Preston Peck: Just a small step for Bayer

Regarding the Sept. 8 news article “NCDOT pollinates with roadside flowerbeds”: Thanks for highlighting the grant of $150,000 to North Carolina by Bayer CropScience to expand roadside habitat for pollinators. Bees and other pollinators are dying in record number, and each of us depend on their survival. The plight of the pollinators is multifaceted, including loss of habitat, monoculture cropping and disease.

However, a growing body of evidence with a sharp division in scientific opinion suggests that a large factor concerns the use of systemic pesticides called neonicotinoids, whose leading seller is Bayer. Seeds are often coated with this chemical, causing it to become part of the plant, affecting targeted and beneficial insects that make contact. Use of some of these insecticides has been suspended in the European Union, including in Germany where Bayer finds its roots.

Cynics might call the gift of funds to the state “green-washing.” In a better light, it is the recognition of a problem that requires caution, public responsibility and action.

Bayer should suspend production and sale of this class of insecticides in this country until an objective determination of risk is complete.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Preston Peck: Just a small step for Bayer."