Read the article in The Independent about the BBKA pesticide endorsement scandal and how the BBKA Executive has buried the truth Read the history of the BBKA's endorsement of pesticides Read the report that finally shocked the BBKA into dropping their endorsement of pesticides Read about how BBKA censored their own web site Download the full Open Letter to the BBKA Key Facts1. Insecticides are designed to kill insects. Bees are insects. Insecticides kill bees. 'Bee-friendly insecticide' is an oxymoron.2. Modern insecticides are extremely powerful. Some of them are capable of killing bees in dilutions that are barely detectable by the latest analytical equipment, and have been shown to cause disorientation in bees, likely to result in death, in dilutions that cannot currently be measured. 3. Of the four insecticides endorsed by the BBKA as 'bee-friendly', three are among the top five most toxic in their class. (see Dr Doeser's report). Deltamethrin was introduced around 1984. The 48-hr contact LD50 for honey bees is 1.5 ng/bee (highly toxic). Cypermethrin was introduced around 1977. The 48-hr contact LD50 for honey bees is 20 ng/bee (highly toxic). 4. In the UK, annual spraying of the 4 endorsed pesticides covers an area one and a half the times the size of Wales. 5. The BBKA appears never to have issued any public statement that is critical of any pesticides or pesticide manufacturer. 6. The BBKA has never issued any statement in support of the organic movement in general or the Soil Association in particular, despite the apparent logic of allying themselves with those who are working for an overall reduction in the use of pesticides in agriculture. Instead, they have allied themselves with those who have a vested interest in increasing the use of pesticides. 7. The BBKA failed to support their colleagues in Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium in a call for the systemic, neurotoxic, neonicotinoid insecticides Imidacloprid, Fipronil, Thiamethoxam and Clothianidin to be removed from the European list of permitted agricultural chemicals. 8. The BBKA failed to support their German colleagues following the disastrous incident in May 2008, when millions of bees were killed by Bayer's neonicotinoid pesticide Clothianidin. 9. The BBKA did not consult its members before accepting donations from agri-chemical companies in return for use of the BBKA logo. |
Stop Killing Bees: Avoid These Pesticides
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