EMERGENCY CITIZEN PETITION TO THE

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

__________________________________________

)

 )

JEFF ANDERSON, MANLEY AND LINDA )

BIGALK and 25 other commercial )

beekeepers and honey producers, and )

four environmental and consumer )

 organizations, represented by: )

 Center for Food Safety )

 660 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 302 )

Washington, DC 20003 )

(Tel: 202.547.9359) )

)

Petitioners, )

) Docket Number _________

)

Filed With: )

)

LISA P. JACKSON )

in her official capacity as, )

Administrator ) 

Environmental Protection Agency )

Ariel Rios Building )

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. )

Washington, DC 20460 )

_________________________________________ )
EMERGENCY PETITION

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 Table of Contents Page

SUMMARY OF PETITION 3

PETITIONERS 7

Petitioners’ Interests 7

Broader Public Interest in this Petition 8

APPLICABLE LAW 9

ARGUMENT 9

 I. Introduction 9

 II. State of the Science Report 10

 III. EPA’s Authority Over Pesticides 11

 IV. Summary of EPA’s Institutional and Legal Failures 12

 V. Factual Background 13

A. Colony Collapse Disorder 13

B. Clothianidin and Other Neonicotinoid Pesticides 16

C. EPA’s Awareness that Clothianidin Causes Mass Bee Kills 17

D. Poor Reception in Europe for Clothianidin and Other Neonicotinoids 18

E. U.S. Government Failure to Survey for CCD Causes 19

VI. Regulatory History of Clothianidin 21

A. Clothianidin’s Conditional Registration 21

B. Bayer’s Fatally Flawed Field Study 22

C. EPA’s 2010 Re-Review of Bayer’s 2007 Study 23

D. EPA’s Endangered Species Act Violation 24

E. Clothianidin’s Rejection by New York State 26

F. Critical New Studies on Exposure Pathways 27

STATEMENT OF LEGAL GROUNDS 31

 VII. Allowing Sale and Use of Clothianidin Without a Field Study 31

 Required for its Conditional Registration is Arbitrary and Capricious; 

 Immediate Suspension is Required

VIII. Studies Linking Neonicotinoids to Declining Honey Bee Populations and 33

 Health Justify Immediate Suspension of Clothianidin’s Registration

 IX. Immediate Suspension is Warranted Under 7 U.S.C. § 136d 35

A. Cancellation Proceedings are Required or at Least Warranted 35

B. Clothianidin Presents an “Imminent Hazard”; Immediate 36

 Suspension is Warranted

 X. Clothianidin’s Inadequate Labeling Renders It Misbranded; a Stop Sale, 36

 Use or Removal Order is Required

 XI. EPA’s Actions Violate the Endangered Species Act 39

 

CONCLUSION 39

TABLES

APPENDICES
EMERGENCY PETITION

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EMERGENCY CITIZEN PETITION TO THE

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

SEEKING SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION FOR CLOTHIANIDIN

SUMMARY OF PETITION

Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. §136 et 

seq., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticide use in the United States. In

violation of FIFRA, EPA continues to permit the sale and use of clothianidin, a neonicotinoid 

pesticide, for which EPA is lacking a pollinator field study the agency required eight years ago 

as a condition of clothianidin’s registration and as necessary to support the required “no

unreasonable environmental effects” determination.1In short, EPA has violated its own 

conditional registration procedures for obtaining outstanding data. That legal defect is at the 

heart of this Petition.

Allowing the continued sale and use of any pesticide while EPA lacks the scientific 

studies it needs to ensure the compound does not pose a hazard is irresponsible. Doing so with 

clothianidin is particularly damaging because neonicotinoid pesticides, and clothianidin in 

particular, function as systemic insecticides with physical and chemical properties allowing them 

to move easily within a given plant and reach its flowers, fruit, pollen and nectar – essentially 

making the whole plant poisonous to insects. The plant becomes potentially highly toxic to bees. 

This phenomenon could be a significant contributing factor in the recent, devastating decline in 

honey bee numbers and health and is likely a contributing factor in the decline of indigenous bee 

species as well as other insects, including Federally-listed threatened and endangered species. 

Due to EPA’s actions and inactions, clothianidin and its “sister” pesticides now are

spread widely throughout tens of millions of acres of both agricultural and neighboring lands. 

The neighboring lands are where these toxic compounds were not intended to be and often are 

lands not owned by the farmers applying the compounds. These lands adjacent to agricultural 

fields in many cases are prime remaining bee and native insect habitat. Due to the very long 

 

1 EPA’s PC Code is 044309. Common trade names for products containing clothianidin include, but are not 

limited to, Poncho, Titan, Prosper, Sepresto, Proceed, Belay, Clutch, NipsIt, Celero, Arena, Inovate, Aloft and 

Darlex (see Appendix A for details of registered products and approved uses; note that Petitioners cannot be certain 

Appendix A includes every such product and approved use; EPA must determine that).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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persistence of these compounds, and the uncontrollable drifting and blowing of contaminated 

dust and soil, bees and other insects are victims of multiple exposure pathways that EPA failed to 

assess when the agency allowed the pesticide onto the market – and still has failed to assess. Key 

among these exposure pathways are residues in pollen and nectar, dust from treated seeds and 

soils, planter exhaust, untreated but contaminated non-crop plants adjacent to treated fields,

guttation droplets on both treated and untreated but contaminated plants and residues from foliar 

uses.

2 With half-lives of several years in some situations and continuing uptake by rotational 

crops and volunteer weeds such as dandelions, neonicotinoids are drastically altering our 

nation’s rural insect populations and no label warnings or use directions are capable of mitigating 

this.

EPA has frankly dropped the ball and consistently underestimated the extent of 

translocation and the levels of exposure to clothianidin and other neonicotinoids that honey bees 

and other beneficial insects are suffering, as well as the extent to which non-crop lands that are 

not owned by the applicators are being contaminated. It is long past time for the agency to stop 

giving these pesticides a free pass. It is improper for the agency to continue to deflect 

responsibility by responding that abnormal bee mortality and poor health result from many 

factors and the precise contribution of neonicotinoids to these declines remains uncertain. The 

agency made a major procedural and analytical error that turned a blind eye to resolving that 

very uncertainty long ago. That error can be readily remedied by granting the relief sought in this 

document.

Accordingly, pursuant to the Right to Petition Government Clause contained in the First 

Amendment of the United States Constitution,3the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)4and 

 

2 Christian H. Krupke, Greg J. Hunt, Brian D. Eitzer, Gladys Andino, Krispn Given, Multiple Routes of 

Pesticide Exposure for Honey Bees Living Near Agricultural Fields, 7 PLoS ONE 1, (2012), available at

e29268.doi:10.1371/journal.one.0029268; Andrea Tapparo et al., Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of 

Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming From Corn Coated Seeds, 46 

ENVTL. SCI. & TECH. 2592 (2012), DOI: 10.1021/es2035152; V. Girolami et al., Translocation of Neonicotinoid 

Insecticides From Coated Seeds to Seedling Guttation Drops: A Novel Way of Intoxication for Bees, 102 J. ECON.

