WELL-BEING
RESTRICTING
NEONICS
– By Dr. David Suzuki
www.davidsuzuki.org
Why do bees matter?
“Honey bees perform about 80 percent of all
pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can
pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are
primarily pollinated by the wind, but the best and
healthiest food – fruits, nuts, and vegetables – are
pollinated by bees. 70 out of the top 100 human
food crops, which supply about 90 %
of the world’s nutrition, are pollinated by bees.”
– Greenpeace
Our bees are dying.
“Last winter Ontario beekeepers lost 58% of
their hives. The number of honey bee colonies
(measured in mid summer) does not reflect
the large number of colonies lost each winter,
nor does it reflect the 30,000 queens or nearly
20,000 bee packages that beekeepers had to
purchase to replace the unusually high number
of colonies that failed in the winter and spring.
We also want to stress that although honey
bee colonies can be managed by beekeepers to
sustain their numbers, reports indicate serious
declines among wild bees and other pollinators.”
– Ontario Beekeepers’ Association
“You have a bee to thank for every
one in three bites of food you eat.”
– Ontario Beekeepers’ Association
Plan Bee
Neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) are highly
toxic to bees and have wide-ranging effects on
other organisms, including impaired memory,
lower reproduction rates and increased
susceptibility to disease. Ontario’s move is good
news for the birds and bees, and for the rest of us
whose food supply depends on pollinators.
– David Suzuki Foundation
18
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No matter how you feel about Ontario’s proposal to restrict
use of neonicotinoid insecticides on corn and soybean crops,
we can all agree: bees matter. But as important as bees are,
there’s more at stake. Neonics are poisoning our soil and
water. This problematic class of pesticides needs to be phased
out globally to protect Earth’s ecosystems. By implementing
restrictions now (the first in North America), Ontario will
have a head start in the transition to safer alternatives.
Not surprisingly, Ontario’s proposal has drawn the ire of
the pesticide industry.
Neonics have only been around for a couple of decades, but
annual global sales now top $2.6 billion. They were initially
embraced because they are less directly toxic to humans than
older pesticides and are effective at low levels, reducing the
volume used. They can be applied to seeds and are absorbed
into the plant, which then becomes toxic to insect pests,
reducing the need to spray.
We now know these characteristics are the problem. These
chemicals are nerve poisons that are toxic even at very low
doses and persist in plants and the environment. They affect
the information-processing abilities of invertebrates, including
some of our most important pollinators.
Bees have borne the brunt of our unfortunate, uncontrolled
experiment with neonics. Beekeepers report unusually high
bee death rates in recent years, particularly in corn-growing
areas of Ontario and Quebec. Virtually all corn and about
60 per cent of soybean seeds planted in Ontario are treated
with neonics. A federal Pest Management Regulatory Agency
investigation concluded that planting neonic-treated seeds
contributed to the bee die-offs.
Europe reached a similar conclusion and placed a moratorium
on the use of neonics on bee-attractive crops, which took
effect last year.
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