{"id":1111,"date":"2014-06-06T07:15:54","date_gmt":"2014-06-06T07:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=1111"},"modified":"2014-06-06T07:15:54","modified_gmt":"2014-06-06T07:15:54","slug":"poisoning-the-pollinators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ongardening.com\/?p=1111","title":{"rendered":"Poisoning the Pollinators"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s about time for National Pollinator Week, June 16\u201323. Check it out at Polllintaor Partnership.<\/a><\/p>\n

Big agriculture uses many synthetic chemicals. Consumers are concerned by neonicotinoids (\u201cneonics\u201d), which are sprayed on nearly all cornfields, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects this year will cover an area equal nearly the size of California.\u00a0 Neonics also are sprayed on many garden center plants, and are used on seeds used to grow soy, wheat, cotton, sorghum, peanuts and other crops.<\/p>\n

These chemicals persist in soils, travel through plants and poison nectar and pollen. USDA scientists found an average of nine pesticides and fungicides in a sample of plants. The contaminated pollen is eaten by hive bees, which pollinate many of the plants we eat, and many wild bees, which pollinate 90% of all flowering plants.<\/p>\n

Neonics do not to kill bees, but seem to reduce the bees\u2019 ability to resist infection by a parasitic fungus and could make bees more susceptible to the parasitic Varroa mite. Researchers at Harvard University also suspect that neonics impair honeybee\u2019s memory, cognition or behavior, and damage their ability to navigate back to their hive.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, research indicates that neonics contribute to \u201cColony Collapse Disorder,\u201d which refers to the sudden decline of entire beehives. During the past five years, some 30% of bees in the United States have simply disappeared. This is about 50% greater than the expected rate.<\/p>\n

The Environmental Protection Agency now requires that neonic product labels include a bee hazard icon and directions to minimize use where bees and other pollinators could forage, or where sprays could drift to hives or \u201cpollinator attractive habitats.\u201d Sadly, the EPA\u2019s labels do not address neonic-treated seeds, which also affect bees.<\/p>\n

In July of 2013, the Saving America\u2019s Pollinators Act (H.R 2692) was introduced. This bill would suspend the use of neonics until proven safe, and harmless to pollinators. Observers give the bill a zero chance to become law.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the principal producers of neonics, Bayer and Syngenta, insist that CCD is not caused by their pesticides, but by parasites, pathogens, loss of habitat and other factors. Monsanto, which treats its seeds with neonics, joins in these arguments.<\/p>\n

As private and public interests clash, home gardeners can help to protect our pollinators:<\/p>\n