Press Release: Italy bans Pesticides linked to Bee Devastation
CBGnetwork
Coalition against Bayer Dangers (Germany)
Italy bans Pesticides linked to Bee Devastation
Neonicotinoids now suspended in four European countries
The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid
pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees.
The Ministero del Lavoro della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali
issued an immediate suspension of the seed treatment products
clothianidin, imidacloprid, fipronil and thiamethoxam used in
rapeseed oil, sunflowers and sweetcorn. The Italian government will
start a monitoring program to further investigate the reasons of
recent bee deaths.
Italy followed Germany and Slovenia which banned sales of clothianidin
and imidacloprid in May. In France imidacloprid has been banned on
sunflowers already since 1999. In 2003 the substance was also banned
as a sweetcorn treatment. Bayer4s application for clothianidin was
rejected by French authorities.
The two substances are produced by the German company Bayer CropScience
and generated 800 million in 2007. Imidacloprid is Bayer4s best-selling
pesticide.
In August the German Coalition against Bayer Dangers brought a
charge against Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer Board of
Management, for marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting
the mass death of bees all over the world. The charge was introduced
in cooperation with German beekeepers who lost thousands of hives
after poisoning by the pesticide clothianidin in May this year.
Harro Schultze, attorney of the Coalition against Bayer Dangers
said: The Public Prosecutor needs to clarify which efforts Bayer
undertook to prevent a ban of imidacloprid and clothianidin in
Germany after sales of both substances were stopped in France. We4re
suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the
risks of pesticide residues in treated plants.
Neonicotinoid pesticides are systemic chemicals that work their way
through the plant and attack the nervous system of any insect it
comes into contact with. The substances also get into the pollen
and the nectar and can damage beneficial insects such as bees.
The Press Release of the Italian Government: www.ministerosalute.it
(top right: Tutela patrimonio apistico: sospensione cautelativa dei
prodotti fitosanitari utilizzati nel trattamento di concia delle
sementi)
Sep 19, 2008, The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Italy is latest to ban sale of Bayer pesticide
Pesticides made by Bayer CropScience have been banned in a third
European country after the chemicals were linked to bee deaths.
Italy this week followed Germany and Slovenia in banning sales of
chemicals used to coat crop seeds, including clothianidin and
imidecloprid, according to a statement by the Italian health ministry
and the German consumer watchdog group, Coalition Against Bayer
Dangers. Both pesticides are made and sold by Bayer CropScience, a
German company that has its U.S.
headquarters in Research Triangle Park.
Beekeepers in the three countries blame the pesticides for killing
large numbers of honeybees. Clothianidin and related pesticides
generated about $1 billion of Bayer CropScience's $8.6 billion in
global sales last year.
Sabine Vollmer, Staff Writer
Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany) www.CBGnetwork.org
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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 M|ller,
pharmacologist, Bremen Eva Bulling-Schroeter, member of the Bundestag,
Berlin Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, biologist, Neubeuern Dorothee
Svlle, theologian, Hamburg (died 2003) Dr. Janis Schmelzer, historian,
Berlin Dr. Erika Abczynski, pediatrician, Dormagen