The Maui News - Weekender

EPA OKs pesticide that harms bees

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WASHINGTON — The Environmen­tal Protection Agency will allow farmers to resume broad use of a pesticide over objections from beekeepers, citing private chemical industry studies that the agency says show the product does only lower-level harm to bees and wildlife.

Friday’s EPA announceme­nt — coming after the agricultur­e industry accused the agency of unduly favoring honeybees — makes sulfoxaflo­r the latest bug- and weedkiller allowed by the Trump administra­tion despite lawsuits alleging environmen­tal or human harm. The pesticide is made by Corteva Agriscienc­e, created from the DowDuPont merger and restructur­ing.

Honeybees pollinate billions of dollars of food crops annually in the United States, but agricultur­e and other land uses that cut into their supply of pollen, as well as pesticides, parasites and other threats, have them on a sharp decline. U.S. beekeepers lost 38 percent of their bee colonies last winter alone.

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