Bayer CropScience is countering scientific reports from European studies that suggest bee disappearance is a result of the neonicotinoid family of insecticides. Bayer Environmental Toxicologist David Fischer says a French study overdosed the bees by 20 to 30-percent in comparison to real world field exposure levels. Concentrations in a British bumble bee study – he says – were probably three to six times above typical field exposure levels. Fischer notes Bayer registered some of the first neonicotinoid insecticides following testing that the EPA accepted as having appropriate pollinator safety. The company has also established a Bee Health Center for research in Europe – and another is being established in North Carolina.
While people are suggesting the new studies show neonicotinoids are responsible for the bee colony loss problem or the pollinator decline problem – Fischer says they don’t really show that at all. He says Bayer would have expected the effect seen in the French study because of the dose level they tested. Fischer is confident the bees would not have strayed from the colonies at the lower dose of product used in real agricultural settings. What’s more – the particular chemical they used was not a Bayer CropScience product.

Fischer says varroa mites and disease vectors associated with the mites are the main problems causing health problems in honeybees.

Courtesy: NAFB News