Ontario, Canada
December 12, 2014
Ontario beekeepers question strategy to reduce application rate of neonicotinoid pesticides.
The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association is pleased that after years of denying that neonicotinoid pesticides pose a significant risk for Canada’s honey bees, the Canadian Honey Council and the Canadian Seed Trade Association have acknowledged the problem by pledging to reduce the level of pesticide used to coat seed, by 18-31%.
“The OBA feels there are far too many unanswered questions to support these half-measures,” says OBA President, Tibor Szabo. “Although this initiative shows that the current level is obviously unwarranted, where is the science showing that reducing the application levels will mitigate the significant long-term effects of systemic pesticides on soil and water? Reducing the application rate doesn’t change the fact that almost 100% of corn and 60% of soy are using treated seed prophylactically.
OBA believes that the Ontario government’s proposal to reduce the overall usage of neonicotinoid pesticides on soybean and corn crop acreage in Ontario by 80% represents a viable approach for protecting bees and other insects.
The OBA’s position is reinforced by the Federation des Apicultuers du Quebec, who today called on the Quebec government “to adopt concrete and coercive measures to rapidly and substantially reduce the use of systemic insecticides in corn and soybean crops.”
To view the CHC press release: http://www.honeycouncil.ca
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