{"id":14999,"date":"2013-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/2013\/06\/17\/buzz-off-monsanto\/"},"modified":"2013-06-17T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T00:00:00","slug":"buzz-off-monsanto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/buzz-off-monsanto\/","title":{"rendered":"Buzz off, Monsanto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, the term \u201cbee-washing\u201d emerged in public conversation. It doesn\u2019t refer to some new bee cleaning service, but to the insidious efforts<\/a> of Monsanto and other pesticide corporations to discredit science about the impacts of pesticides on bees \u2014 especially neonicotinoids \u2014 by creating public relations tours, new research centers and new marketing strategies.<\/p>

This week, pesticide makers are showcasing<\/a> these tactics during National Pollinator Week with offers of free seed packets to people who take their poorly named \u201cpollinator pledge.\u201d The \u201cbee-washing\u201d term has gained traction as scientists and groups like PAN continue to cut through the misinformation and point to the emerging body of science that points to pesticides as a critical factor in bee declines.<\/p>

Monsanto hosted their first so-called Honey Bee Health Summit last week, a gathering at the company\u2019s headquarters in Missouri. Without question, some truly smart, dedicated scientists attended Monsanto’s bee summit and are participating in these efforts.<\/p>

And a similarly committed group of beekeepers who care about bees, beekeeping and our food system have also participated. What\u2019s increasingly clear, though, is that the credibility of these individuals is being used to shield the agenda of a handful of pesticide corporations and their bee-harming insecticide products. The corporate PR gymnastics on display are truly impressive.<\/p>

Unfortunately, Monsanto is not alone in its efforts.  Just this spring, Bayer sponsored<\/a> a tour of its \u201cspecially-wrapped beehicle\u201d and hosted a talk at Ohio State University in March, over loud objections from local beekeepers. <\/p>

Not here. Look over there!<\/strong><\/h3>

Industry has largely set its sights on one issue to blame for bee declines. While lack of sufficient forage and diseases are a challenge to bee health and beekeeping, challenges exacerbated by the weakening effect of pesticides on bees, the pesticide industry has focused a large proportion of its attention on the varroa mite. And it\u2019s an easy distraction that places the burden of unprecedented bee losses on beekeepers \u2014 while subverting any blame for the widespread pesticide products.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>

Unfortunately for Monsanto & Co, and as most beekeepers and academics will say, the varroa mite has been around a long time, predating dramatic bee declines<\/a> in U.S. that started in 2006. While mites no doubt affect bee colonies, they are unlikely the primary driver of population declines.<\/p>

There is a correlation, however, between the introduction of neonicotinoid pesticides (or neonics) on the market and bee die-offs. Independent studies<\/a> show \u2014 and beekeepers corroborate from hands-on experience \u2014 that these pesticides weaken bees’ immune systems, likely damaging their resistance to common challenges like the varroa mite.<\/p>

Neonics are one of the largest growth sectors for the pesticide industry. And industry has a vested interest in keeping the neonic market growing. But we know that spin efforts to refocus attention on varroa mites were already attempted in Europe, and the approach<\/a> has been largely unsuccessful. The EU just put continent-wide restrictions on the use of neonics in place.<\/p>

Bees are still dying<\/strong><\/h3>

Pesticide corporations don\u2019t show any sign of letting up. If this spring and summer are any indication, then the \u201cbee-washing\u201d campaign will continue. Beekeepers will remain the victims of this targeted PR campaign.<\/p>

And the costs of are very real. Earlier this month, Jim Doan \u2014 a third generation commercial beekeeper from upstate New York \u2014 literally sold his farm due to bee losses. For years, he produced over half a million pounds of honey annually and eventually grew his business to 5,300 hives. But when neonicotinoid pesticides started being commonly used in the U.S., around 2006, Jim’s bees started dying.<\/p>

He\u2019s experienced serious losses to bees he brought to citrus groves in Florida and the cornfields of New York. And now, he only has 300 hives left. In an email he circulated last week, he wrote:<\/p>

\u201cI am done. I cannot continue. Sold my farm 2 weeks ago, I am giving up, there is no hope here.”<\/em><\/p>

Bees are continuing to die off at unprecedented rates and beekeepers are going out of business. There is clearly something amiss \u2014 and the pesticide industry would have us believe that their products play no part in this alarming trend. PAN, beekeepers and our partners will continue to shine a light on corporate “bee-washing” and spin efforts to subdue or obfuscate the growing body of science pointing to this clear message: pesticides are playing a key role<\/a> in bee deaths.<\/p>

 <\/p>

This blog was written by Paul Towers and was originally posted on PAN’s blog, GroundTruth<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, the term \u201cbee-washing\u201d emerged in public conversation. It doesn\u2019t refer to some new bee cleaning service, but to the insidious efforts of Monsanto and other pesticide corporations to discredit science about the impacts of pesticides on bees \u2014 especially neonicotinoids \u2014 by creating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14999"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honeybeehaven.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}