France Plans Ban on Seed Treatment, Escalating Bee Issue
5 June 2012 Syngenta’s Cruiser OSR seed treatment for oilseed rape faces suspension in France.
According to reports, the French government is set to ban the product on the recommendation of ANSES, the French agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety. ANSES says it based its decision on one study, published in the journal Science, which highlights sub-lethal doses of the active ingredient thiamethoxam on the ability of forager bees to return to the hive.
Thiamethoxam is a neonicotinoid-class insecticide – the type increasingly blamed for the bee malady called Colony Collapse Disorder. However, the underlying causes of CCD are still unclear and most likely manifold, according to most published scientific research.
Syngenta, in an email to Farm Chemicals International, called it “a dark day for French and European agriculture and in particular those in the Oil Seed Rape chain … The intention to suspend has been taken on the basis of one experimental study which has not been validated by expert panels and is at odds with the reality in the field.”
More than 650,000 hectares have been treated in France this year with Cruiser without any incidents of damage to bee health while delivering more than $125 million in economic value. In Europe as a whole, more than 3 million hectares have been treated without incident, Syngenta spokesperson Sabine Hoffmann said.
“Syngenta takes the issue of bee health extremely seriously because sustainable agriculture depends on their pollinating services,” Hoffmann told FCI. “In order to ensure the safety of thiamethoxam, Syngenta has carried out studies through beekeeping research institutes and other research laboratories in several countries, an effort that goes well beyond registration requirements.”
Sunflower and corn seed treatments of imidacloprid – another neonicotinoid insecticide – are also banned in France. Other imidacloprid seed treatments, such as for sugar beets and cereals, are allowed in France, as are foliar uses, according to the US EPA.
One widely cited study on bee health, published in February 2012 in the Journal of Apicultural Research, argues that the parasitic mite Varroa destructor “plays the role of the major predisposing liability” for severe honey bee loses worldwide.
“We highlight the lack of efficient control methods currently available against the parasite and discuss the need for new approaches,” Vincent Dietemann, lead author of the study, wrote. “Innovative and challenging approaches are suggested in order to stimulate research efforts and ensure that honey bees will be able to sustainably fulfill their role in the ecosystem.”
The mite should be a priority for future bee health research, says the study, which was conducted by the nonprofit International Bee Research Association.
Other factors scientists acknowledge to play a part in CCD include viruses, parasites, poor nutrition, climate change and lack of genetic diversity and lineage, stress brought on by frequent transport of honey bee colonies, chemical residue in the wax, food stores and/or bees, poor beekeeping management and combinations of these factors.
France’s ANSES also calls for changes in European regulations that would incorporate experiments “enabling a better understanding of the sub-lethal effects of exposure to neonicotinoids into the process of plant protection product assessment.”
The country is seeking to withdraw the permit for Syngenta’s product pending a two-week period during which Syngenta can submit its own evidence, according to Reuters.
For more information on the AI thiamethoxam, which Syngenta launched in 1998, please click here.
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