ENTOMOLOGY, 1808 (2009).

3

 “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging . . . the right of the people . . . to petition Government for 

a redress of grievances.” U.S. CONST. amend. I. The right to “petition for a redress of grievances [is] among 

the most precious of the liberties safeguarded by the Bill of Rights.” United Mine Workers of Am. v. Illinois

State Bar Ass’n, 389 U.S. 217, 222 (1967). It shares the “preferred place” accorded in our system of 

government to the First Amendment freedoms, and has “sanctity and a sanction not permitting dubious 

intrusions.” Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516, 530 (1945). “[A]ny attempt to restrict those First Amendment 

liberties must be justified by clear public interest, threatened not doubtfully or remotely, but by clear and 

present danger.” Id. The Supreme Court has recognized that the right to petition is logically implicit in, and 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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EPA’s implementing regulations and Special Review procedures,

5

the Petitioners request the 

agency, on an emergency basis, to take four steps:

1) Cure clothianidin’s unlawful conditional registration. EPA should promptly 

suspend the registration of clothianidin and issue a stop sale, use or removal order pending 

compliance with the agency’s own procedural requirement to provide outstanding data, including 

but not limited to, the preparation, publication and agency review of a field study sufficient to 

support a finding that clothianidin does not pose any unreasonable adverse effects to honey bees 

and other insect pollinators.

6

The agency imposed that condition but has failed under FIFRA to 

enforce its own requirement since 2004.

2) Prevent imminent harm. Should EPA refuse to initially suspend clothianidin’s

conditional registration, Petitioners request EPA to promptly initiate Special Review and

cancellation procedures for clothianidin pursuant to 7 U.S.C. § 136d; and then suspend its

registration pending completion of the cancellation proceedings based on the ongoing and 

imminent harm posed.

Numerous peer-reviewed studies and other evidence of both acute and sub-lethal harm to 

bees from a variety of exposure pathways all across America’s agricultural landscapes support 

the need to stop the use of clothianidin.

7

They demonstrate not only that it causes unreasonable 

adverse environmental effects, but also that it is an “imminent hazard” to the environment. 

Contributing to mass declines of honey bees and other beneficial insects and thus leading to 

severe economic and ecological impacts clearly meets that test.

3) Recognize clothianidin’s inadequate labels. Prompt suspension and a stop sale, use 

or removal order are also necessary because clothianidin is misbranded. FIFRA authorizes EPA 

to take such action when there is reason to believe a pesticide is being distributed or sold with 

inadequate labeling.8Indeed, only seven months ago EPA issued just such an order when it 

discovered the herbicide “Imprelis,” newly registered by DuPont, was killing non-target 

 

fundamental to, the very idea of a republican form of government. United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542, 

552 (1876).

4

 5 U.S.C. § 553(e).

5

40 C.F.R. § 154 Subpart A and §154.10.

6

7 U.S.C. § 136k(a).

7

See State of the Science, Appendix B.

8

7 U.S.C. § 136k(a).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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coniferous trees.9Like Imprelis, the labels for clothianidin products do not contain directions

“adequate to protect health and the environment.”

10 In the face of clear evidence that planting 

seeds treated with clothianidin is spreading this extremely persistent and accumulating pesticide 

across America’s crop fields and the product labels are inadequate to advise planters on how to 

prevent this, EPA’s labeling is defective.

4) Comply with the Endangered Species Act. EPA has violated Section 7(a)(2) of the 

Endangered Species Act (ESA) by failing to make required “effects” determinations and failing 

to undergo consultation concerning clothianidin’s impacts on native endangered and threatened 

species.11 Numerous native Federally-listed insects may be directly impacted and non-insect 

species, such as insectivorous birds, may be indirectly affected. Petitioners request the agency to 

make the required effects determinations and complete the Section 7 consultation process. EPA

has sought to comply with the ESA retroactively, after its approval decision, which is illegal. It 

must suspend use of clothianidin in the interim to make this request meaningful. Otherwise users 

of this deadly insecticide may continue to take threatened and endangered species without 

appropriate mitigation or ESA compliance.

Failure by EPA to take the actions Petitioners request herein would severely harm 

Petitioners’ interests. It also would be arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the mandates of 

FIFRA, the ESA and the APA. In view of the emergency nature of this matter, the severity of the 

impacts the Petitioners are suffering and EPA’s excessive delays in resolving the questions of 

clothianidin’s environmental effects, the agency is urged to grant the requests in this Petition 

within 90 days of its filing date.

After identifying the Petitioners and their affected interests, and then citing the applicable 

law, this Petition provides an introduction to the argument (§ I), highlights a key new “State of 

the Science” report that supports the Petition (§ II), provides the background on EPA’s legal 

authority under FIFRA (§ III) and recounts EPA’s legal and procedural failures (§ IV). It then 

provides additional information on honey bee declines and the role of clothianidin (§ V), gives 

the flawed regulatory history of these pesticides (§ VI) and then gives five Statements of Legal 

Grounds to remedy the situation (§§ VII, VIII, IX, X and XI).

 

9 EPA Region III, In re E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Order, Docket No. 

FIFRA-03-2011-0277SS (Aug. 11, 2011).

10 7 U.S.C. § 136(q)(1)(F).

11 The ESA is codified at 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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This Petition does not challenge the FIFRA conditional registration process as a whole, 

but Petitioners strongly urge EPA to review that process to determine whether it is being 

misused. The case of clothianidin, in which EPA has allowed a highly toxic compound to 

become extremely prevalent despite an eight year period of failure by the registrant to comply 

with a critical condition imposed specifically to assess the long-term threat the compound poses 

to honey bee survival, strikes Petitioners as a clear illustration that the conditional registration 

system is broken. In any event, the burden of proving clothianidin meets EPA’s criteria to be 

“entitled” to continued registration rests not with Petitioners, or with EPA, but with Bayer A.G. 

and other companies with clothianidin-containing products, per 40 CFR§ 154.5 on Special 

Review petitions:

Burden of persuasion in determinations under this part.

In making determinations under this part the Administrator shall be 

guided by the principle that the burden of persuasion that a pesticide product is 

entitled to registration or continued registration for any particular use or under 

any particular set of terms and conditions of registration is always on the 

proponent(s) of registration.

