People Before Profit blog

Company halts bee-killing chemicals as activists stir up a hornet’s nest

Wed, 18 May 2016 13:41:00 +0000

The movement to save the bees recently got a shot - or perhaps a sting - in the arm, when insect control producer Ortho, a subsidiary of Scotts Miracle-Gro, declared that it would begin to transition away from using chemicals that are harmful to the bee population, especially honeybees. The announcement by the Ohio-based company is very much fueled by growing pressure by activists who recently held various protests across California.

Just this week, May 16 in Oakland, one company that refuses to drop such chemicals, Bayer, was the target of a demonstration organized by Occupy Oakland's Environmental Justice Committee, calling for the end to the use of bee-killing pesticides.

"We are demanding the immediate ban of Clothianidin, [a] pesticide responsible for massive bee die-offs worldwide, which is produced by Bayer," said the group. "This pesticide has precipitated colony collapse disorder, threatening the livelihood of both large and small farmers as well as beekeepers. ... Pursuing profits at the risk of destroying the food supply, Bayer has successfully influenced public policy and stopped the EPA from banning this toxic pesticide. They're in our own backyard and we need to call attention to [it]."

Ortho's decision to ban the bee killers came on the heels of similar moves by Home Depot and Lowes, both of whom have stopped carrying neonics - that is, those chemicals that kill bees and other pollinating insects - in their garden care sections last year. It also coincides with state legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly restricting the sale of products containing neonics. The bill is currently being reviewed by Gov. Larry Hogan, and if approved could be the first of its kind in the U.S., though other states - like California, Oregon, and Vermont - are studying the effects of neonics on pollinators and bee colony collapse, and passing legislation that re-evaluates such chemical products.

May Berenbaum, a bee expert and professor of entomology at the University of Illinois, said that introducing alternatives to neonics is important. She offered cautious praise for Ortho's decision, remarking, "There are still profound problems for bees, but this is a step toward removing one contributor to some of the problems." She added, however, that whatever replacement products they implement, could be just as bad, or worse. And colony collapse disorder, of course, remains a dire issue. "This is not the end," she said. "This is no time for complacency."

Perhaps no one recognizes that more than Pammela Wright, who has been a farmer and beekeeper for 26 years. She spoke by phone with the People's World from her farmhouse in the Ozark Mountains, some 200 miles south and west of St. Louis.

Wright described in detail how she and her now-deceased husband walked out to check on one of their 80 hives one day only to find that the queen was the only inhabitant of one of the once-busy hives. "They were all gone," she said. "All gone, except for the queen, she was alone. And it was the same way in the next hive and in the next one. I didn't know anything about colony collapse which was what I was witnessing.

"So many country fairs and so many farmers markets that I went to with that honey. Sustenance for us and joy for the people who brought the product. I was always a political activist and I'd show up everywhere with the honey and products made from it, but no more would come from those hives."

"I'm an old lady now and all I can manage really is the two hives I have left and the small amount of honey to fill a few jars."

Wright attributes the destruction of the bee colonies to the chemicals "that make all those bees lose their sense of direction. When they go out of the hive, the chemicals that have hurt them make them unable to find their ways back home."

Wright worries about the effects of the chemicals not just on the bees but on the workers who handle them.

"Beekeeping, it's heavy work," she said. "The people that make a living in the beekeeping industry are migratory now. They encounter these pesticides by companies like Monsanto and they're forced to move their bees to a new location."

And in terms of farming, that, she suggested, adds another dimension to the problem: "These companies have bought up so many of the farms and sources that they buy from. And even the crops that don't have harmful chemicals sprayed on them can be affected, due to cross-pollination." In other words, wind-strewn seeds that are genetically modified can find their way onto otherwise natural farmland, and ruin it.

Even worse, the chemicals don't merely affect those solitary bees who happen to browse the toxic flower. "When bees take pollen from a plant like that back to the hive, it poisons the entire hive. Other wild pollinators are also affected, like Monarch butterflies. They sat that it's from habitat loss, but the chemicals definitely play a role."

