WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an assessment in collaboration with California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation that indicates a potential threat of insecticides to pollinators.
The assessment focuses on the neonicotinoid insecticide, imidaclorprid. It identifies a potential risk to beehives where the pesticide comes into contact with crops that attract pollinators.
“Delivering on the President’s National Pollinator Strategy means EPA is committed not only to protecting bees and reversing bee loss, but for the first time assessing the health of the colony for the neonicotinoid pesticides,” Jim Jones, assistant administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said. “Using science as our guide, this preliminary assessment reflects our collaboration with the state of California and Canada to assess the results of the most recent testing required by EPA.”
The preliminary assessment identified a residue level for imidacloprid of 25 parts per billion. This is a threshold. With numbers above 25 parts per billion, effects on pollinator hives are likely to be seen. Below it, they are less likely.
The assessment for imidacloprid is the first of four preliminary pollinator risk assessments for the neonicotinoid insecticides that the EPA is conducting. The other tests, which assess clothianidin, thiamethoxam and dinotefuran, will be released for public comment in December.