PETITIONERS

Petitioners’ Interests

This Petition is motivated by a vast array of interests of the many Petitioners, who come 

from across the United States. The beekeeper and honey producers seek emergency relief due to 

severe economic impacts centered on the unsustainable mortality rates and poor health of their 

privately-owned honey bees, which will be aided if the Administrator provides the relief 

requested herein. The listed Petitioners are representative of this industry sector, in which there 

are thousands of similarly-affected businesses. The environmental and consumer organizations 

seek to represent the strong public interest in preserving healthy pollinators in both agricultural 

and natural ecosystems, as well as conserving native insects jeopardized by the persistent, 

systemic insecticide at issue. 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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Beekeeper and Honey Producer Petitioners. The following 27 beekeepers and honey 

producers are Petitioners (due to their large number, full descriptions of their particular interests 

follows at the end of this Petition in Table 1):

Jeff Anderson, Minnesota; Manley and Linda Bigalk, Iowa; Tim Brod, Colorado; 

Coalition4Bees, Colorado; Craig Byer, New York; Cynthia Cole, Massachusetts; Ross 

Conrad, Vermont; James Doyle, Indiana; Steve Ellis, Minnesota; Adam French, Idaho; Tim 

Fulton, Wisconsin; David Hackenberg, Pennsylvania; Paula Hendricks, Ohio; Dr. Carl 

Korschgen, Missouri; Dr. Daniel Mayer, Montana; Gary McCallister, Colorado; Miles 

McGaughey, Colorado; Cass Moore, Ohio; Charles Mraz, Vermont; Eloise Naylor, New 

Jersey; Michael Risk, Michigan; Gus Rouse, Hawaii; Tom Theobold, Colorado; Tim Tucker, 

Kansas; Charles Vorisek, Pennsylvania; Western Colorado Beekeepers Association, 

Colorado; Stephen Whittlesey, Massachusetts.

Environmental and Consumer Organization Petitioners. The following four environmental 

and consumer organizations are Petitioners (full descriptions of their particular interests are at 

the end of this Petition in Table 2):

 Beyond Pesticides, Washington, DC; Center for Food Safety, Washington, DC, and 

San Francisco; International Center for Technology Assessment, Washington, DC; Pesticide 

Action Network of North America, San Francisco.

Broader Public Interest in this Petition

Petitioners are not alone in seeking emergency relief. Hundreds of thousands of 

Americans have endorsed an informal citizen petition already urging EPA’s Administrator, Lisa 

P. Jackson, to stop the use of clothianidin.

12 Intense public concern over EPA’s actions is visible 

through comments, position papers, articles and books representing a vast spectrum of 

stakeholders across the country. Administrator Jackson and the agency cannot ignore the public 

concern over the loss of honey bees, other beneficial insects, resulting economic and ecosystem 

damages and the unnecessary persistent toxic pollution of America’s vast agricultural landscapes 

that EPA’s actions and inactions enabled.

 

12 Pesticide Action Network N. Am., Pull Bayer’s Bee-Killing Pesticide. Now, Action Alert (Dec. 8, 2010)

available at http://action.panna.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5370.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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APPLICABLE LAW

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, 7 U.S.C. § 136 et seq.

The Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.

The Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Subchapter II

Code of Federal Regulations, EPA, 40 C.F.R. Parts 150, 152, 154

EPA Guideline 850.3040: Field Testing for Pollinators (April 1996)

ARGUMENT

I. Introduction

Over the past decade, the proliferating use of the neonicotinoid class of pesticides has 

coincided with mass die-offs of honey bee (Apis mellifera) populations in the phenomenon 

known as Colony Collapse Disorder (“CCD”).13 If left unchecked, these losses could precipitate 

an economic and ecological disaster impacting the Petitioners and the United States as a whole at 

a time when the nation can ill-afford it. Honey bees not only produce nutritious honey, but are 

also of enormous economic importance for American agriculture as pollinators. About 90% of all 

flowering plants require pollinators to reproduce and, in American agriculture, nearly a third of 

pollination is performed by honey bees.14 By the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent 

estimates in 2000, bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in added crop value. 

(That figure has surely increased in the last 12 years). Most of this value comes from specialty 

crops such as nuts, berries and fruits.15 Healthy populations of pollinators are essential for the 

future of American agriculture.

Research has linked recent declines in honey bee colonies and other native bee 

pollinators to a constellation of stress factors, including pesticides, pathogens and nutrition.

16

Experts have singled out the recent, widespread, major increase in the use of systemic pesticides 

 

13 See, e.g., Honey Bee Die-Off Alarms Beekeepers, Crop Growers and Researchers, SCIENCE DAILY (Apr. 

22, 2007), available at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070422190612.htm.

14 See Janet N. Abramovitz, Putting a Value on Nature’s “Free” Services, Worldwatch Institute (1998), 

available at www.worldwatch.org/system/files/EP111B.pdf; Renée Johnson, Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder,

Cong. Research Serv. Report for Congress, 7-5700, RL33938.

15 Roger A. Morse & Nichoals W. Calderone, The Value of Honey Bees as Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 

2000, Cornell Univ. (Mar. 2000), www.masterbeekeeper.org/pdf/pollination.pdf; USDA Agricultural Research 

Service, “Questions and Answers: Colony Collapse Disorder” (Sept. 13, 2011), available at 

www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572.

16 See USDA Agric. Research Serv., Colony Collapse Disorder Progress Report 6 (June 2010) available at

www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/ccd/ccdprogressreport2010.pdf.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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like clothianidin, thiamethoxam and others as particularly responsible for mortality and poor 

health in bee populations and to bees’ increasing vulnerability to other threats.17

While used on dozens of crops, the predominant use of neonicotinoids is as a seed 

treatment for corn. Production of corn for food, feed and ethanol production is the largest single 

use of arable land in North America, occurring in nearly every State and reportedly reaching a

near-record 92 million acres in 2011 (a cumulative area virtually equivalent to the entire country 

of Germany); it is expected to continue to climb.

18 Almost all of the corn seed planted in North 

America, except for 0.2% used in organic production, reportedly is coated with neonicotinoids, 

primarily clothianidin and its closely related compound, thiamethoxam.

19

Neonicotinoids are persistent and are fast-becoming nearly ubiquitous. Their half-lives 

can vary widely according to soil type and weather conditions, but are extremely long, ranging

from 148 days to 1,155 days.

20

II. State of the Science Report

A substantial and increasing body of scientific literature addresses the levels of 

neonicotinoids in the environment. Numerous scientists have assessed the effects of these 

compounds on honey bees. A new report by Petitioner PANNA entitled Pesticides and Honey 

Bees – The State of the Science (hereinafter, “State of the Science report”; attached hereto as 

Appendix B), compiles a cross-section of these studies, providing significantly more detail than 

is reiterated in this Petition. 

