{"id":42443,"date":"2014-05-12T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=42443"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:35:01","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:35:01","slug":"follow-the-honey-7-ways-pesticide-companies-are-spinning-the-bee-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2014\/05\/follow-the-honey-7-ways-pesticide-companies-are-spinning-the-bee-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Honey: 7 Ways Pesticide Companies Are Spinning the Bee Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FollowTheHoneyReportCover_9Fsm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you like to eat, then you should care about what\u2019s happening to bees. Did you know that two-thirds of our food crops require pollination — the very foods<\/a> that we rely on for healthy eating — such as apples, berries, and almonds, just to name a few. That\u2019s why the serious declines in bee populations are getting more attention, with entire campaigns<\/a> devoted to saving bees.<\/p>\n

A strong and growing body of evidence points to exposure to a class of neurotoxic pesticides called neonicotinoids — the fastest-growing and most widely used class of synthetic pesticides — as a key contributing factor to bee declines.<\/p>\n

The European Union banned the three most widely used neonicotinoids, based on strong science indicating that neonics can kill bees outright and make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens, and other stressors.<\/p>\n

Enter the corporate spin doctors. As my new report with Friends of the Earth<\/a> details, three of the leading pesticide corporations — Bayer, Syngenta, and Monsanto — are engaged in a massive public relations disinformation campaign to distract the public and policymakers from thinking that pesticides might have something to do with bee death and destruction.<\/p>\n

Big Tobacco honed these strategies for decades, stalling action that resulted in millions of preventable deaths. As Bayer stockholders meet in Germany<\/a> this week, this report shines a critical light on these destructive corporate practices.<\/p>\n

Here are the seven tactics pesticide companies are using to spin the bee crisis:<\/p>\n

1. Pretending to care \u2013 PR blitz<\/strong><\/p>\n

Big Tobacco perfected the art of self-serving public relations, to appear to care about the very problems your products cause and offer alleged solutions.<\/p>\n

A key element of the pesticide industry\u2019s PR strategy is to go on the offensive by creating an elaborate appearance of being \u201cout in front\u201d and taking a lead role in \u201csaving bees\u201d. For example, last year, Bayer launched its mobile \u201cBee Care Tour\u201d at the Ag Issues Forum and Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida. The tour continues in 2014<\/a>, with stops at Oregon State University, Washington State University, University of California, Davis, South Dakota State University, and Purdue University. In June, the Bee Care Tour will be on hand for National Pollinator Week in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

2. Creating distractions: Blame anything but pesticides<\/strong><\/p>\n

Big Tobacco was a master at inventing diversions, to ensure the public wouldn\u2019t place blame where it belonged. The idea is to create uncertainty; as one tobacco industry executive famously put it<\/a>: \u201cDoubt is our product.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Bayer, Syngenta and Monsanto have deployed a mix of PR tactics to divert attention away from neonicotinoids as a key contributor to bee declines. They have typically promoted a \u201cmultiple factors\u201d argument that downplays and manufactures doubt about pesticides\u2019 role, while emphasizing varroa mites, pathogens, and bee forage as primary forces threatening bees.<\/p>\n

For example, Helmut Schramm, head of Bayer CropScience Germany, explained<\/a>: \u201cIt\u2019s generally known that the varroa mite is the main enemy of the bee.\u201d To further distract attention, Bayer has even erected a giant sculpture<\/a> of the varroa mite on a bee at its \u201cBee Care\u201d Center in Germany. As the New York Times notes<\/a>, \u201cConveniently, Bayer markets products to kill the mites too\u201d.<\/p>\n

3. Spinning science<\/strong><\/p>\n

Big Tobacco was so intent on twisting the science of smoking that they created \u201cThe Tobacco Institute\u201d for the purpose of funding industry-friendly science.<\/p>\n

All three companies — Bayer, Syngenta and Monsanto — are strengthening their reach into the scientific community to enhance the credibility of their case that anything but pesticides are to blame for the honeybee collapse. Companies are funding scientific studies, cultivating alliances and strategic partnerships with farmers, beekeepers, and agricultural organizations in order to bolster the legitimacy of their arguments and position themselves as \u201cfriends of the bees\u201d.<\/p>\n

4. Buying credibility: Putting experts on payrolls and co-opting groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

