Ontario’s Eco Watchdog Calls For Action To Save Our Pollinating Bees

By Doug Draper

When all of the bees die off, Niagara’s stature as one of North American great fruit-growing regions is over.

It is as simple as that. No bees pollinating orchards and other fruit-bearing plants vital to our food supply and multi-millions of dollars of wealth each year to our regional economy, and that sector of Niagara’s wealth is over.

So why aren’t Niagara’s political leaders and representatives of our region’s farming community not buzzing out loud over the growing scientific evidence that a pesticide called neonicotinoid is killing off our bee pollinators across this region and continent.

The silence among our political leaders and representatives of an agricultural industry in this region that seems stuck in ‘chemicals-can-do-no-wrong’ years of the 1950s (before Rachel Carson wrote a ground-breaking book on synthetic pesticides called Silent Spring) is deafening.

And that is why it is so good that we at least have Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner and independent eco watchdog Gord Miller now urging the province’s government to forget about anything our federal government won’t do and move toward the reduction and eventual banning of this pesticide – just as has already been done in Europe.

The evidence that coating food-crop seeds with this chemical compound has contaminated the food web so much that it is killing off pollinating bees is now so compelling, says Miller in his latest annual report, released this October to the Ontario government, that this chemical rivals the long-banned DDT pesticide as a destroyer of living beings on the planet. So much so, he adds, that bees have become the proverbial ‘canaries in the coal mine’ for this toxic product brought to us by the petro-chemical industry. 

Miller says there is abundant evidence linking declines in honey bee populations to use of the chemicals to treat seeds for corn, soybeans and similar crops.

“The science is very clear. It is absolutely linked to the problems with bees, the death of bees, but also the sub-lethal effects on bees, such as disorientation, which leads to colony failure,” Miller said in a recent interview with CBC’s The Exchange with Amanda Lang.

This crisis should be of great concern to Niagara, where we have a fruit-growing industry worth billions of dollars but where are our political leaders when it comes to making some noise over it?

It is understandable that Canada’sfederal Harper government and his MPs here would not care since they are in the back pockets of the petro-chemical industry and respond to environmentalists as if they are enemies of the country’s economy? All the more reason why provincial and municipal governments need to take action.

For more information on this crisis from Miller’s latest annual report click on SPECIAL REPORT | Bee researchers raise more warning flags about neonicotinoid pesticides

• What’s killing Canadian honeybees? 

Here is some recent news from Avaaz, a global online citizens organization, on the very same subject.

Wow! 3.2 million signers and Avaaz delivers the petition to US government officials in two days! Let’s take it to 3.5 million. Join now to save the bees!
Dear friends,

Silently, billions of bees are dying off and our entire food chain is in danger. Bees don’t just make honey — they are a giant, humble workforce, pollinating 75% of growing plants. But in days the US could move to ban the toxic pesticides that are killing them off.
We know we can get a ban — after a mega Avaaz campaign last year, the EU banned this group of poisons that multiple scientists blame for bees’ rapid demise. Right now chemical companies are furiously lobbying US authorities to stop action. But insider allies say a massive public mandate could tip the scales towards a ban. Let’s give it to them! If the US moves, it will set in motion a ripple effect on the rest of the world.
We have no time to lose — members of the White House’s bee task force will report with proposals in days. This is not just about saving bees, this is about our survival. Sign the emergency petition now — let’s build a giant global buzz calling for the US to outlaw these killer chemicals, before the honey bees are extinct:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_us_pet_loc/?bRUUpdb&v=47230
Bees are vital to life on earth — every year pollinating plants and crops with an estimated $40bn value. Without immediate action to ensure bees’ continued pollination, many of our favourite fruits, vegetables, and nuts could vanish from our shelves and ⅓ of our food supply will be gone. 
Recent years have seen a steep global decline in bee populations — some bee species are already extinct and just in California — the biggest food producer in the US — beekeepers are losing a third of their bees each year. Scientists have been scrambling for answers. While some studies, often funded by the chemical companies, argue this may be due to a combination of factors including disease, habitat loss and toxic chemicals, powerful independent studies conclude neonicotinoid pesticides are to blame.
It is this startling evidence and super effective campaigning by Avaaz and partners that won the EU ban. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required by Congress to regulate toxins, but under the influence of big chemical companies, for years they’ve fudged the law. Now the White House’s ‘Pollinators Health Task Force’ could get the EPA to cancel the pesticides’ registration so they can’t be sold in the US. This is our chance!
The task force reports in days. Already 3.2 million of us around the world have backed this campaign. Let’s urgently build an unprecedented 3.5 million strong petition to save the bees and deliver it with strategic advocacy and media to stop a backroom deal that only benefits big business. Sign the urgent petition:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/save_the_bees_us_pet_loc/?bRUUpdb&v=47230
We can no longer leave our delicate food chain in the hands of chemical companies and the regulators that are in their pockets. Banning these pesticides will move us closer to a world safe for ourselves and the other species we care about and depend on. 
With hope,
Terra, Alex, Alice, Ari, Nick, Laila, Marigona, Ricken, and the rest of the Avaaz team
MORE INFORMATION:
  
Heavy Costs, Weighing the Value of Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Agriculture (Center for Food Safety)
http://issuu.com/centerforfoodsafety/docs/neonic_efficacy_digital/1?e=9942666/7206999
Presidential Memorandum — Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators (The White House) 
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/20/presidential-memorandum-creating-federal-strategy-promote-health-honey-b
Petition for Interim Administrative Review of Neonicotinoid Pesticides (Filed July 7, 2014)
http://docs.nrdc.org/health/files/hea_14070701a.pdf
The Costly Lobbying War Over America’s Dying Honeybees (National Journal)
http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/the-costly-lobbying-war-over-america-s-dying-honeybees-20140701
EPA memo reveals concern that pesticide causes bee deaths (SF Gate)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=79910 
$15 Billion Bee Murder Mystery Deepens (Business Insider)
http://www.businessinsider.com/colony-collapse-disorder-still-unsolved-lead-researcher-had-connections-to-bayer-2010-10 
Beekeepers want government to pull pesticide (Palm Beach Post)
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/beekeepers-want-government-to-pull-pesticide-1107701.html 
Bees in freefall as study shows sharp US decline (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/03/bumblebees-study-us-decline?INTCMP=SRCH 

For more information on Avaaz click on http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php .

A Footnote from NAL – By the way, prior to this October 27ths municipal elections in Niagara, you may want to ask any candidate you meet what they would do to save pollinating bees. If they don’t know what you are talking, cross them off your voting list unless – and only unless – they say they are in favour of one regional transit system.

(NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)