Pesticide Awareness

Food production and bees: Believe it or not, the two go hand-in-hand … like milk and honey.

Bees serve an all-important role in transferring pollen and seeds from one flower to another - a practice that supports at least 30 per cent of the world's food crops and 90 per cent of our wild plants, according to the U.S.-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

But despite a bee's integral role in cross-pollination, news that their population is on the decline is unlikely to come up at the dinner table.

But it is catching the attention of governments around the world, including in Europe, the U.S, as well as here at home, in Canada.... Read more »

Canada has no plans right now to follow the European Union's decision to ban a class of pesticides it believes is responsible for the deaths of many honey bees.

Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency said it already started a comprehensive review of three pesticides in the neonicotinoid class following last year's accidental poisonings of more than 200 apiaries in Ontario and Quebec by farmers applying the pesticides during plantings.

But it said that review is continuing and more investigation is needed to determine if the pesticides pose a significant environmental risk to domestic and wild pollinators. In the meantime, it has issued new rules to farmers on how to avoid killing bees with the pesticides.... Read more »

Dan Davidson’s bees are dying, and by the thousands.

“I was hoping this wouldn’t happen again this year,” said Davidson, a farmer near London, Ont. “But it is and we can’t do anything. The pesticide is so widespread … the bees can’t escape it.”

The “it” he’s talking about is a group of insecticides known as neonicotinoids. These insect neurotoxins are wide used in agriculture — and have been linked to the decline of honey bees.... Read more »