In response to a letter from several senators, Jim Jones, acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said that although the agency is concerned about potential pesticides’ impacts on bees, it does not intend to further accelerate its review of neonicotinoid pesticides which some beekeepers and environmental groups are blaming for bee kills …
Jones stated that these reviews will take time. “As part of advancing our understanding in the context of reevaluation, the EPA has already required six specific studies to address uncertainties related to potential honey bee exposure, and effects from imidacloprid alone,” Jones wrote. “Additional, similar studies will be required of other neonicotinoid insecticides in the near future. These studies, while underway or anticipated, will require time to complete …” – Southwest Farm Press
The EPA will not be rushed? I hope these Senators have the backbone to respond to this insolence from public servants with some swift management action. This agency should have answered most of these questions 20 years ago, and the fact that they didn’t should lead to their removal from their jobs. Will not be rushed? They should be rushed out of public service and replaced with people who will carry out protection of the environment and the American people as they should.
