In May, 50,000 dead bees were discovered littering a parking lot in Oregon. Last month, a shocking 37 million bees were reported dead across a single farm in Ontario.
Research is accumulating that links neonic pesticides with massive bee die-offs all around the world, from China to the UK. However, similar to the way the scientific issues linking human activity to climate change were obfuscated and ignored because of political and corporate interests, the issue of this class of dangerous pesticides called neonics and potential harm to bees is now moving from scientific arena to become a political football, according to a report in The Scientist.
“Neonics are one of the largest growth sectors for the pesticide industry. And industry has a vested interest in keeping the neonic market growing. But we know that spin efforts to refocus attention on varroa mites were already attempted in Europe, and the approach has been largely unsuccessful. The European Union just put continent-wide restrictions on the use of neonics in place,” according to Paul Towers writing for Pesticide Action Network.
Consumer advocates from SumOfUs.org have taken action to protect bees. The SumOfUs.org community brought bee activists to Chicago to speak about the bee die off during the Independent Garden Center Show and bought ads to let attendees and the Chicago public know about the plight of bees.
The Independent Garden Show ends on August 22nd, and the group has several actions planned. You can watch video of their press conference above.
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