foods at your supermarket also supports bee-friendly agriculture.
- Check your flower care products-those you buy off the shelf, such as Bayer’s 2-1 Systemic Rose and Flower Care, may offer broad-spectrum pest control, but they may also include neonicotinoids (list below). Another reason to use only green pest control options.
- Unfortunately, you can’t tell when you buy a plant if it is contaminated with neonicotinoids. Friends of the Earth has sent letters to top garden retailers asking them to stop selling the pesticides and plants pre-treated with them. You can join the new U.S. campaign at the following website: http://www.beeaction.org/.
- Show support for the Save America’s Pollinators Act, which seeks to suspend the use of neonicotinoids on bee-attractive plants, on the Friends of the Earth website.
For a list of common home and garden products containing neonicotinoids, see the Center for Food Safety’s handy chart.
Do you have insights into what’s happening to our honeybees? Please share your thoughts.
Picture courtesy Tom Curtis via freedigitalphotos.net.
Sources
Matthew Charles Cardinale, “Bill Seeks to Halt Bee-Killing Pesticides in U.S.,” Inter Press Service, http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/07/bill-seeks-to-halt-bee-killing-pesticides-in-u-s/.
“Colony Collapse Disorder: European Bans on Neonicotinoid Pesticides,” U.S. EPA, http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/ccd-european-ban.html.
Alan Boyle, “Bee-killing pesticide found in garden store plants,” CNBC, August 15, 2013, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100965440.
Rebekah Marcarelli, “Bee-Killing Pesticides Must be Labeled; Will EPA’s New Guidelines Make a Difference?” Headlines & Global News, August 21, 2013, http://www.hngn.com/articles/10609/20130821/bee-killing-pesticides-labeled-will-epas-new-guideline-make-difference.htm.
Ryan Gorman, “More Than 50,000 bees killed in Oregon, insecticide blamed in largest bee die-off in recorded history,” Daily Mail, June 23, 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346864/More-50-000-bees-killed-Oregon-insecticide-blamed-largest-bee-die-recorded-history.html.
Elizabeth Case, “Bee deaths as a result of pesticide Safari; count upped to 50,000 dead insects,” Oregon Live, June 21, 2013, http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/06/pesticide_confirmed_in_bee_dea.html.
Aimee Green, “After 50,000 dead bees found in Wilsonville, more dead bees discovered in Hillsboro,” Oregon Live, June 22, 2013, http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2013/06/after_50000_bees_die_in_wilson.html.
Kate Aubin, “What’s Happening to the Honeybees and Why You Should Care,” Three Ninety Eight, May 3, 2010, http://threeninetyeight.com/2010/05/03/whats-happening-to-honeybees/.
Tom Philpott, “Is Your Garden Pesticide Killing Bees?” Mother Jones, January 17, 2012, http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/01/bee-killing-pesticides-not-just-corn-fields.
“Half a Billion Bees Killed in Germany,” Bayer Pesticide Kills Bees, http://www.bayer-kills-bees.com/.
“Bee die-offs: New tests find bee-killing pesticides in ‘bee-friendly’ plants from garden centers nationwide,” Friends of the Earth, August 14, 2013, http://www.foe.org/news/news-releases/2013-08-bee-die-offs-new-tests-find-bee-killing-pesticides.
