I cannot say it strong enough. Do not believe the lies
that environmental groups, particularly those that receive millions from
liberal foundations and from members who never question the “science” they
claim to justify massive scare campaigns.
One such organization is Friends of the Earth (FOE) and
its latest claim is that bees are dying all over the world as the result of the
use of pesticides in agriculture and by people protecting their gardens. It is
a lie.
The attack on the use of pesticides began in 1962 with
the publication of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” that claimed that their use
posed a threat to human life. She said “Only within the moment of time
represented by the present century has one species -- man -- acquired
significant power to alter the nature of the world.”
The problem with her opinion is that humanity cannot
alter nature, but can protect itself against the diseases and other problems.
Humanity endures nature in the form of climate that currently is cooling much
of the Earth. Were it not for science, we would not have put an end to polio
and reduced other diseases such as malaria by killing the mosquitoes that
spread it. We would not have learned how to create water purification systems
that protect the residents of cities worldwide. We would not have learned how
to increase crops that feed millions thanks to genetic modification.
Is humanity at risk? There are seven billion of us, more
than any previous time on Earth.
Why do I defend pesticides? Because, since the 1980s, I
have served pest control trade associations by providing communications
programs. In the 1980s I worked for a corporation that produced one of the most
extraordinary pesticides invented; one that was applied with water! It
so alarmed the Environmental Protection Agency, that it insisted that its
multi-million dollar registration be repeated and that company decided to cease
making it available in the U.S.
What do pesticides do? They protect us against trillions
of insect and rodent pests that spread diseases while some represent millions
in property damage—termites—every year. In June 2011, the EPA announced it intended
to ban the sale of “the most toxic rat and mouse poisons, as well as most loose
bait and pellet products” to residential customers. The only result of such a
ban would be millions more rats and mice in their homes!
Rachel Carson’s book predicted the massive loss of bird
species due to the use of pesticides. It was a bestseller and is still in
print. She was wrong, but she triggered the beginning and growth of
environmental groups that have used the same bad “science” to unleash all
manner of fears on Americans and worldwide. Friends of the Earth is just one of
them.
Recently I received a FOE email from Lisa Archer, its
food and technology program director, in which she reported a Valentine’s Day
project to stop Home Depot and Lowe’s stores from selling pesticides. The
project is based on the totally false claim that all the bees are dying from
the use of pesticides; in particular neonicotid pesticides that are widely used
in agriculture.
The American Council
on Science and Health (ACSH) disputes this while acknowledging that
“In the last decade, a massive decline in bee populations was detected. It was
given the name of “Bee Colony Collapse Disorder” and “while the problem seems
to have abated somewhat after 2010, periodic declines continued, and fears of
recurrent major extinctions persisted.” The fears have been fanned by
environmental organizations, but the ACSH revealed new research by scientists
affiliated with the Department of Agriculture here and in China, reviewed in
“The Scientist” that “provides the first evidence that the bee problem in fact,
stems from the tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV), not from pesticides.”
Not from pesticides despite the FOE’s claim that
“neonicotinoid pesticides are killing bees” noting that Europe is banning them.
Europe is a hotbed of environmental fears and, ironically, is reversing its
trend toward solar and wind energy after it has driven up the cost of
electricity there and harmed its economic growth.
The ACSH reports that “the bees may pick up the virus
from the pollen of plants that they feed upon, and that the virus may be spread
to other bees by mites that feed on them. Once it has gained a foothold in a
bee, the researchers determined that TRVS can replicate itself in the bee’s
body.”
“This process of a virus moving from one species to
another is call ‘host shifting’”.
Writing in 2012, Rich Kozlovich,
a pest control expert, reported that “it is not true that there has been a
mysterious worldwide collapse in honey bee populations. In fact managed bee
hives (which contain the bees which do the vast majority of our pollinating)
have increased by a remarkable 45 percent over the last five years.”
He also noted that “most staple foods—wheat, rice and
corn—do not depend on animal pollination at all. They are wind-pollinated, or
self-pollinating.”
These well-established facts mean nothing to FOE or other
environmental organizations seeking to demonize pesticides. It means nothing to
the EPA that has banned many extraordinarily effective pesticides from use to
protect humans and property.
It is the advances of modern science that have protected
and extended human life. Banning them just exposes Americans to a range of
diseases, some of which kill. Until more Americans understand that the real
threat is the EPA and the environmental groups spreading baseless fears, they
will continue to be at risk.
© Alan Caruba, 2014
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