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Specialists believe that EPA’s pesticide restrictions will deter the life of honeybees.
STATES CHRONICLE – Specialists argued that honeybees may be harmed due to pesticide restrictions. The US Environmental Protection Agency gave up the restrictions which indicated how pesticides should be used so as not to hurt honey bees which pollinate crops. EPA stated that three of these pesticides which were associated with the deaths of bees are actually safe and cause no harm.
On January 12, the assessments which were released noted that dinotefuran, thiamethoxam, and clothianidin could cause bee deaths together with their larvae. Nevertheless, they were approved to be used while officials claimed that they do not pose a significant threat to the colonies of bees. All growers and gardeners who see these conclusions will be more likely to continue to use those chemicals since they do not have pesticide restrictions.
These three ingredients are at the core of many types of pesticides. However, they will be used to protect nuts, fruit, vegetables, cotton, corn and soybeans planted on millions of acres in the US and California. Environmentalists declared themselves to be extremely disappointed, pointing out that there exist scientific proofs which show how dangerous these chemicals can be.
Lori Ann Burd, the director of the Centre for Biological Diversity’s Environmental Health program, stated that this situation is terrible. On the same day that EPA realized that these pesticides are responsible for bee deaths, they continue to allow their use without mandating any restrictions on their use. Tiffany Finck-Haynes, who is a food futures campaigner at Friends of the Earth, claimed that the existing bee policy disappoints pollinators instead of strengthening the regulations.
She also stated that if EPA would truly like to protect honeybees and the environment itself, then they should retrieve bee-toxic pesticides off the market. It is like everybody knows that there is a problem going on developing into a more severe one, but everyone decides to do nothing.
The federal agency has also issued an assessment which proves how a fourth dangerous chemical is harming aquatic beings. Imidacloprid together with the other three chemicals aforementioned is known as neonicotinoids. These were connected with the decrease of bee populations since 2006.
The EPA is currently preparing for the Trump administration. Nevertheless, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to head this agency, Scott Pruitt, decided to sue the company due to the Clean Water Act and several other regulations.
Image courtesy of: flickr
