By Nellie Peyton, Special to the Packet
Beekeepers and advocates met in Palmer Square on Sunday to petition for Gov. Christie’s help in suspending a certain class of harmful pesticides, which they say are killing over 30 percent of their honeybee hives.
The chemicals, called neonicotinoids, have already been banned in France, Germany, and Italy for their toxicity to insects. The most common one, clothianidin, is currently used to treat 90 percent of corn crop in the United States.
”It is now clear that this is what is causing distress to the bees,” said Lorie Van Auken, a beekeeper from East Brunswick.
This “distress” is known as Colony Collapse Disorder, and, according to Ms. Van Auken, was first noticed in 2006 when commercial beekeeper Dave Hackenberg came back to the hive to find that 80 percent of his bees were gone.
”The bees drop dead at the site of pollination,” she said. Because neonicotinoids are a neurotoxin, they interfere with the bees’ ability to navigate back to the hive. They also lower the insects’ immunity to other diseases.
”We’re not saying don’t use pesticides at all, just stop using these,” said Maria Concilio, a beekeeper from South Orange.
Gov. Christie has seemed receptive to the beekeepers’ concerns so far. In August, he wrote a letter thanking them for their work, and acknowledging its importance to the state’s economy.
According to Gov. Christie, New Jersey’s bees produced $1.7 million worth of honey and pollinated an additional $200 million worth of fruits and vegetables in the last year.
”We can’t imagine that he won’t take notice of this issue in the Garden State,” said Ms. Van Auken. “This is what New Jersey is known for.”
She and other advocates will present their petition to Gov. Christie at the winter meeting of the New Jersey Beekeepers’ Association, which he will attend.
”We started asking for an outright ban on these chemicals, then thought that suspension might be more reasonable,” said Ms. Concilio. “We need this now.”
According to Ms. Concilio, beekeepers were losing 15 percent of their hives two years ago, and now it is up to 30 percent and rising.
In July 2012, beekeepers and environmental organizations nationwide presented over a million signatures to the Environmental Protection Agency, urging them to suspend the use of clothianidin for these reasons. The EPA denied their request, saying, “The petition fails to show that an imminent hazard to bees exists.”
”Corporate interests are strong it takes pressure to get the EPA to do the right thing,” said Ms. Van Auken.
Though the issue is gaining ground, it is still not as widely known as these beekeepers would like. Elizabeth Nelson, from Somerset, first presented the case to Gov. Christie at a South Amboy town hall meeting in September.
”The governor said he would look into it, that he wasn’t aware of these things,” Ms. Nelson said.
The beekeepers were joined on Sunday by representatives of the Princeton Bee Team, a student group at Princeton University that is also working to raise awareness for these issues.
Sarah Bluher, one of the club’s officers, said that the Bee Team will be offering classes in the winter, and an entire lesson will be devoted to Colony Collapse Disorder and its causes.
”I think there are definitely less harmful alternatives to these pesticides,” Ms. Bluher said.
She also explained that while environmental causes are often pitted against economic interests, she hopes people will realize that in this situation that is not the case.
According to the USDA, bee pollination is responsible for more than $15 billion in increased crop value each year.
”It’s so obvious that without pollinators you don’t produce as much crop,” Ms. Bluher said.
In addition, Ms. Nelson explained that the U.S. uses far more neocotinoid pesticides than are necessary.
”The crop is being treated for pests whether or not the pests show up that year,” she said. Because these certain pesticides are seed treatments, they reach every part of the plant, and build up over time in the soil.
This method of over-using pesticides excuses farmers from crop rotation, Ms. Nelson said. The pesticides are also widely used on golf courses, and in home gardening.
New Jersey beekeepers have currently collected over three hundred signatures on their petition, and are hoping to gather as many as possible before they present it to the governor. Many of them expressed a personal urgency for the cause.
”They say what’s not good for bees is not good for us,” said Irena Tech-Czarny, who is involved with the Princeton Bee Team. “These chemicals can’t be good for us.”