A related way that Big Tobacco distorts science is to pay fund researchers and co-opt professional organizations. Once again, pesticide companies are following that lead. For example, last June, Monsanto hosted a three-day \u201cBee Health Summit\u201d, where the company greatly expanded its reach and influence in the scientific community.<\/p>\n

At the summit, Monsanto announced<\/a> the formation of a Honey Bee Advisory Council, a strategic alliance comprised of Monsanto executives themselves along with others. Even with a friendly audience, a post-summit survey<\/a> found that only 14 percent of attendees felt pesticides were covered well or usefully.<\/p>\n

Also, the British Bee Keepers Association<\/a> has received significant funding from Bayer, Syngenta and other pesticide companies, an arrangement that some critics have called<\/a> a quid pro quo for the organization\u2019s endorsement of insecticides as \u201cbee-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Blaming farmers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another common tactic of Big Tobacco is to blame smokers who \u201cshould have known\u201d that smoking was deadly. This shameless strategy is now being used by pesticide companies. For example, Bayer\u2019s Bee Care website <\/a>emphasizes the \u201cbee-responsible use\u201d of its products and implies that any problem with neonics is because of improper use of its products by farmers and others.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Syngenta claims<\/a>: \u201cThe small number of instances of damage to bee health from these pesticides has come from the very rare occasions when farmers have used the product incorrectly (e.g. not followed label instructions).\u201d<\/p>\n

Syngenta even blames human fear<\/a> for bee declines saying: \u201cMany people are afraid of bees, wasps, hornets, and many other flying insects. This fear converts, unfortunately, into a major health threat to bees, as too many people simply kill them if they fly into a home or too near to people\u201d.<\/p>\n

6. Targeting children<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as Phillip Morris aimed the Joe Camel character at youth, now comes the children\u2019s book from Bayer called \u201cToby and the Bees<\/a>\u201d in which a friendly neighborhood beekeeper explains to young Toby that bees are getting sick but “not to worry” as it’s just a problem with mites, and a special medicine will make the bees healthy — made by Bayer. In another attempt to mold young minds, The Bayer Bee Center is now promoting a coloring contest<\/a> dubbed \u201cColor Me Bee-autifully\u201d to \u201cencourage students 12 and under to learn about bee health.\u201d<\/p>\n

7. Attacking regulators<\/strong><\/p>\n

The European Union is far ahead of the United States when it comes to taking action to protect bees from the harmful impacts of neonics. Just as Big Tobacco curries favor with policymakers, so does the pesticide industry.<\/p>\n

Documents obtained by the Corporate Europe Observatory<\/a> revealed that Syngenta, Bayer, and the European Crop Protection Association (the pesticides makers\u2019 lobbying group) were engaged in a private behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign that began as early as June 2012 to prevent a ban on neonicotinoids in the European Union. Through a series of letters, these companies made accusations with questionable scientific or factual backing in an effort to convince European Commissioners that neonicotinoids were not the problem.<\/p>\n

Action needed now to save the bees and our food supply<\/strong><\/p>\n

Policymakers, the media and the public should be aware of these tobacco-style tactics, which were used for years to mislead and delay policy action for decades. We cannot afford the same delay in protecting bees from further harm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time for the United States government to follow the lead of the European Union to protect bees and our food. EPA should heed the growing body of science linking neonics to bee declines and limit the use of these pesticides. Congress should pass the Saving America\u2019s Pollinators Act<\/a>. The White House should push both Congress and federal agencies to move quickly.<\/p>\n

We must act before it\u2019s too late. Our very food supply is at stake.<\/p>\n

___________________________<\/p>\n

Michele Simon is a public health lawyer specializing in food industry marketing and lobbying tactics and author of Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back<\/a>. She is also on the advisory board for Corporate Accountability International\u2019s Value [the] Meal<\/a> campaign and lives across the bay from San Francisco in Oakland. You can follow her blog<\/a> and find her on Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Friends of the Earth<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 foe.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As my new report with Friends of the Earth details, three of the leading pesticide corporations — Bayer, Syngenta, and Monsanto — are engaged in a massive public relations disinformation campaign to distract the public and policymakers from thinking that pesticides might have something to do with bee death and destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}