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August 19, 2016 CapitalPress.com 3 Neonics pose low risk for honeybees, WSU says By DAN WHEAT Capital Press RICHLAND, Wash. — A class of pesticides that has been linked to colony collapse disorder of honeybees may not be as much of a culprit as thought. Neonicotinoid pesticides, sometimes called neonics, are neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nico- tine. One of them, imidaclo- prid, is the most widely used insecticide in the world. Compared to organophos- phates and carbamates, neon- ics cause less toxicity in birds and mammals than in insects. While neonics can harm honeybees, a new study by Washington State University researchers shows they pose little risk to bees in real-world settings. A team of WSU entomol- ogists studied apiaries, col- lections of beehives, in urban, rural and agricultural areas in Washington looking for po- tential honeybee colony ex- posure to neonics from bees foraging for pollen. After calculating the risk based on a “dietary no observ- able adverse effect concentra- tion” — the highest experi- Dan Wheat/Capital Press Crew members at Hiatt Honey Co. near Ephrata, Wash., split honeybee hives March 28, 2012, in preparation for bee pollenization in tree fruit orchards that spring. A 2016 WSU study says pesticide risk to honeybees is low. mental point before there is an adverse effect on a species — of ive parts per billion, study results suggest low potential for neonics to harm bee be- havior or colony health. “Calculating risk, which is the likelihood that bad things will happen to a species based on a speciic hazard or dose, is very different from calcu- lating hazard, which is the po- tential to cause harm under a speciic set of circumstances,” said co-author Allan Felsot, WSU Tri-Cities professor of entomology and environmen- tal toxicology. “Most of what has domi- nated the literature recently regarding neonicotinoids and honeybees has been hazard identiication,” he said. “But hazardous exposures are not likely to occur in a real-life setting.” Felsot said the study shows that the risk of bee exposure to neonicotinoids is small because bees aren’t exposed to enough of the pesticide to cause much harm in a re- al-world scenario. Lead author Timothy Law- rence, assistant professor and director of WSU Island County Extension, said many sublethal toxicity studies, whether at the organism level or colony level, have not done formal dose-response analy- ses. “The question we posed fo- cused on the risk of exposure to actively managed honey- bee colonies in different land- scapes,” he said. With the cooperation of 92 Washington beekeepers, the team collected samples of bee- bread, or stored pollen, from 149 apiaries across the state. Throughout the one-year trial, neonics residue was de- tected in fewer than ive per- cent of apiaries in rural and urban landscapes. Two neon- ics, clothianidin and thiame- thoxam, were found in about 50 percent of apiaries in agri- cultural landscapes. Although neonics insecti- cide residues were detectable, the amounts were substantial- ly smaller than levels shown in other studies to not have effects on honeybee colonies. The WSU researchers refer- enced 13 studies to identify no observable adverse effect concentrations for bee pop- ulations, which they used to perform a risk assessment based on detected residues. “Based on residues we found in apiaries around Washington state, our results suggest no risk of harmful ef- fects in rural and urban land- scapes and arguably very low risks from exposure in agri- cultural landscapes,” Felsot said. While exposure levels were found to be small, Law- rence said it is still important to be careful with use of neon- icotinoid insecticides and fol- low product label directions. For example, insecticides should not be used during plant lowering stages when bees are likely to be foraging. “While we found that bees did not have chronic exposure to adverse concentrations of neonicotinoids, we are not saying that they are not harm- ful to bees — they are,” he said. “People need to be care- ful with pesticide use to avoid acute exposure.” Other researchers on the study included Elizabeth Cul- bert, WSU Food and Environ- mental Quality Lab (GEQL) research technician; Vincent Hebert, WSU associate pro- fessor of entomology and lab- oratory research director; and Steven Sheppard, WSU pro- fessor and department chair- man of entomology. Two wolves shot in NE Merger sparks organic milk competition worries Washington; operation continues Danone plans to Two females shot from helicopter buy Whitewave Foods for $12.5 billion By DON JENKINS By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Capital Press Two female wolves in the Profanity Peak pack in north- eastern Washington have been killed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to stop depredations on livestock, the department said Aug. 11. WDFW is continuing to hunt for more wolves in the pack and has not revealed how many it plans to shoot. WDFW says it does not plan to eliminate the pack entirely. The two wolves, which included the pack’s breeding female, were shot from a he- licopter on Aug. 5. The de- partment maintained a news blackout on the wolf killings until Aug. 11. Before the shootings, the pack had six adults and ive pups. The pups are old enough to have been weaned, so the shooting of their mother should not affect their survival, accord- ing to WDFW wolf policy co- ordinator Donny Martorello. The surviving adults should provide food for the pups, he stated in an email. Shooters are unable to dis- tinguish different members of the pack, he said. WDFW declined to disclose