The State of the Science report provides the current baseline on key threats that 

neonicotinoids pose and that none of EPA’s risk assessments or other regulatory documents for 

clothianidin products adequately characterize. It covers key research on pesticide prevalence in 

agricultural areas, sub-lethal and chronic effects, synergistic effects of neonicotinoids and 

 

17 State of the Science, Appendix B. See also Brian D. Eitzer, The Role of Pesticides in Honeybee Decline, 

Conn. Agric. Experiment Station (2011), available at

www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/plant_science_day/plant_science_day_spring/2011/spring_open_house_2011_

eitzer.pdf.

18 USDA Agric. Research Serv. Agric. Statistics Board, Acreage report (2011), available at

www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/TODAYRPT/acrg0611.pdf; list of countries and outlying territories by total area, 

available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_outlying_territories_by_total_area.

19 Krupke et al., supra note 2.

20 EPA Pesticide Fact Sheet: Clothianidin, Conditional Registration (May 30, 2003), available at

www.epa.gov/opprd001/factsheets/clothianidin.pdf. 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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pathogens and the significance of compromised bee health. In sum, it further demonstrates the 

need for the relief sought herein.

III. EPA’s Authority Over Pesticides

Under FIFRA, EPA licenses the sale, distribution and use of pesticides through the 

process of registration.21 FIFRA authorizes the agency to grant a “conditional registration” when 

the pesticide is so new that insufficient data exists to support unrestricted registration.22

However, the Administrator must make an affirmative finding that the pesticide will not pose 

“unreasonable adverse effects” during the period of conditional registration.23 An application for 

registration is incomplete if it contains insufficient information for the Administrator to make 

such a determination.24 Registration of a pesticide—conditional or otherwise—cannot continue

on the basis of an incomplete application.25

Once a pesticide is registered, FIFRA provides EPA with ongoing oversight authority.

Section 6 states the Administrator may, at any time, propose cancellation of a registration if it 

appears to the Administrator that a pesticide “generally cause[s] unreasonable adverse effects on 

the environment.”26 In the case of a conditional registration, if the registrant has failed to initiate 

or pursue appropriate action toward fulfilling any condition imposed on registration, the 

Administrator “shall” initiate cancellation proceedings.27 While cancellation is pending, EPA 

may “suspend the registration of the pesticide immediately” if an “imminent hazard” exists,

28

that is, if continued use of the pesticide during the time required for the cancellation proceedings 

“would be likely to result in unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.”29

Further, section 12(a)(1)(E) of FIFRA makes it unlawful for any person to sell or 

distribute a “misbranded” pesticide.

30 Section 2(q)(1)(F) provides that a pesticide is misbranded

 

21 7 U.S.C. § 136a(5)(D).

22 Id. § 136a(c)(7)(C). 

23 Id.; 40 C.F.R. § 152.114(d). 

24 40 C.F.R. § 152.104.

25 See id. § 152.105.

26 7 U.S.C. § 136a(d)(1)(B). 

27 Id. § 136d(e)(1). 

28 Id. § 136d(c).

29 Id. § 136(l). 

30 7 U.S.C. § 136j(a)(1)(E).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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if such pesticide’s “labeling accompanying it does not contain directions for use which . . . if 

complied with . . . [is] adequate to protect health and the environment.”31

IV. Summary of EPA’s Institutional and Legal Failures

In the face of the evidence that neonicotinoid pesticides are a contributing factor in the 

ongoing, huge economic and environmental losses stemming from mass bee die-offs and 

compromised pollinator health, EPA should have adopted a more protective, more rigorous 

stance toward the data necessary for registration. Instead, EPA loosened its oversight, allowing 

farmers to inundate fields with toxic chemicals before EPA has confirmed their safety. In 

particular, the agency continues to maintain the registration status for clothianidin despite the 

fact that the registrant, Bayer AG, has failed to conduct a required study satisfying EPA’s 

standards after having more than nine years to gather the needed data. EPA has definitively

stated that Bayer’s belated attempt to conduct a field study of clothianidin’s effects on pollinators 

did not satisfy the condition on registration.

32 Yet, the agency has never identified any alternative

study that supports a finding that clothianidin does not have any unreasonable adverse effects on 

the environment—including pollinators. Such a finding was, and remains, a prerequisite to 

conditional registration. Continuing to allow clothianidin to be marketed, sold and used when not 

one study meets EPA’s condition for its registration is, as a matter of law, arbitrary, capricious 

and contrary to the mandates of FIFRA and the APA.

This is not merely a situation in which new evidence casts doubt on EPA’s prior findings 

about the environmental hazards of clothianidin—although Petitioners include such evidence 

herein to underscore the urgency of this matter. Rather, the essential step EPA imposed for

conditional registration has never been completed. Thus, FIFRA’s typical procedures for 

cancelling and then suspending a previously properly-registered insecticide on the basis of new 

evidence do not apply.

33 The applicable remedy is for the agency to correct its mistake through

immediate suspension of clothianidin’s registration, pending preparation, publication and EPA 

review of the required field study with an evaluation of the long-term toxic effect that 

 

31 7 U.S.C. § 136(q)(1)(F).

32 Memorandum: Clothianidin Registration of Prosper T400 Seed Treatment on Mustard Seed (Oilseed and 

Condiment) and Poncho/Votivo Seed Treatment on Cotton 2, 4, PC Code 044309, EPA Environmental Fate and 

Effects Division (Nov. 2, 2010) (hereinafter “November 2010 Memorandum”).

33 7 U.S.C. §§ 136d(b)–(c).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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clothianidin has on the worker bee life cycle, as well as an evaluation of exposure and effects to 

the queen and larvae.

EPA also has failed to aggressively seek potential adverse effects data from 

the registrants of clothianidin that would shed more light on its dangers. Petitioners are aware

EPA has moved up its registration review of clothianidin and other neonicotinoids in response to 

concerns about their impacts on pollinators. However, this process is projected by EPA to take 

six to eight years and is thus grossly insufficient to address the urgency of this toxic threat and 

would not remedy the legal defects in clothianidin’s current registration. Further, American 

agriculture relies on healthy pollinators. The Petitioner beekeepers and honey producers, as 

they clearly articulate in the descriptions of their interests in Table 1 at the end of this 

Petition, cannot reasonably wait the many more years that EPA’s registration review 

process will consume while their bees die off in dramatic numbers each year.

EPA’s process utterly failed to assess the environmental impacts of its actions before

approving clothianidin. It would be specious to suggest that EPA’s implementation of FIFRA in 

this case is the “functional equivalent” of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),34

whereas this equivalence has, to date, been the basis for excusing EPA from NEPA compliance 

in FIFRA regulatory matters.

V. Factual Background

A. Colony Collapse Disorder 

Honey bees are the most economically valuable pollinators of agricultural crops 

worldwide. Other important pollinating bee species include: common eastern bumble bee

(Bombus impatiens), alkali bee (Nomia melanderi), blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria), 

hornfaced bee (O. cornifrons) and alfalfa (or Lucerne) leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata).

