Bayer on defensive in bee deaths

Bayer CropScience is facing scrutiny because of the effect one of its best-selling pesticides has had on honeybees.

A German prosecutor is investigating Werner Wenning, Bayer’s chairman, and Friedrich Berschauer, the head of Bayer CropScience, after critics alleged that they knowingly polluted the environment.


The investigation was triggered by an Aug. 13 complaint filed by German beekeepers and consumer protection advocates, a Coalition against Bayer Dangers spokesman, Philipp Mimkes, said Monday.

“We’re suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the risks of pesticide residues in treated plants,” said Harro Schultze, the coalition’s attorney.

“Bayer’s … management has to be called to account, since the risks … have now been known for more than 10 years.”

Under German law, a criminal investigation could lead to a search of Bayer offices, Mimkes said.

In 1999, French regulators banned an older relative of Poncho and subsequently declined approval for clothianidin. French researchers found that bees were a lot more sensitive to the pesticides than Bayer CropScience studies had shown.

Three months ago, German regulators suspended sales of chlothianidine and related chemicals after the family of pesticides was blamed for the destruction of more than 11,000 bee colonies.

In the U.S. diet, about one in three mouthfuls comes from crops that bees pollinate.

Raleigh News & Observer