The Ontario Beekeepers Association has released it's initial response to Health Canada's preliminary pollinator risk assessment for imidacloprid - a neonic pesticide.
The Health Canada assessment downplayed the impact of the pesticide on bees.
The OBA says nothing in that assessment moderates its call to discontinue the widespread prophylactic use of neonicotinoids.
The Association argues the assessment failed to address the risks caused when the neonic is mixed with other chemicals, even though the OBA argues bees often experience multiple chemical exposures.
The response suggests the use of honey bees as a surrogate in the assessment for all other types of bees and insects does not recognize that native bees face potentially greater risks.
The OBA's response includes the argument that not evaluating pollen residues at the colony level is a major gap in the assessment.
The Ontario Beekeepers Association is still working on it's final submission and says it will be posted on the OBA website news feed when it is submitted.
