The SumOfUs community has known for a long time that bee-killing pesticides are decimating pollinator populations. And it turns out that agro-chemical giants Syngenta and Bayer knew it too -- but kept it secret from the public.

That’s right. Thanks to Freedom of Information Act requests, previously unpublished field trials commissioned by the two neonic manufacturers have been released showing that two neonic pesticides seriously harm bee colonies in high concentrations.

The studies are particularly damning because they prove that neonics don’t just harm bees at the field level, but can harm the entire colony.

Both Bayer and Syngenta have long minimized the clear impact neonic pesticides have on bees -- and now we know they knew it all along.

Tell Bayer and Syngenta to stop suppressing field data about bee-killing pesticides.

Just recently, Syngenta claimed that none of the field tests it commissioned found that the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam -- the very chemical in this study -- “damages the health of bee colonies.” Yet this newly uncovered study clearly suggests otherwise.

This isn’t the first time that key research into the effects of neonics on pollinators has been suppressed. Earlier this year, under pressure from Agro-Chemical corporations, the USDA was accused of silencing concerns from its own scientists that neonics were devastating bee populations.

This silence and suppression of science that could save the bees needs to end right now. Bayer and Syngenta need to prove to us they have nothing to hide with the safety of neonic pesticides. It shouldn’t take Freedom of Information requests to do that.

The big chemical companies can’t have it both ways -- if the pesticides are as safe as they like to say they are, then it should be a no-brainer to release the field data. And if in fact there are deep concerns, the public deserves to know.

Enough suppressing field research. Demand that Syngenta and Bayer come clean about bee-killing neonics.

More than one third of the world’s supplies relies on pollinators. Here at SumOfUs we’ve been fighting tirelessly to make sure the destruction stops now, from supporting independent field research, to supporting the legal defense of scientists who’ve been muzzled, to showing up in person at Bayer’s doorstep. And last week, we helped raised vital funds to keep this campaign going. 

Together we're stopping the world's biggest companies in their tracks as they endanger the health of pollinators, our food supply, and our environment. Now, let’s make sure that Bayer and Syngenta can’t suppress science any longer.

Sign the petition to Bayer and Syngenta: come clean about bee-killing neonics now.

Thanks for all that you do,

Nicole, Toni, Reem, and the rest of the SumOfUs team

**********

More information: 

Greenpeace Investigation Uncovers Studies Showing Pesticides Pose Serious Harm to Honeybees, EcoWatch, Sept 22, 2016

Pesticide manufacturers' own tests reveal serious harm to honeybees, The Guardian, Sept 22, 2016