The international press-so in Italy the Corriere della Sera, the newspaper of the strong powers-associates the bee slaughter in California (USA) with the intensive cultivation of almonds. (1) A fake news, Viral Deception to distract the public from the real causes of the disaster, glyphosate and neonicotinoid pesticides. European citizens’ initiative and petition.
US, 50 billion bees killed in almond groves
50 billion bees, or one-third of the total number of commercially bred bees in the U.S., were killed in California during the winter of 2018-2019. Epicenter of the tragedy is the Central Valley, a fertile area where 80 percent of global almond production is concentrated.
The area planted with almond trees in California has more than doubled in the past 20 years to 400 thousand hectares (10 percent more than the entire province of Bologna). In fact, demand for almonds has increased dramatically, +250% in five years (with a turnover of US$ 1.2 billion/year). Thanks to the success of almond-based vegetable beverages, which are prized-as noted -for their high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and fiber, as well as minerals and vitamin E.
Billions of bees are needed to pollinate these trees and ensure their crops. Thus, beekeepers have focused their activities on these monocultures, installing hives on almond groves. A seemingly more remunerative activity than others, given the high fees offered to them by farmers (up to US$200 per hive, for installations reaching 1,500 hives in the largest orchards).
Small detail, agriculture in the U.S. is still based on the massive use of agrotoxics. A practice that-as documented in a recent scientific study-has already undermined the entire agricultural system overseas. Causing acute ecosystem toxicity that not only depletes soils but also exterminates pollinators.
Bees, Agrotoxics, and Colony Collapse Disorder
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD )-which we have already written about-is a phenomenon involving the disorientation of insect colonies. Which, severely weakened, lose their ability to find food and reproduce. Pollinators, the first victims of CDD, thus become vulnerable to disease and external attacks (such as that of the Varroa Destructor mite), which contribute to their extinction.
Exposure of bees to agrotoxics. – and in particular to neonicotinoids (neonics), a class of pesticides that attacks their central nervous system-is causally associated with the Colony Collapse Disorder. And it represents an inexorable doom for pollinators in the vicinity of agricultural areas where it is used, with losses of 50 to 90 percent of bees, since these are water-soluble pesticides. That is, their residues are ubiquitous, from the atmosphere to soils, seeds and pollens, soils and waters.
Bees and irresponsible farming practices
Biodiversity
is another crucial factor for all life forms, including bees. Irresponsible ecosystem management, characteristic of intensive monocultures, prevents bees from supplementing nutrition and maintaining health. Their biological cycle in U.S. almond groves is then altered (with the forced reduction, by a couple of months, of the resting cycle). And over-concentration of a single bee species to pollinate a single plant species encourages the spread of epidemics, as well as threatening the existence of native insects.
Exploitation of bees in intensive almond orchards is also characterized by the use of 10 times more pollinators than those used in other U.S. fruit crops (e.g., apples). No wonder, then, that hives are losing 30 percent of their colonies every year.
Some initiatives to stem the disaster
The Almond Board of California, a local association of California almond growers established in 1950, suggests that beekeepers keep colonies in plantations the strict amount of time needed for pollination.
The State of California has initiated the Bee Where program to facilitate communication between beekeepers (required to record the location of their hives) and farmers, who should then ‘manage’ agrotoxin sprays. A focus that should also be extended to humans, who are still defenseless even in Italy.
Xerces Society
– an international organization for the protection of invertebrates-launched a program at the federal level that aims to build a network of farmers who respect the welfare of pollinating insects. Offering the possibility of applying a ‘Bee Better Certified’ quality seal to products after approval by a third-party certification body.
USA, the legislation that’s missing
In 2009 USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) had commissioned research on the disappearance of bees from two well-known entomologists, Dennis VanEngelsdrop (researcher at Penn State University) and Jeffery Stuart Pettis (lead researcher at USDA’s Beltsville Bee Laboratory ). Who demonstrated the connection between neonicotinoid exposure and bee extermination, later confirmed in subsequent studies in France as well.
However, US federal legislation does not restrict the use of neonicotinoids. Initiatives to this effect by the Obama administration have been cancelled under Donald Trump’s presidency, and only 4 of the 50 states now restrict neonicotinoid treatments. Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont and Oregon (limited to linden trees). Although California has announced that it wants to restrict the use of pesticides that are hazardous to humans or the environment (for new products to be approved or when renewing approval).
In fact, the system of rules in the United States-unlike the European system, which is based on the precautionary principle-allows the use of agrotoxics (such as GMOs, old and new, veterinary drugs, and food ingredients and additives ) until they are proven to be dangerous. Usually too late, as happened with glyphosate.
EU, ongoing dangers
The precautionary principle is not even invoked in the EU’s various recent toxic treaties with Canada, Japan, Mercosur and Singapore. Nor even in the ongoing TTIP negotiations with the U.S. itself.
Neonics have, however, been subjected to certain restrictions, on agricultural fields in the European Union. Following the EFSA 28.2.18 assessment, the European Commission restricted the use of insecticides with the active substances imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam to permanent greenhouses and seed treatment exclusively for them.
Acetamiprid, another neonicotinoid, on the other hand, received a renewal of authorization until 28.2.33, because the risks to pollinating insects would not be ‘sufficient’ to warrant restrictions on use. So much for the precautionary principle, as EFSA pointed out the lack of data to ascertain the danger to bees (and thus, the premise for applying restrictive measures).
In contrast, thiacloprid-another neonicotinoid produced by Bayer-was banned by Brussels in a decision announced on 13.1.20. After the European Food Safety Authority highlighted its dangerousness to human health as well as animal health. Because its metabolites, which are carcinogenic, can also contaminate groundwater.
#SavetheBees!
1900 bee species-10 percent of the approximately 20,000 that exist in the world-have been cataloged in the European Union. Of these, at least 9.2 percent are reported to be endangered. Although the lack of data (affecting 55.6 percent of the species) forces one to consider the figure provisional. According to estimates from the European Red List (which corresponds to the IUCN Red List), 0.3 percent of species are defined as ‘Critically Endangered, ‘ 2.4 percent ‘Endangered,‘ 1.3 percent ‘Vulnerable,’ and 5.4 percent ‘Near Threatened. (2)
The danger to which pollinating insects are exposed-in the U.S. as in the EU and other areas of the planet-cannot be overlooked any further. All the more so where one considers that they are responsible for the survival of 71 crops among the 100 that supply 90 percent of the world’s food. We therefore invite each of our readers to join the initiatives that follow:
– #SavetheBees, European citizens’ initiative to drastically limit the use of pesticides in the EU and safeguard bee habitats. You can add your signature by following the link https://europa.eu/citizens-initiative/initiatives/details/2019/000010_it .
– petition calling for a ban on the use of sulfoxaflor, a neonicotinoid substitute that is equally dangerous to bees and other living creatures. (3) PAN’s(Pesticides Action Network) petition on SumofUs.
#Égalité!
Dario Dongo and Marina De Nobili
Notes
(1) See article Almond milk: a business that is killing billions of bees. Corriere della Sera, 9.1.20, https://cucina.corriere.it/notizie/cards/latte-mandorla-affare-che-sta-uccidendo-miliardi-api/caso-california.shtml
(2) V. IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature), https://www.iucn.org/content/european-red-list
(3) Siviter, H., Brown, M.J.F. & Leadbeater, E. Sulfoxaflor exposure reduces bumblebee reproductive success. Nature 561, 109-112 (2018) . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0430-6.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in law in Trento, she follows a master's degree in food law at Roma Tre. She is passionate about food and wine, she is between culture and tradition.
