The clothianidin controversy

It’s bad for honey bees, admits the EPA

By Culinate staff

January 25, 2011

Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency leaked a memo linking a particular pesticide — clothianidin — with the massive honey bee die-offs that have been threatening not just bees but the world’s food supply. Now come calls to ban the pesticide, which is used to treat seeds, then expressed in the resulting plants’ pollen and nectar. Made by the German company Bayer, clothianidin was banned in its country of origin in 2008 after the country suffered its own serious wave of honey-bee death. But it’s still legal here.