Many other unmanaged native insects are also effective pollinators of crops and other plants.

About 90% of flowering plants require pollinators.

35 Bee pollination of agricultural crops 

accounts for about one-third of the U.S. diet, including a wide range of high-value fruits, 

vegetables, tree nuts, forage crops, field crops and other specialty crops.

36 Meat, milk and cheese 

 

34 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq.

35 See Abramovitz, supra note 14.

36 See May R. Berenbaum, Statement Before the Subcomm. on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture, U.S. 

House of Reps. (Mar. 29, 2007), available at http://agriculture.house.gov/testimony/110/h70329/Berenbaum.pdf.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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production are also reliant on the pollinated crops that livestock eat, such as alfalfa.

37 Overall, 

pollinator-dependent crops make up almost one-third of total U.S. agricultural production.

38

Pollinators are crucial pillars of non-crop plant health and survival generally, whether in 

horticulture or in nature.39 Thus, it is clear healthy pollinators are essential to healthy food 

systems, healthy gardens and healthy ecosystems.

CCD is the name given to the abrupt decline of honey bee populations observed around 

the world beginning in the middle of the last decade. (For more complete analysis of CCD, see 

State of Science report, Appendix B.) Although first reported in 2006, cases probably indicative 

of CCD were documented as early as 2004 in the United States.

40 Each winter since then, 

roughly one-third of the U.S. honey bee population has died off or disappeared.41 Such losses are 

approximately double the normally expected winter decrease. CCD is distinguishable from other 

ailments affecting honey bees in the past in that vast numbers of worker bees simply disappear 

rapidly, never returning to the hive where the queen still lives with a small cluster of bees amidst 

pollen and honey stores in the presence of immature bees (the brood).42

The first reported CCD losses in the United States coincided with the widespread rampup of clothianidin use following conditional registration in 2003. As commonly applied in field 

mixes clothianidin has been observed to cause the type of bee kills attributed to CCD. Other 

countries, such as Italy, experiencing similar die-offs of honey bees, have suspended 

neonicotinoid-coated corn seed use and have recorded no cases of colony collapse in subsequent 

 

For example, a number of agricultural crops are almost totally (90%-100%) dependent on honey bee 

pollination, including almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, kiwi fruit, macadamia nuts, 

asparagus, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, onions, legume seeds, pumpkins, squash, and 

sunflowers. Other specialty crops also rely on honey bee pollination, but to a lesser degree. These crops include 

apricot, citrus (oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tangerines, etc.), peaches, pears, nectarines, plums, grapes, 

brambleberries, strawberries, olives, melon (cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew), peanuts, cotton, soybeans, and 

sugar beets.

37 See James R. Hagler et al., Foraging Range of Honey Bees, Apis mellifera, in Alfalfa Seed Production 

Fields, 11 J. INSECT SCIENCE 1 (2011); Honey Industry Facts, Nat’l Honey Bd. (2011), available at

www.honey.com/nhb/media/press-kit. 

38 Johnson, supra note 14, at 1.

39 See, e.g., J.C. Biesmeijer et al., Parallel Declines in Pollinators and Insect-Pollinated Plants in Britain 

and the Netherlands. 313 SCIENCE 351 (2006).

40 Natalie Lounsbury, Pollinators and Pesticides: Escalating Crisis Demands Action, 28 Pesticides and 

You 13 (2008), available at www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/Fall08/pollinators.pdf.

41 See Dennis vanEngelsdorp et al., Preliminary Results: A Survey of Honey Bee Colonies Losses in the 

U.S. Between September 2008 and April 2009 (May 19, 2009), available at

www.apiaryinspectors.org/files/documents/Survey_2009.pdf. 

42 See Johnson, supra note 14, at 8.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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years.43 Many bees are exposed to neonicotinoid residue levels several orders of magnitude 

above acute toxicity values; others may be exposed to lower levels that still are higher than levels 

known to cause chronic effects. The sub-lethal, chronic effects are consistent with CCD, most 

particularly the absence of dead bees inside the hive. Neonicotinoid pesticides are known to 

interfere with honey bees’ cognition and orientation in ways that would prevent foraging bees 

from finding their way back to the hive.44 The injury to bees from sub-lethal exposures is

reported to be cumulative, that is, with every exposure more damage occurs.45

Critically, the injury to bees from neonicotinoids makes them more vulnerable to highlydamaging introduced parasites, such as the genus of gut parasites, Nosema spp. A major new 

study, published in January 2012 and led by the USDA Agricultural Research Station in 

Beltsville, Maryland, shows a clear link between these two bee hazards.

46 The abstract of this 

study, again, which was led by one of EPA’s sister Federal agencies, is directly on point with the 

relief sought in this Petition (emphasis added):

[W]e exposed honey bee colonies during three brood generations to sub-lethal 

doses of a widely used pesticide, imidacloprid, and then subsequently challenged 

newly emerged bees with the gut parasite, Nosema spp. The pesticide dosages 

used were below levels demonstrated to cause effects on longevity or foraging in 

adult honey bees. Nosema infections increased significantly in the bees from 

pesticide-treated hives when compared to bees from control hives demonstrating 

an indirect effect of pesticides on pathogen growth in honey bees. We clearly 

demonstrate an increase in pathogen growth within individual bees reared in 

colonies exposed to one of the most widely used pesticides worldwide, 

imidacloprid, at below levels considered harmful to bees. The finding that 

individual bees with undetectable levels of the target pesticide, after being reared 

in a sub-lethal pesticide environment within the colony, had higher Nosema is 

significant. Interactions between pesticides and pathogens could be a major 

contributor to increased mortality of honey bee colonies, including colony 

collapse disorder, and other pollinator declines worldwide.

 

43 Relazione sull’attivita svolta e sui risultati ottenuti nell’ambito del progetto APENET per la tematica 

‘‘Effetti del mais conciato sulle api’’, CRA-API (2010) available at

www.reterurale.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/409; Relazione sull’attivita svolta e sui primi 

risultati ottenuti nell’ambito del progetto Apenet per la tematica ‘‘Effetti del mais conciato sulle api’’, CRA-API 

(2009), available at www.reterurale.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/81.

44 Axel Decourtye et al., Imidacloprid Impairs Memory and Brain Metabolism in the Honeybee (Apis 

Mellifera L.), 78 Pesticides Biochemistry & Physiology 83 (2004).

45 Henk Tennekes, THE SYSTEMIC INSECTICIDES: A DISASTER IN THE MAKING (Weevers Walburg 

Communicatie, Zutphen, The Netherlands) (2010), available at www.disasterinthemaking.com.

