In an effort to save the beekeeping industry from further suffering additional losses, a leading pesticide company has decided to discontinue the manufacture and sale of pesticides that is linked to the dwindling population of bees.
This was the announcement made by the pesticide brand Ortho of the Miracle- Gro group that it will stop using neonicotinoids or neonics – a primary ingredient found in the product- as it was poses a potential threat to bees and other pollinating insects.
The Ortho Brand, according to General Manager Tim Martin, they have decided to discontinue making and marketing their Ortho line of pesticides containing neonics, even with just a pending evaluation by government agencies on the impacts of the chemicals to the pollinating insects’ populations.
“It’s time for Ortho to move on,” Martin said.
This came after a legislation was passed by the Maryland General Assembly restricting the sale and use of pest control products using neonics, while other states are also looking at pollinator health in order to follow suit according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The Obama administration has already instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to assess the actual impacts of pesticides containing neonicotinoids, especially on the population of bees.
Studies show that neonics can adversely affect a bee’s health, making them vulnerable to microscopic mites or other environmental threats.
Ortho has already started the phasing out of neonics in their pesticide formulations. Whole some of the products will be reformulated, others will be discontinued as early as 2017. The company assures that it will finish the phaseout of neonicotinoids in their products by 2021.
Today, many beekeepers wake up each day with the uncertainty of what the coming production season would bring as losses as starting to increase by as much as 25% each year – from honeybee mortality to hive damage.
For several years beekeepers have been suffering huge losses, especially during the winter season where based on statistics, beekeepers are losing almost a third of their hives due to honeybee mortality and hive damage and replacing damaged stocks are costly.
According to a recent report by the Bee Informed Partnership, a non-profit group of research centers and universities, revealed that beekeepers are having an average of 30% losses every year ranging from a lot of actors like climate change, parasites, pesticides and loss of forage, among others.
The post Company To Stop Making Pest-Control Formula That Harms Bees appeared first on NUTRITION CLUB CANADA.
No comments:
Post a Comment