Neonics Crazy Or Batshit Crazy - No Difference

Regarding "Garden-care giant to drop chemicals linked to bee declines" (Wednesday A11), the article trumpets the decision by garden-care giant Ortho to stop using Neonicotinoids in their consumer products.

The problem with this pronouncement is that there is not an ounce of evidence that "Neonics" have anything to do with colony collapse disorder among bee populations.  There is not a single government funded study that shows a connection; no studies from industry experts; no university funded studies.  From the whole of respectable science, there is nothing that demonstrates a connection.

The sole source of "evidence" of the ill effects of Neonics comes from a variety of Lefty interest groups that got tired of losing in their efforts to ban GMOs (genetically engineered crop seeds), and needed a new whipping boy.  For evidence of this, you need look no further than the quotes in the article from the "Center for Biological Diversity" and "Defenders of Wildlife".  They are both part of a small and incestuous group of websites that cite each other endlessly, beating the anti-Neonics drums every day, the sound resonating across our fair land  and into the ears of impressionable journalists who take it as fact because they hear the accusations oft-repeated, and like the idea of influencing the behavior of giant corporations by giving rumors the same weight as fact.

All that said, it leaves skeptics like myself to explain why a giant corporation like Ortho would remove Neonics from their products if there was nothing wrong with them.  I believe the answer can be found in a quote from Ortho's vice president and general manager Tim Martin, who admits that "eliminating Neonics from Ortho products might require gardeners to apply them more frequently."

Did he just say that removing Neonics would force gardeners to buy more of his products?  Why yes, yes he did.

Pete Smith
Cypress, TX

P.S. - The use of Neonics by gardeners represents less than 1% of the total used worldwide.  Commercial agriculture uses the other 99 point something percent.  Call me crazy, but that information belonged in this article, somewhere.