The FINANCIAL — On Wednesday, Greenpeace has put up a banner at the corporate headquarters in Leverkusen that deals with the topics of bee health and plant protection.
The FINANCIAL — On Wednesday, Greenpeace has put up a banner at the corporate headquarters in Leverkusen that deals with the topics of bee health and plant protection. Among other things, the organization blames Bayer of ignoring science. The company firmly rejects these accusations. Instead, Bayer seeks the continuation of an objective, fact-based dialog, as it was initiated in the past year on the occasion of a Greenpeace visit at the Bayer BeeCare Center, according to Bayer AG.
Scientific data show that Bayer CropScience products have no negative impact on the development of bee colonies, if they are used responsibly and according to label. Plant protection products may only be used in a way that is safe and represents no danger to humans and the environment/ecosystem. This is why they undergo strict registration procedures that include specific bee safety tests for the different applications. Experts all over the world agree that the health of bee colonies is affected by many factors. Among them are bee diseases – particularly those caused by the varroa mite – as well as the impact of extreme environmental or climate conditions, but also changes in agricultural structures, according to Bayer AG.
As businesses that are active in the agricultural sector, both Bayer and the farming community depend on the pollination services of honey bees for many crop plants. Even though the overall global bee population is increasing, Bayer, like many others, is concerned about the decline of bee colonies in some parts of the world, among them Europe and the USA. Bayer continues to study and consider new scientific publications carefully.
After first analysis, Bayer considers the Greenpeace report ”The Bee’s Burden" to be of limited significance. The Greenpeace demand for a far-reaching and comprehensive ban of all types of plant protection products is not supported by the study.
Many of the products that Greenpeace says it identified are used by beekeepers to control the varroa mite. The varroa mite is one of the most dangerous bee pests worldwide, according to Bayer AG.
The 2013 data submitted by Greenpeace, represent only a “snapshot” from twelve European countries, covering a limited time window. Regarding bee health in Europe, Greenpeace itself comes to the conclusion that as a result, “it is not possible, to use the results to represent or to compare directly the contamination status of individual countries.”
In principle, Bayer welcomes all research in the area of bee health, but it needs to be carried out under realistic conditions and according to scientific criteria. Bayer continues to seek an open and constructive dialog, according to Bayer AG.
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