more details while the hunt for wolves continues. WDFW Director Jim Un- sworth authorized lethal re- moval Aug. 3 after the depart- ment conirmed the pack was responsible for killing three calves and one cow this sum- mer. Later that day, WDFW in- vestigators conirmed the pack had killed a fourth calf. State policy calls for WDFW to consider lethal removal af- ter a pack kills or injures four livestock, despite efforts by the rancher to stop the depredations by non-lethal measures, such as increasing human presence around the herd. According to Martorel- lo, livestock producers in the pack’s range in Ferry County are continuing to prevent wolf attacks by using range riders. WDFW has received no report of depredations since the oper- ation to cull the pack began, he stated. This is the third time the state A proposed merger be- tween two major dairy pro- cessors has sparked concerns of reduced competition for organic milk, potentially re- ducing prices paid to farmers. The planned takeover of Colorado-based Whitewave Foods for $12.5 billion by Danone, a global corpora- tion based in France, would likely shrink the number of buyers for organic milk in many markets, according to the Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog group. “It could have a profound impact on the options that organic dairy producers have,” said Mark Kastel, the nonprofit’s co-founder. Danone and Whitewave are currently competing in the organic dairy industry with CROPP, a farmers’ cooperative that owns the Organic Valley line of prod- ucts. Significantly, CROPP supplies milk for the Stony- field Farm brand of yogurts, which is owned by Danone, and licenses to sell fluid milk under the Stonyfield Farm label. With the proposed merg- er, however, Danone would have Whitewave’s milk pro- duction under its control, probably eliminating its Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has killed to members of the Profanity Peak wolf pack. has shot wolves to stop depreda- tions on livestock. One wolf was shot in the Huckleberry pack in 2014 and seven in the Wedge Pack in 2012. The wolf shot in 2014 was the pack’s breeding female, in- tensifying the criticism directed at the department by some wolf advocates. WDFW, with the counsel of its Wolf Advisory Group, re- cently revised it lethal-removal policy, hoping to clarify what ranchers are expected to do to prevent depredations and what the department will do if those measures fail. The new policy also states WDFW will give only weekly reports during lethal-removal operations. Martorello said the depart- ment doesn’t expect to give an- other report until Aug. 17. WDFW says the policy pro- tects the safety of the public, ranchers and department em- ployees. WDFW enlisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services in 2012 and 2014 to shoot wolves. This time, WDFW is carry- ing out the operation. A federal judge ruled the federal agency can’t lethally remove wolves without a more thorough review of the environmental impact. Wolves are not a federally protected species in the eastern one-third of Washington, where the Profanity Peak wolves were shot. Wolves are a state-protect- ed species throughout Washing- ton, but the state’s wolf man- agement policy allows for lethal removal to stop depredations. Washington’s wolf popula- tion, estimated at 90 at the end of 2015, is mostly concentrated in the northeastern corner of the state. Grass Expertise. Capital Press File Holstein cows are seen in this ile photo.The proposed merger of two large dairy companies has some on the organic dairy industry worried. need to buy from CROPP, said Kastel. “It would be counterintu- itive that those relationships would continue,” he said. Capital Press was unable to reach representatives of Danone or Whitewave as of press time. Organic Valley said that the organic dairy industry remains robust, which is un- derscored by Danone’s in- vestment in Whitewave. “We are a favored vendor of Stonyfield and we have pioneered the organic indus- try together,” Organic Valley said in a statement. “We plan to continue our collabora- tion and to serve their organ- ic fluid milk needs.” Whitewave traditionally buys from large “concen- trated animal feeding oper- ations,” or CAFOs, while Organic Valley is oriented toward family-scale farms, said Kastel. With a bigger economy of scale, the combined Da- none-Whitewave could de- press organic milk premiums and possibly weaken Organ- ic Valley’s position in the market, he said. “If we end up with an im- balance of power, it could bring the wholesale price down for everybody,” Kastel said. Cornucopia Institute has asked the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to in- vestigate the merger for an- ti-competitive effects. Peter Carstensen, a law professor specializing in ag- ricultural antitrust at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, said the group’s request has merit. “It’s the kind of transac- tion that ought to be looked at very seriously,” he said. It’s possible that Da- none-Whitewave wouldn’t mind reducing milk prices and putting dairy farmers out of business in the short term, because over the long term, a smaller milk supply could justify higher prices, Carstensen said. “There’s an opportunity here for strategic behavior,” he said. A representative of the Federal Trade Commission said the agency “does not confirm the existence of or comment on investigations” but would make any find- ings public if a lawsuit was brought to block the merger. Capital Press was unable to reach a representative of the Department of Justice as of press time. Over 40 Years Experience LET’S TALK! 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