Bayer-funded research finds no link between canola seed treatments & bee poisoning
February 24, 2013
The Western Producer:"The study comes at a time when European Union countries are banning or considering restrictions on three popular neonicotinoids: clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid. Studies released last year in France demonstrated that bees exposed to thiamethoxam, a Syngenta product better known as Cruiser, were twice or three times as likely to die while foraging because they couldn’t find their way back to the hive.
A Scottish study demonstrated that colonies exposed to imidacloprid, a Bayer insecticide, produced 85 percent fewer queens than the control group.
The studies, subsequent reports and newspaper headlines compelled European politicians to respond.
The European Commission recommended that EU countries prohibit the use of the three neonicotinoids in seed treatments and crop application for two years beginning this spring.
Bayer funded Scott-Dupree’s canola study at a cost of $950,000 in an effort to produce field scale data on clothianidin and its impact on bee health."