46 Jeffery S. Pettis et al., Pesticide Exposure in Honey Bees Results in Increased Levels of the Gut Pathogen 

Nosema, NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN (2012) DOI: 10.1007/s00114-011-0881-1.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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This study confirms previous findings of a synergistic effect between Nosema and other 

neonicotinoid pesticides wherein bee mortality is dramatically increased.

47

Besides honey bees, there are many other U.S. native bees and other insects that EPA has 

a duty to conserve from these threats including, but not limited to, the rusty patched bumble bee 

(Bombus affinis), Franklin’s bumble bee (B. franklini), yellow-banded bumble bee (B. terricola) 

and Western bumble bee (B. occidentalis). Several of these species are facing severe declines 

comparable to, or worse than, those faced by honey bees.

48 Additionally clothianidin has been 

documented to be highly toxic to other wild bee species like the common eastern bumble bee,

alfalfa leafcutting bee and blue orchard bee, mentioned previously as valuable pollinators.

49

B. Clothianidin and Other Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Neonicotinoids are systemic, that is, they are taken up by the plant’s vascular system as 

the seed grows and get expressed through its tissues, including flowers, pollen and nectar.50

Neonicotinoids share a common mode of action that damages the central nervous system of 

insects. When bees and other insects forage on pollen or nectar from treated crops, they ingest 

the pesticide, resulting in paralysis and death.51 Guttated water of seed-treated plants, which 

provides a source of water for bees, also can be a source of contamination and exposure.52 Reetz 

et al. found that corn seeds treated with clothianidin could result in toxic concentrations up to 

8,000 ng/ mL in the guttated fluid; these concentrations, while decreasing rapidly, remained 

detectable over several weeks.53 Additionally, and critically, neonicotinoid pesticides persist in

 

47 Cédric Alaux et al., Interactions Between Nosema Microspores and a Neonicotinoid Weaken Honeybees 

(Apis Mellifera), 12 Envtl. Microbiology 774 (2010); Cyril Vidau et al., Exposure to Sublethal Doses of Fipronil 

and Thiacloprid Highly Increases Mortality of Honeybees Previously Infected by Nosema ceranae, 6 PLoS 

ONE e21550.

48 Elaine Evans et al., Status Review of Three Formerly Common Species of Bumble Bee in the Subgenus

Bombus, Xerces Society (2009), available at www.xerces.org/wpcontent/uploads/2009/03/xerces_2008_bombus_status_review.pdf.

49 Cynthia D. Scott-Dupree et al., Impact of Currently Used or Potentially Useful Insecticides for Canola 

Agroecosystems on Bombus impatiens (Hymenoptera: Apidae), Megachile rotundata (Hymentoptera: 

Megachilidae), and Osmia lignaria (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae), 102 J. ECON. ENTOMOLOGY 177 (2009).

50 Clothianidin Fact Sheet, supra note 20, at 15.

51 See Joe Cummins, Requiem for the Honeybee, 34 Inst. for Science in Society 37 (2007).

52 Eric Hoffmann & Steven Castle, Imidacloprid in Melon Guttation Fluid: A Potential Mode of Exposure 

for Pest and Beneficial Organisms, 105 J. ECON. ENTOMOLOGY 67 (2012).

53 Jana E. Reetz et al., Neonicotinoid Insecticides Translocated in Guttated Droplets of Seed-Treated Maize 

and Wheat: A Threat to Honeybees? 42 APIDOLOGIE 596 (2011).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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the environment, increasing the risk of cumulative toxic loading effects, especially with repeated 

applications, in both the short and long term.

54

Clothianidin is Bayer AG’s successor to imidacloprid, for which Bayer’s U.S., German, 

French, Italian and U.K. patents expired in 2006.55 Clothianidin has been linked to immune 

effects in lab animals.56 It is categorized by EPA as “highly toxic” to all varieties of bees, insects

and certain aquatic organisms, as well as to birds and other non-target organisms.57

C. EPA’s Awareness that Clothianidin Causes Mass Bee Kills. EPA’s awareness 

of clothianidin being “highly toxic” is not limited to experiments. The agency has full notice of 

the compound’s ability to destroy large numbers of bee colonies in the field. The below bullets 

are from EPA’s own non-comprehensive documentation of bee kill data, collections that are 

roundly criticized as spotty in coverage, inadequately advertised to beekeepers, containing 

numerous years of data gaps, being inconsistently maintained and not up to the task of giving a 

full picture of CCD-related mortalities. Nevertheless, over the last four years there are consistent 

alarm bells (emphasis added):

EPA’s Ecological Incident Information System (EIIS) data base on honey bee 

kills lists a 2008 incident for clothianidin-treated “Poncho” corn that states

“hundreds of thousands” of hives were destroyed in a “highly probable” case

involving a registered use.

EPA’s 2011 document Registration Review: Problem Formulation for the 

Environmental Fate and Ecological Risk [etc.] of Clothianidin re-characterizes 

the same 2008 incident as affecting “11,000 colonies”.

58

The same EPA document states: “A similar incident affecting 2,500 colonies was 

recently reported by Slovenia in April, 2011 where bees were affected by drift of 

abraded clothianidin-treated maize seed coats” and “Three incidents were also 

 

54 See Clothianidin Fact Sheet, supra note 20; Imidacloprid Summary Document for Registration Review,

PC Code 129099, EPA Office of Pesticide Programs (2008). 

55 Bayer AG Securities and Exchange Commission Filing: Form 20-F, at 57 (Mar. 15, 2007), available at

www.investor.bayer.com/user_upload/2622.

56 See Clothianidin Fact Sheet, supra note 20.

57 Id.

58 Registration Review: Problem Formulation for the Environmental Fate and Ecological Risk, Endangered 

Species, and Drinking Water Exposure Assessments of Clothianidin, EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution 

Prevention (2011).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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reported in Canada. In May of 2009, in Ste-Martine, Quebec, over 200 bee 

colonies were reported lost. Residues of clothianidin and three other pesticides 

were detected. In Cocteau-du-Lac, Quebec in May, 2010, residues of clothianidin 

and thiamethoxam were detected after a number of dead or paralyzed bees were 

found. Also, in May 2010 in Quebec, residues of clothianidin were detected after 

reportedly high bee mortality in St-Dominique involving an unspecified number 

of colonies.” (p. 25)

The same document mentions five other U.S. incidents involving destruction of 

multiple colonies due to clothianidin reported to the Agency, all of them since 

2009, in Nevada, Indiana, Minnesota and two in Pennsylvania. (p. 26)

The capacity of clothianidin to kill bees en masse, together with consistent patterns of 

smaller kills in various reports, and together with the strong data on clothianidin causing sublethal effects consistent with CCD, and also together with new data on the synergistic effects of 

neonicotinoids and pathogens, strongly suggest the mass bee kills are just the “tip of the 

iceberg”. The reported kills likely represent the most visible, egregious incidents, while a much 

greater number of incidents exist “under the surface” in which clothianidin-caused bee deaths 

occur and hives are weakened and destroyed, but the losses are not readily observed, or they are 

not reported, or they are reported but not tabulated by EPA.

