United States: Government Sued Over Use of Pesticides Linked to Bee Harm

Beekeepers and environmental groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court saying the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaction regarding suspension of licensing of pesticides, which are toxic to bees, is causing great harm to biodiversity and the future of food in the United States. Last week, the European Union failed to take a decision on banning these pesticides. Switzerland, home of Syngenta, the producer of one of these pesticides, also refused to do so.

US Government Sued Over Use of Pesticides Linked to Bee Harm
by Damian Carrington, guardian.co.uk, 22 March 2013

Beekeepers, conservation and food campaigners accuse Environmental Protection Agency of failing to protect the insects

The US government is being sued by a coalition of beekeepers, conservation and food campaigners over pesticides linked to serious harm in bees.

The lawsuit accuses the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of failing to protect the insects– which pollinate three-quarters of all food crops – from nerve agents that it says should be suspended from use. Neonicotinoids, the world's most widely used insecticides, are also facing the prospect of suspension in the European Union, after the health commissioner pledged to press on with the proposed ban despite opposition from the UK and Germany.

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