Syngenta Thrive - 4Q/2013 - 19

A bee pollinates
the blossom of an
almond tree in
Fresno County, Calif.

comprehensive 2012 ﬁeld study near Guelph, Ontario, has
not shown any acute toxicity to honey bees as a result of
exposure to canola grown from seeds treated with the
neonicotinoid clothianidin.
“I believe that the more important factors affecting bee
health are nutrition issues, along with Varroa mites and the
viruses they vector,” says Cynthia Scott-Dupree, Ph.D., a
professor in the University of Guelph’s School of Environmental Sciences, who along with Chris Cutler, Ph.D., at
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, led the study.
“It’s important to stay focused on balanced outcomes,
because we need to ﬁnd sustainable solutions that allow
growers to continue producing crops efﬁciently and
beekeepers to manage colonies with reduced impact
on bee health over the long-term.”
Knowledge is the key to maintaining this balance. “I want
crop protection product regulation and bee health issues to
be based on sound science,” Oliver says.
A Continuing Focus on Safety
Recently, the European Commission (EC) decided to restrict
some uses of three neonicotinoids, including clothianidin,
thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, for two years beginning
December 2013.
“The EC breached EU pesticide legislation and incorrectly applied the Precautionary Principle in its decision,”
says John Abbott, Ph.D., regulatory team leader for
Syngenta. “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and
other U.S. agencies take a science-based risk assessment
and bee-protective approach, and there have been
numerous studies conducted conﬁrming that neonicotinoids can be used safely.”
Syngenta will continue to work with university and
extension researchers, conservation groups, the North
American Pollinator Protection Campaign, grower and
commodity associations, federal and state government
agencies, the Agricultural Retailers Association, CropLife
America, the American Seed Trade Association as well as
other industry partners to ﬁnd additional measures to
continue to protect bee health, says Palle Pedersen, Ph.D., a
Syngenta Seedcare technology manager, who spoke at the
EPA Pollinator Summit in March 2013. For example, Syngenta
is working with different companies to evaluate new polymers
that keep neonicotinoid seed treatments, like Cruiser®
insecticide, on the seed more effectively. A new polyethylene
wax to control dust is expected to be on the market soon.
“When the seed moves through the planter, this causes
abrasions that can scrape off small amounts of the seed
treatment’s active ingredient, and this can be released as
dust from pneumatic planters,” says Jay Overmyer, Ph.D., a
Syngenta technical expert in ecotoxicology. “We’re looking
at ways to reduce the amount of dust released from

RESOURCE DIRECTORY

“I believe that the more
important factors affecting
bee health are nutrition
issues, along with Varroa
mites and the viruses they
vector.” —cyNthIa scott-DuprEE
pneumatic planters through modiﬁcations of the exhaust,
which would direct the dust toward the ground, and new
lubricants that reduce friction between the seeds.”
Maintaining the viability of seed treatments is important
because they provide highly targeted insecticide applications that offer signiﬁcant economic and environmental
beneﬁts to growers. “For many below-ground insect pests
like wireworms, grubs and seed corn maggots, there are no
rescue treatments once the seed is planted,” says Pedersen.
After summarizing 10 years of data, he has found that when
Cruiser has been used as a seed treatment, it has provided
a 9.1-bushel-per-acre yield advantage when compared to
corn without a seed-applied insecticide.
“We are looking at the issue in a holistic way and coordinating our research, development, stewardship and educational
efforts, because we’re all in this together,” says Abbott.
Feeding a Hungry World
Without a doubt, bees and other pollinators are critical to
U.S. agriculture and the food supply. Up to one-third of the
food that Americans eat depends on pollination by honey
bees. The almond industry, which is 100 percent dependent on honey bees for pollination, for example, requires the
use of 1.6 million colonies annually. That’s approximately
90 percent of all live, managed honey bee colonies in the
U.S., Oliver says. Bee pollination is responsible for more
than $20 billion in increased U.S. crop value each year.
Syngenta recognizes that bee health is vital to agriculture and the global food supply. “Bees are essential, and
we care about their important role as pollinators,” says
Pedersen. “With the world’s population heading toward
9 billion by 2050, we’ll have to integrate crop and seed
solutions to increase yields faster to ensure adequate food
production while protecting bee health.”

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