"As Bees Die Off, the EPA Shuffles Its Feet"

"The agency says tiny amounts of “neonics” can harm bees and beekeepers file suit over treated seeds."

"Lately it seems like bees just can’t get a break. This is the tenth consecutive year of exceptional annual bee losses. And despite heightened attention to the plight of the nation’s pollinators—which are essential to producing $15 billion worth of U.S. agricultural products a year—these losses continue to grow.

Beekeepers and scientists point to a suite of factors impacting bee health. But fundamentally, what’s stressing bees most is our current approach to agriculture: extensive pesticide use, crop monocultures, and planting patterns that have eliminated many of the blooming plants important to bees. Recent science also shows that multiple pesticide exposures are weakening bee immune systems and making them more vulnerable to diseases and pests.

At the heart of this debate are neonicotinoids, now considered the world’s most widely used type of pesticide. When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first approved neonicotinoids for use in the 1990s, many questions about their toxicity were left unanswered. But they were known to be toxic to bees at high levels of exposure. Now, in a just released draft assessment of imidacloprid—one of a handful of neonicotinoids in use and the first of four such assessments scheduled—the EPA says that any “residue level” above 25 parts per billion may harm “pollinator hives.”"

Elizabeth Grossman reports for Civil Eats January 20, 2016.