D. Poor Reception in Europe for Clothianidin and Other Neonicotinoids

Clothianidin was approved in Germany in 2004. Four years later, German authorities 

observed a massive bee kill across the Baden-Württemberg region which they linked to 

clothianidin use (the 2008 incident in the EIIS). Within two weeks, Germany banned clothianidin 

seed treatment on corn and several other crops.

59 While some suspensions were later lifted, the 

ban on clothianidin-treated corn seed remains.60 Also in 2008, Italy’s agricultural ministry 

 

59 See Authorizations for Neonicotinoids are Still Suspended Due to the Hazards of Bees, Fed. Office of 

Consumer Prot. and Food Safety (BVL), available at 

www.bvl.bund.de/cln_027/nn_496790/sid_FFE204596E8096E5D0F6C6B9E657F9EA/EN/08__PresseInfothe

k__engl/01__Presse__und__Hintergrundinformationen/PI__Maissaatgut__Mesurol__engl.html__nnn=true; Alison 

Benjamin, Pesticides: Germany Bans Chemicals Linked to Honeybee Devastation, GUARDIAN (May 23 2008),

available at www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/wildlife.endangeredspecies.

60 Colony Collapse Disorder: European Bans on Neonicotinoid Pesticides, EPA, available at 

www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/ccd-european-ban.html. 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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suspended neonicotinoid authorizations as a precautionary measure. In the following growing 

season, and for the first time since 1999, Italy’s neonicotinoid-free corn sowing reportedly 

resulted in no cases of widespread bee mortality in apiaries near the crops.61 Slovenia likewise 

has banned uses of both clothianidin and imidacloprid.62

French authorities instituted bans on progressively more neonicotinoid treatments. In 

1999, approximately one-third of French honey bees died following widespread use of Bayer’s 

imidacloprid. French authorities promptly banned its use as seed dressing for sunflowers and 

later on corn.

63 In 2008, having observed enough adverse impacts from neonicotinoids, France 

flatly rejected Bayer’s application to register clothianidin.64

EPA has not aggressively investigated these European suspensions to determine their 

impact on the restoration of the bee populations or to unearth useful epidemiology data. Ignoring 

Europe’s experiences makes little sense. Beyond the direct impacts on insects, data indicate 

persistent neonicotinoids have indirectly decimated populations of native farm, meadow and 

grassland insectivorous birds, such as starlings, spotted flycatcher and snipe, across wide swaths 

of Europe by killing off the large insects that make up their food supply and contaminating 

waters as well.

65 The United States can ill-afford to ignore this indirect impacts data, thereby

putting a vast suite of North American farm, meadow and grassland birds, as well as aquatic 

organisms, at further risk, many of which already are in decline, such as the upland sandpiper, 

eastern meadowlark, greater and lesser prairie-chicken, sage-grouse and others, some of which 

are Federally-listed threatened or endangered species.

E. U.S. Government Failure to Survey for CCD Causes

In passing the 2008 Farm Bill, Congress called on Federal agencies to investigate and 

take coordinated action against CCD. However, USDA and Congress’s multi-year failure to 

 

61 See, e.g., Press Release, Italian Ministry of Health, Tutela patrimonio apistico: sospensione cautelativa 

dei prodotti fitosanitari utilizzati nel trattamento di concia delle sementi, (Sept. 19, 2008), available at 

www.salute.gov.it/dettaglio/dettaglioNews.jsp?id=1054&tipo=old; Bees “Restored to Health” in Italy After This 

Spring’s Neonicotinoid-Free Maize Sowing, Youris.com (June 26, 2009), available at

www.youris.com/Environment/Bees/Bees_restored_to_health_in_Italy_after_this_springs_neonicotinoidfree_maize

_sowing.kl.

62 See Vicky Kindemba, The Impact of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on Bumblebees, Honey Bees and Other 

Non-Target Invertebrates, BUG LIFE 24 (2009).

63 Id.

64 Benjamin, supra note 59.

65 Tennekes, supra note 45.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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follow through on that commitment and survey the national scope of CCD in a manner capable 

of isolating its causes has exacerbated EPA’s parallel multi-year failure to require a 

comprehensive field study that would have assessed the contribution of clothianidin to excess

bee mortality. Key points from the recent USDA Inspector General Audit report on this are 

here:66

Approximately 4 years have passed since the CCD Action Plan was developed, 

and although the Plan called for a comprehensive survey of honey bee colony 

production and colony loss due to CCD, we found that USDA has not completed 

the survey. We also found that although the 2008 Farm Bill authorized $2.75 

million in annual funding between 2008 and 2012 that could potentially have 

been used for this purpose, Congress never actually appropriated the funds, and 

Departmental officials did not take other measures to identify funds that might 

have been available to use for this purpose. (p. 6)

The Audit reinforces that this USDA and Congressional failure relates directly to the subject of

this Petition:

However, the Steering Committee agreed that a comprehensive survey would help 

identify where CCD was prevalent and on what potential causal factors to focus, 

i.e., pests, pathogens, poor nutrition, and or pesticides. They felt that 

comprehensive NASS surveys would have been a good reference point for CCD 

colony losses, and that they would be useful for assessing the extent of the CCD 

problem. The Steering Committee also felt that data from a NASS colony 

decline survey might provide clues to the causes of honey bee decline, if 

correlated with other data, such as pesticide use patterns. (p. 7, emphasis added)

USDA’s chastened response to the audit was to agree and commit to undertaking the 

neglected survey if and when it is funded (p. 15). Doing so and obtaining useful results will take 

many years and funding remains uncertain. Bee survival and health cannot wait. This is 

underscored by the alarming, albeit non-comprehensive, data EPA already possesses on 

extensive clothianidin-caused bee kills, discussed in the previous section, which again are the tip 

of the iceberg. Immediate steps are needed to mitigate this threat.

 

66 USDA’s Response to Colony Collapse Disorder, Audit Report 50099-0084-HY, USDA Office of 

Inspector General (2012).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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VI. Regulatory History of Clothianidin

A. Clothianidin’s Conditional Registration

The U.S. regulatory history surrounding clothianidin is different from that in Europe and 

shows a disturbing pattern. In February 2003, EPA issued a risk assessment for clothianidin seed 

treatment for corn and canola.67 EPA scientists raised serious concerns about the compound in 

that document, citing France’s experience with the similar neonicotinoid pesticide, imidacloprid, 

as cause for proceeding with caution.68 The EPA scientists also called for a field test evaluating 

clothianidin’s environmental hazards prior to registration, specifically citing harm to pollinators 

as the reason for concern:

The possibility of toxic exposure to nontarget pollinators through the 

translocation of clothianidin residues that result from seed treatment (corn and 

canola) has prompted EFED [Environmental Fate and Effects Division] to 

require field testing that can evaluate the possible chronic exposure to honey bee 

larvae and queen. In order to fully evaluate the possibility of this toxic effect, a 

complete worker bee life cycle study must be conducted, as well as an evaluation 

of exposure and effects to the queen.

