Tell the EPA to DENY Dow AgroScience! PLEASE Sign the Petition! They are Killing our Bees!

Bee populations are plummeting! Yet the Environmental Protection Agency recently sided with Dow AgroSciences to approve a new, highly toxic bee-killing pesticide called sulfoxaflor.

And now the EPA is considering expanding the number of crops this pesticide can be sprayed on to include corn, alfalfa, oats, and several other significant and widely grown crops. Will you help us fight back?

Tell the EPA to deny Dow AgroScience's application to expand the registration of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor now!

Click HERE to sign the Petition!

Scroll Down towards the bottom to find the Petition and sign it.  

I signed!  Now it's YOUR Turn!

Without the Bees...We will ALL DIE!

SAVE BEES—FIGHT NEW THREATS

Despite massive bee die-offs, toxic bee-killing pesticides continue to be approved—putting bees and our food system in dire jeopardy.

To help us fight in court to save bees and the natural world, Board members of Earth Justice have offered to match your support $1-for-$1—up to $784,000—now through July 15.

Donate now and your gift will go twice as far.

Sign up to receive notices from Earth Justice Today!  

http://earthjustice.org/

Despite alarming declines in bee populations, toxic bee-killing pesticides continue to be approved—as recently as June 13—putting bees, our natural heritage, and our food system in dire jeopardy.

Earthjustice is ramping up our work to save bees and stop these dangerous pesticides, but we need your help now more than ever to see these and other fights through.

To help with critical battles like this, 17 members of our Board of Trustees have offered to match your support $1-for-$1—up to $784,000— through July 15.

Give now and your support will go twice as far.

Nearly one-third of our crops—including many vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds—depend on bees for pollination. But despite the vital role bees play, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and Environmental Protection Agency continue to approve pesticides that are linked to a bee die-off of historic proportions.

Just recently—on June 13—the Department of Pesticide Regulation approved the expanded use of two pesticides (Valent U.S.A. Corporation’s “Venom Insecticide” and Mitsui Chemical Agro’s “Dinotefuran 20SG”) that are contributing to bee colony collapse disorder...without analyzing environmental impacts or available alternatives.

And the EPA recently approved the use of another pesticide, sulfoxaflor, that is highly toxic to bees...and is now considering expanding the number of crops it can be sprayed on to include corn, alfalfa, and oats, to name just a few.

We’re fighting back, but we need your help!

Make an emergency gift today and your donation will be matched $1-for-$1.

Last year, one-third of our honeybee colonies died or disappeared. The massive die-off of these vital pollinators threatens to unravel agricultural production across the country.

We can’t afford to let short-term, private profits destroy our natural world. Help us ensure that new highly-toxic pesticides do not become the final straw for bees.

Your contribution matched $1-for-$1 today, will be put to use immediately to:

•	Save bees—already struggling to survive—from Dow AgroScience’s new pesticide sulfoxaflor, which has been shown to be highly toxic to bees
•	Fight the expanded use of toxic bee-killing pesticides like sufloxaflor
•	Stop the approval of new bee-killing pesticides without analyzing environmental impacts or available alternatives
•	Prevent the next generation of GMO crops from gaining approval—and leading to much greater use of even more dangerous pesticides
•	And take on other critical fights to protect the natural world

Help us save bees and fight for our natural world and your gift will be matched $1-for-$1 thanks to the generosity of our Board of Trustees.

Thank you for all that you do!!

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Deadly Honeybee Diseases Likely Spreading to Bumblebees

Wild bumblebees worldwide are in trouble, likely contracting deadly diseases from their commercialized honeybee cousins, a new study shows.

That's a problem even though bumblebees aren't trucked from farm to farm like honeybees. They provide a significant chunk of the world's pollination of flowers and food, especially greenhouse tomatoes, insect experts said. And the ailments are hurting bumblebees even more, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

"Wild populations of bumblebees appear to be in significant decline across Europe, North America, South America and also in Asia," said study author Mark Brown of the University of London.

He said his study confirmed that a major source of the decline was "the spillover of parasites and pathogens and disease" from managed honeybee hives.

Smaller studies have shown disease going back and forth between the two kinds of bees. Brown said his is the first to look at the problem in a larger country-wide scale and include three diseases and parasites.

The study tracked nearly 750 bees in 26 sites throughout Great Britain. And it also did lab work on captive bees to show disease spread.

What the study shows is that "the spillover for bees is turning into (a) boilover," University of Illinois entomology professor May Berenbaum, who wasn't part of the study, said in an email.

Study co-author Matthias Furst of the University of London said the team's research does not definitely prove the diseases go from honeybees to bumblebees. But the evidence points heavily in that direction because virus levels and infection rates are higher in the honeybees, he said.

— The Associated Press

Source:   NBC News

Beekeeping Industry Sues EPA for Approval of Bee-Killing Pesticide

 National Beekeeping organizations along with the National Honey Bee Advisory Board have come together in an attempt to protect the bee industry by an appeal against EPA for its approval of the pesticide Sulfoxaflor, shown to be "highly toxic" to honey bees, and other insect pollinators. Sulfoxaflor is a new chemistry, and the first of a newly assigned sub-class of pesticides in the "neonicotinoid" class of pesticides, which some scientists across the globe have linked as a potential factor to widespread and massive bee colony collapse. The case is filed as the beekeeping industry across the country struggles for survival, and faces the costly effects of pesticides upon their businesses. 

The National Pollinator Defense Fund, American Honey Producers Association, National Honey Bee Advisory Board, the American Beekeeping Federation, and beekeepers Bret Adee, Jeff Anderson and Thomas R. Smith have filed an appeal against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting changes needed in the Sulfoxaflor label, the Biological Economic Assessment Division (BEAD) assessment of the value of pollinators and their established habits, and the EPA's Risk Assessment Process. These changes would acknowledge pollinator's critical role in the U.S. food supply, and ensure that decisions regarding new pesticides comply with applicable laws.



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Source:  http://www.organicconsumers.org