Press Release, May 21, 2008
Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany)
Mass death of bees in Germany: Pesticide approvals suspended
“Bayer has to take Gaucho and Poncho from the market worldwide”
The German Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has
ordered
the immediate suspension of the approval for eight seed treatment products
due to the mass death of bees in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state. The
suspended products are: Antarc (ingredient: imidacloprid; produced by
Bayer), Chinook (imidacloprid; Bayer), Cruiser (thiamethoxam; Syngenta),
Elado (clothianidin; Bayer), Faibel (imidacloprid; Bayer), Mesurol
(methiocarb; Bayer) and Poncho (clothianidin; Bayer). According to the
German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants 29 out of 30 dead bees it had
examined had been killed by contact with clothianidin. Also wild bees and
other insects are suffering from a significant loss of population.
“We have been pointing on the risks of neonicotinoids such as imidacloprid
and clothianidin for almost ten years now. With an annual turn-over of
nearly 800 million Euro (1.25 billion US dollar) imidacloprid and
clothianidin are among Bayer´s most im****tant products. This is the reason
why Bayer, despite serious environmental damage, is fighting against any
application prohibitions”, says Philipp Mimkes, speaker of the Coalition
against BAYER-dangers. The Coalition demands that Bayer withdraw all
neonicotinoids from the market worldwide.
Bayer is the worldmarket leader for pesticides. With sales of 556 million
Euro in 2007, imidacloprid is Bayer´s best selling pesticide product. In
Germany imidacloprid is used under the brand names Gaucho, Antarc and
Chinook, primarily during the cultivation of rape, sugar-beet and corn.
“It's a real bee emergency”, said Manfred Hederer, president of the German
Professional Beekeeper's Association. “Fifty to 60 percent of the bees
have
died on average, and some beekeepers have lost all their hives.”
Beekeepers
and agricultural officials in Italy, France and Holland all noticed
similar
phenomena in their fields when planting began a few weeks ago.
In France most applications of imidacloprid were already banned in 1999.
In
2003 the Comité Scientifique et Technique, convened by the French
government, declared that the treatment of seeds with imidacloprid
produces
a significant risk for bees. Only a few months ago Bayer´s application for
clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.
Clothianidin is a non-selective poison. According to the U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency's fact sheet 'clothianidin is highly toxic to honey
bees.'
Seeds are treated with clothianidin in advance or sprayed with it while in
the field, and the insecticide can also be blown onto other crops. The
chemical is often sprayed on corn fields during the spring planting to
create a protective film on cornfields.
See also:
* Press Release of the Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (German):
www.jki.bund.de/cln_044/nn_813794/DE/pressestelle/Presseinfos/2008/1605__BienensterbenClothianidin.html__nnn=true
* Protection of Bees: Open Letter to EU Commissioner of Health
http://www.cbgnetwork.de/1736.html
* Bee-keepers and environmental groups demand prohibition of
pesticide "Gaucho"
http://www.cbgnetwork.de/306.html
* French Institutes Finds Imidaproclid Turning Up in Wide Range of Crops
2003 re****t from the "Comité Scientifique et Technique de l’Etude
Multifactorielle des Troubles des Abeilles"
http://agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/rap****tfin.pdf
Coalition against BAYER Dangers
www.CBGnetwork.org
CBGnetwork@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(+49) 211-333 911 Fax: (+49) 211-333 940
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Advisory Board
Prof. Juergen Junginger, designer, Krefeld,
Prof. Dr. Juergen Rochlitz, chemist, former member of the Bundestag,
Burgwald
Wolfram Esche, attorney, Cologne
Dr. Sigrid Müller, pharmacologist, Bremen
Eva Bulling-Schroeter, member of the Bundestag, Berlin
Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, biologist, Neubeuern
Dorothee Sölle, theologian, Hamburg (died 2003)
Dr. Janis Schmelzer, historian, Berlin
Dr. Erika Abczynski, pediatrician, Dormagen
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