N Am review: US still wrestling with bees, drift and GMO controversy

摘要

Concern about how pesticides, particularly neonicotinoid insecticides, may be harming wild and commercial honeybees continued to plague the US pesticide industry in 2014, with the issue reaching the highest levels of the federal government. President Barack Obama in June issued an executive order to set up a new inter-agency task force, led by the EPA and the USDA, to develop an action plan for addressing pollinator losses by early 2015. The order specifically called on the EPA to expedite its efforts to assess the effects of neonicotinoids and other pesticides on bees, highlighting the view that pesticide exposure was one of “several stressors” that were causing pollinator declines.