Canadian beekeepers’ sting: Pesticide giants sued for $450mn over bee deaths
4/9/2014
Canadian
honey producers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Bayer and Syngenta to
recover losses dating as far back as 2006, claiming that neonicotinoids they
produce and sell are killing bees and cause massive material damage.
The
lawsuit,
filed on behalf of all Canadian beekeepers by honey producers Sun Parlor Honey
Ltd. and Munro Honey alleges that Bayer Cropscience Inc. and Syngenta Canada
Inc. and their parent companies were negligent in their design, development,
sale and distribution of neonicotinoid pesticides, specifically those
containing imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiomethoxam, while the defendants “knew
or ought to have known at all material times that the neonicotinoids would
cause damage to the property of the plaintiffs and the other class members.”
The
claim seeks $400 million in compensation for losses and $50 million in punitive
damages from Bayer CropScience and Syngenta.
Between
2006 and 2013, Sun Parlor, which has been in business for 89 years, incurred
losses of approximately $2,112,200 dollars, while in the same period, Munro
Honey incurred losses of approximately $3,001,712.50, the lawsuit said.
The
London law firm Siskinds LLP, which is representing the Canadian beekeepers,
emphasized that it is not just a question of business at stake. “The bigger
picture is the devastation of the bee population threatens the security of
Canada’s food supply,” Siskinds lawyer Dimitri Lascaris told the London
Free Press.
Several
studies previously concluded that neonicotinoids – or “neonics” – widely
used insecticides sprayed on corn and soybean seeds, are responsible for wiping
out bee colonies.
The
30-page lawsuit mentions the international Task Force on Systemic Pesticides
that was assembled in 2009 to determine if neonics played a role in honey bee
deaths. One of its findings was particularly startling: “In the case of
acute effects alone, some neonicotinoids are at least 5,000 to 10,000 times
more toxic to bees than DDT (a hazardous pesticide that has been largely phased
out)…the evidence is clear that neonicotinoids pose a serious risk of harm to
honey bees and other pollinators,” it concluded.
The
European Union has placed a ban on the use of neonicotinoids.
The
global phenomenon of declines in honey bee populations, which scientists have
dubbed “colony collapse disorder,” is responsible for killing an
estimated 35 percent of honey bees in Canada in the past three years, according to the Canadian Honey Council.
Julie
White of the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association said the insecticide damages the
nervous systems of the bees, which are responsible for producing honey and
pollinating crops – to the tune of billions of dollars each year.
“When
things get planted the dust goes into the air, it’s systemic as well growing in
to the plants and it gets into puddles . . . the bees either get killed in the
field or they carry it back to the hive,”
White told the Star.
The
pesticides were also found in 70 percent of dead bees tested by Health Canada
in 2013, according to CBС News.
A
2012 study by Purdue University, which examined bee deaths around hives from
several apiaries over two years in Indiana, revealed a high concentration of
neonicotinoid insecticides.
"We
know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each
sample of dead and dying bees," said Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology and a co-author
of the findings.
Bayer
CropScience said it has not been served with the lawsuit and is “unable to
answer any specific questions,” the Star reported
Neonicotinoids
make up about 40 percent of the insecticide market, with global sales around $3
billion in 2011.
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