Honeybees are dying at an incredible rate. Widespread “colony collapse disorder”—in which all the adult honey bees in a colony suddenly disappear or die—is being linked to insecticides made by companies partnering with Monsanto.
Monsanto, the world’s biggest seed company, is the largest owner of seed genetics in the United States, accounting for more than 90 percent of all genetically modified seeds. It originally started as a chemical company in 1901. Since then, the company has become famous for being the creator of Agent Orange and DDT in the 1940s and 1960s, and now is linked to genetically modified crops that may be contributing to the mass extinction of honeybees.
Corn is one of the largest crops produced in the United States, largely due to the subsidized use of ethanol as a biofuel. Scientists are always looking for ways to make crops more productive and protected from insects that reduce yield. This has led companies like Monsanto to invest heavily in genetically modifying the corn seeds themselves, so that crops are more resistant to pests such as corn rootworm. Monsanto claims that these products are safe and have been tested enough to show there is no risk to human life.
Insecticides are also used widely to increase yields. The insecticide clothianidin “poses less risk to workers and wildlife than alternatives,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This is one of a class of insecticides, called neonicotinoids, and is sprayed on corn seeds before they are planted. Monsanto manufactures a special adhesive used to coat the seeds to be sprayed.
According to Wikipedia, citing the Congressional Research Service, the EPA also reports that clothianidin’s major risk concern is to non-target insects (honey bees): “Although EPA’s Environmental Fate and Effects Division does not conduct risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoid insecticides suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.”
“It’s a subtle long-term issue,” beekeeper Jeff Anderson of California Minnesota Honey Farms told Associated Press. “It’s like giving bees AIDS. Their immune systems are down and all the pathogens and viruses become virulent. So the bees succumb much more readily.”
Honeybees are important factors in the pollination of food crops, and colony collapse disorder could affect entire ecosystems. Bees are responsible for pollinating about one-third of U.S. crops. Before the neonicotinoids were introduced into the corn farming communities, the loss of the honeybee population was about 15 percent; now the loss rate is 30 percent. The link is undeniable, and that is why commercial beekeepers and environmental groups on March 21 asked the EPA to ban clothianidin.
France, Germany and Italy have already limited or banned the use of neonicotinoids.
Monsanto is the company at the center of this potential disaster because of their long relationship with local farmers and Washington, D.C. The company has a history of suing small farmers for using Monsanto’s patented genetically modified crops without paying for them. Farmers get seeds from surrounding farms because of pollination by wind and also insects like honeybees.
Suing small farmers is one way Monsanto maintains its stranglehold on farming. In 2008, Monsanto sued Mo Parr, a 74-year-old seed cleaner, for “aiding and abetting” local Indiana farmers to violate its patents. His job is to clean seeds so that farmers can use leftover seeds to plant new crops. However, Monsanto makes farmers buy new seeds every year; if they reuse leftover seeds, they can be fined up to $3 million.
Monsanto has benefited from the “revolving door” of Washington, D.C., by placing high-ranking officials in charge of the Food and Drug Administration. Unlike in the United States, Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds have been banned in several European countries, Brazil, Peru, Haiti and India because of the risk to human health. Monsanto’s concerns, clearly, are not about the masses of people who are affected by their crops but profit only.
People are fighting back against Monsanto and their monopoly domination of the farming industry. Occupy activists from across the country have protested at Monsanto headquarters and in front of the White House. On March 17, Occupy protesters shut down Monsanto company offices in Davis, Calif.