The issue of bee killing remains close to the hearts of many an activist. It was a hot topic at an event that took place Apr. 17 in San Diego's Balboa Park. Called EarthFair, it celebrated Earth Day and offered free entertainment devoted to important issues like health and sustainable living. One of the issues that brought people there that day was that of bees.

Imperial Beach resident Althea Komorowski showed up to get tips on what to plant near her home that will draw the beneficial insects there, so that she might play her part in fighting colony collapse. "I want to see what I can plant that will attract bees," she said. "I want to save those bees. I'm very worried about that."

But can people make a difference? "Beekeeping organizations have tried to lobby against these big corporations but they're not strong enough," Wright said. "In Europe many of these harmful products are banned, but in the U.S. the companies are smarter. Monsanto tries to get in good with the beekeepers and claim that they're somehow helping.

"You have to deal with the situation carefully. Many farmers are dependent upon these crops that have been genetically modified and they need to move away from that habit. But big farm organizations are tied in with these companies. Even some people in the farmers' union, in states with big memberships like Oklahoma and North Dakota, they don't see anything wrong with genetically modified seeds and using many of these pesticides."

So a part of the solution, it seems, is changing the conversation about bees, and continuing to work toward getting companies to ban harmful products, as has been done overseas. In the meantime, Wright's advice is, "Don't use products like Roundup. And the lawn industry is not your friend. People love to have big, beautiful lawns, but that's like a desert to bees. They need pollen. Grow a garden. Make sure you have a lot of flowering trees. If you want bees to thrive, you have to invite them."

Photo: "Save the bees" mural by a London artist trying to raise awareness of colony collapse disorder. | Louis Masai Michel, courtesy of EcoWatch

Researchers call for more study of Agent Orange effects on vets and their kids

Mon, 16 May 2016 14:40:00 +0000

This story was co-published with the Virginian-Pilot.

More than two decades of studying Agent Orange exposure hasn't produced a solid understanding of how the toxic herbicide has harmed Vietnam War veterans and possibly their children, according to a report released Thursday.

Additional research is long overdue, the report said, but the federal government hasn't done it.

Those are among the conclusions of a committee of researchers that, since 1991, has been charged by Congress with reviewing all available research into the effects of Agent Orange, which the U.S. military sprayed by the millions of gallons in Vietnam to kill forests and destroy enemy cover.

Over the years, the biennial reports produced by the committee have identified numerous illnesses linked to the herbicide, in some cases leading the Department of Veterans Affairs to extend disability compensation to thousands more veterans.

But in its tenth and final Agent Orange report - with most Vietnam vets now well into their 60s or older - the committee concluded there's still much to learn and not enough research underway, especially related to potential health consequences for the children and grandchildren of veterans who were exposed.

"Although progress has been made in understanding the health effects of exposure to the chemicals," the committee members wrote near the end of the 1,115-page report, there are still "significant gaps in our knowledge."

Some 2.6 million Vietnam veterans were potentially exposed to Agent Orange, which contained the chemical dioxin. Calls from veterans to extend the research committee's work for at least a few more years have so far gone unanswered in Congress. The provision of the 1991 Agent Orange Act that established the committee expired last fall.

The panel, working under the auspices of the federal Institute of Medicine, reviewed scientific literature on Agent Orange released between October 2012 and September 2014 for its final review.

The committee members' parting thoughts about the lack of necessary research offered a wake-up call to a federal bureaucracy and researchers who have largely moved on from studying the health consequences of a war that ended 40 years ago.

Even in their final report, the researchers cited a new study of veterans from Korea who served in Vietnam, leading them to conclude that Agent Orange exposure may be linked to bladder cancer and hypothyroidism - two conditions not currently covered by the VA. If certain conditions are linked to Agent Orange exposure, the VA assumes anyone with those conditions got them from their exposure and therefore makes them eligible for disability payments.

The decision over whether to begin compensating Vietnam veterans with those ailments rests with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald. The VA is not bound by the committee's recommendations, a point made clear in report's final pages. The researchers listed more than 30 past suggestions - including calls for additional government-led studies - that apparently haven't been pursued by the VA or other agencies.

"Some of the recommendations that we've made are not new, that's correct," said Kenneth Ramos, chairman of the committee and an associate vice president at University of Arizona Health Sciences. "Why it has taken as long as it has taken for some of these things to come to fruition, I don't know the answer to them.

