Neonicotinoid insecticides are thought to have caused the deaths of more than 90 billion bees worldwide over the past 10 years, reducing honey production by 60 percent and leading to a dangerous shortage of pollinators. Two such products have been produced by the German company Bayer CropScience since 1991, and are leading sellers for the multinational. It is a systemic toxin which works its way from the seed throughout the plant, infiltrating the pollen and nectar, and is extremely persistent in soil. The Natural Resources Defence Council has filed a lawsuit against the EPA to disclose the studies Bayer submitted to gain approval of chlothianidin in the U.S. According to ENS, “NRDC attorneys believe that the EPA has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious bee disappearance.

On August 26, the German-based Coalition against Bayer Dangers (CBD) filed court papers accusing Bayer AG with "marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting the mass death of bees all over the world." The lawsuit was co-filed with German beekeepers who claim Bayer's clothianidin pesticide was responsible for mass die-offs.

Bayer's application for approval of clothianidin was rejected by France (which also banned Bayer's imidacloprid) after the death of 90 billion bees over the past decade destroyed 60% of French honey production. Environmental News Service reports "the coalition alleges that the start of sales of imidacloprid and clothianidin coincided with the occurrence of large-scale bee deaths in many European and American countries."

Source Rodale and PAN