The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association (OBA), whose members are mostly hobbyists…, has called for the Canadian Honey Council … president, Kevin Nixon, to resign because the association believes he goes too easy on the neonic insecticide.
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…[I]n a bee industry publication, Nixon said that money is being wasted by fingering neonicotinoids when there are a number of other threats to bees.
…But OBA president Tibor Szabo told Farmers Forum: “Neonics are of special importance. …We can’t have someone with those kinds of ideas properly representing Canadian beekeepers.”
Szabo also said that Nixon was incapable of being unbiased… because one of his largest customers for his commercial hive production is a company that produces neonicotinoids…
…[T]he science is in Nixon’s favour. Nixon pointed to “some 19 million acres of canola,” in Western Canada that are being treated with neonicotinoids, “and no beekeepers see a problem…”
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Commercial beekeeper and former OBA board member Hugh Simpson… said “the subject of bee health over the last 3 to 4 years has been completely overwhelmed by the neonic discussion…”
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Simpson added that lack of management experience, particularly around the varroa mite which he said organic beekeepers don’t treat for, can be disastrous for bees…
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Catch the Buzz – Beekeepers vs. Beekeepers: Ontario Group Too Focused on Neonics?
