Beekeepers to feds: it’s time for neonics action and a review of PMRA

OBA Asks PMRA to Take Action To End the Widespread Use of Neonics on Field Crops & Requests Immediate, Independent Review of PMRA’s Decision-Making Process, Methods & Policies for Pesticide Approvals

From the Ontario Beekeepers Association

Last month, the OBA sent a letter to Minister of Health, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, and the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, requesting an immediate, independent review of PMRA’s (the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s) decision-making process, methods and policies for pesticide approvals.

In the letter, OBA president, Jim Coneybeare notes that beekeepers managing honey bee colonies in Canada’s corn, soy and canola growing regions continue to experience unsustainable colony losses, queen failures, record low honey production and unsustainable costs associated with the replacement of colonies and queens.

The association of these losses to the agricultural use of neonicotinoid pesticides applied as seed treatments on corn and soy and other field crops was confirmed by Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency as early as 2013.

View the full letter:

OBA_on_PMRA_Registration_Status_of_Clothianidin_and_Thiamethoxam (1)