"But rather than finger pointing," Ramos added, "I think it's important to emphasize that the VA has begun to recognize the importance of studying these issues and is taking action."

Following the release of the latest report, the VA has assembled a group of subject matter experts "to determine how the recommendations can be implemented to help improve the health and well-being of Vietnam Veterans," VA spokesman Randal Noller said in an email.

The report, according to Rick Weidman of Vietnam Veterans of America, underscores what he called "25 years of willful ignorance" on the part of the VA: "They've tried to undo anything and everything that might lead to further research into the effects of Agent Orange exposure," said Weidman, the group's legislative director. "They are sitting on a mountain range of epidemiological evidence - not just for Vietnam guys, but the health records of every generation of veterans - and they have simply refused to mine the data for the purposes of research."

Vietnam Veterans of America has long been at loggerheads with the VA over compensation and research relating to Agent Orange.

Weidman and his colleagues called on President Obama and VA secretary McDonald to immediately add bladder cancer and hypothyroidism to the VA's list of Vietnam service-connected illnesses. They also want the agency to add three other ailments - hypertension, stroke and various neurological ailments similar to Parkinson's Disease - which were tied to Agent Orange exposure in past committee reports but are still not covered by the VA.

It's not clear how many Vietnam veterans suffer from those conditions or how much it would cost to begin compensating them. The VA spent $22.4 billion to compensate Vietnam-era vets in fiscal year 2014 (the most recent year for which data is available), a figure that includes monthly cash payments, but not health care services.

As it concludes its work, the committee specifically lamented the lack of meaningful research into birth defects and other health problems in children of male veterans born after the war. For decades, Vietnam veterans have argued that their exposure has affected their children, but there's been little research on the matter and, as a result, no conclusive evidence.

That dearth of evidence led the researchers to reverse their previous position connecting spina bifida with a father's exposure to Agent Orange. No new research into the matter has been conducted since 1996, the committee wrote, even though recent rodent studies indicate it's possible that a father's exposure to toxins can affect sperm DNA and cause birth defects and other disorders later in life.

Despite the lack of research, the VA provides benefits for a limited number of birth defects in children of Vietnam veterans, including spina bifida for children of all vets (male and female) and 18 other health conditions solely for children of female vets. As of last year, about 1,200 offspring with spina bifida were receiving those benefits, along with 14 children of female veterans with other covered birth defects, according the VA.

Heather Bowser, the daughter of a Vietnam veteran and co-founder of the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance, said she was disturbed by the committee's reversal on spina bifida, fearing the VA could move to take away benefits from those already receiving them. (The VA has not sought to do this in the past.) However she supports the committee's call for additional research, which she says is "long overdue."

Bowser's group advocates for thousands of members who believe their health problems are the result of their fathers' service in Vietnam.

With a new generation of troops now returning from war, the researchers also called on the VA and the Department of Defense to work together to better understand how wartime environmental exposures might affect future veterans and their offspring - even if it's too late for those who served in Vietnam.

"One of the biggest challenges for the past 30 years as we looked back at all this data on Vietnam veterans has been the fact that the important data was never collected to begin with," said Ramos, the committee chairman. "Therefore, I think it behooves our society and our government to do whatever it takes to accumulate the relevant data so we can understand how veterans of future conflicts have been affected."

The Vietnam Veterans of America and other groups are calling on Congress to create a national VA research center to study the generational health consequences for veterans - spanning all conflicts, from Vietnam to Iraq - who have been exposed to toxic substances. A bill to do this, the Toxic Exposure Research Act, has 179 co-sponsors in the House and 40 co-sponsors in the Senate.

Weidman, who served a tour in Vietnam with the Army, said the report released Thursday proves the legislation is needed.

"We are going to press hard to get this done, and we are going to keep pressing them," Weidman said. "This research will be coming too late for a lot of Vietnam vets, but it's not too late to take care of our children, and it's not too late yet to take care of the veterans who've come after as."

This article was reposted from ProPublica.

Photo: Vietnam veteran John Kirkwood's first claim for Agent Orange benefits was denied by the Department of Veteran Affairs. | ProPublica