69

Less than two months later, in an Addendum to the Risk Assessment, EFED reversed from this 

position, recommending conditional registration while Bayer arranged for the required chronic 

exposure study.70 Thus, in contrast to its prior memorandum, EPA decided it would allow the 

nationwide sale and use of clothianidin while Bayer arranged for the very study necessary to 

determine whether EPA’s decision would be a grave mistake. EPA provided no reason for its 

reversal; it merely prefaced the change with “after further consideration...”.

71 Nonetheless, even 

the second memorandum confirmed EPA determined a study evaluating the long term 

toxicity to pollinators was necessary as a condition for registration.

72 This determination 

made the study of the impacts on the honey bee life cycle a “core” requirement for registration.

 

67Memorandum: Risk Assessment for the Seed Treatment of Clothianidin 600FS on Corn and Canola, PC 

Code 044309, EPA Environmental Fate and Effects Division (Feb. 20, 2003), available at

www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/cleared_reviews/csr_PC-044309_20-Feb-03_a.pdf. 

68 See id. at 4.

69 Id.

70 Memorandum: Addendum Referring to EFED’s Risk Assessment on Clothianidin Use as a Seed 

Treatment on Corn and Canola 2 (PC 044309), EPA Environmental Fate and Effects Division, (Apr. 10, 2003) 

(hereinafter “EPA Memo, April 2003”); see also See Clothianidin Fact Sheet, supra note 20.

71 EPA Memo, April 2003, at 2.

72 Id. at 1.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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B. Bayer’s Fatally Flawed Field Study

Bayer was initially given until December 2004 to complete the study as a condition for 

registration.73 At the outset, EPA’s decision to allow sale and use of clothianidin immediately on 

the condition that Bayer eventually complete the required study provided Bayer with a perverse 

incentive: rather than completing the study promptly according to established deadlines, Bayer 

could bolster its clothianidin sales by delaying the study for as long as possible. (As EPA was 

later to find out, reliance on registrant-supplied data can be a flawed process from the outset due 

to the registrant’s conflict of interest.) The final protocols and methodology for this study were 

not established until March 2004.

74 Bayer requested, and EPA granted, a retroactive extension of 

its conditional registration to complete the required field study by May 2005, although EPA 

stated it would push the deadline further out if accurate data could not be produced that season.

75

In addition to rewarding Bayer for dragging its feet, EPA approved protocols for the

study that were so far removed from reality that, even once completed, the study was incapable 

of detecting the environmental impacts it purported to evaluate. For example, despite the facts

that: (1) corn is visited by honey bees and bumble bees, (2) the vast majority of U.S. use for 

clothianidin is on corn seed (grown on approximately 90 million acres76), and (3) canola is a 

minor crop in the United States (grown on fewer than one million acres), EPA nevertheless 

permitted Bayer to conduct the field test in canola only.77 Moreover, despite the fact that the 

purpose of a field study is to evaluate impacts based on representative crops grown in the United 

States that are treated with the pesticide,78 EPA permitted Bayer to conduct the study in Canada, 

rather than in the United States where the more relevant agronomic field conditions and 

cultivation practices were present.79 Finally, the study design virtually guaranteed very few of 

the honey bees studied would actually forage in the canola treated with clothianidin, resulting in 

observations of minimal harm to them. Four colonies of bees were set in the middle of just one 

 

73 Id. at 2.

74 Review of Bayer CropScience’s Draft Protocol of a Honey Bee Field Study - Poncho 600 (264-789) 

[Clothianidin (044309), D2953 181], EPA EFED, (Mar. 11, 2004), available at

http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/memo_3.pdf.

75 Id. at 2.

76 USDA Statistics Board Acreage report, supra note 18.

77 Review of Bayer CropScience’s Draft Protocol, supra note 74, at 3-5.

78Ecological Effects Test Guidelines: Field Testing for OPPTS 850.3040 Pollinators, EPA Office of 

Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (Apr. 1996), available at 

www.epa.gov/ocspp/pubs/frs/publications/OPPTS_Harmonized/850_Ecological_Effects_Test_Guidelines/Drafts/85

0-3040.pdf.

79 Id.
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hectare (21⁄2 acres) of treated canola, while the bees were free to forage over thousands of 

surrounding acres in bloom with untreated canola.

80

This Canadian canola study (hereinafter, “Cutler and Scott-Dupree 2007”81) provided no 

relevant data for assessing the likely impact that the approximately 90 million U.S. acres of corn 

treated with clothianidin are having on honey bees. Despite these deficiencies, in November

2007, after the untested clothianidin had been applied in U.S. fields for four growing seasons, 

EPA categorized this study as “Acceptable” for the purposes of the condition on clothianidin’s 

registration.82

C. EPA’s 2010 Re-Review of Bayer’s 2007 Study

In November 2010, EPA conducted a “re-review” of the Cutler and Scott-Dupree 2007 

study as part of a new use assessment for clothianidin seed treatment on mustard seed and 

cotton.83 (EFED scientists routinely reevaluate previously submitted studies to determine 

whether the information remains relevant or useful.) The EFED scientists doing this reevaluation 

determined the field study was “Invalid,” due to design and methodological errors.84 In an 

apparent effort to salvage some use for the study, EPA subsequently revised its opinion and 

reclassified the Cutler and Scott-Dupree 2007 study as “Supplemental.”85 This reclassification 

notwithstanding, EPA did not change its crucial determination for purposes of this Petition that 

this study no longer satisfied the field study requirement. Here is what EPA said:

[D]eficiencies were identified that render the study supplemental. It does not 

satisfy 850.3040, and another field study is needed to evaluate the effects of 

clothianidin on bees through contaminated pollen and nectar. Exposure through 

contaminated pollen and nectar and potential toxic effects therefore remain an 

uncertainty for pollinators.86

As of March 2012, more than 16 months after EPA’s 2010 downgrading of the Cutler and 

Scott-Dupree 2007 field study, Bayer still has not re-submitted the required field study 

 

80 Id.

81 G. Christopher Cutler & Cynthia D. Scott-Dupree, Exposure to Clothianidin Seed-Treated Canola Has 

no Long-Term Impact on Honey Bees, 100 J. ECON. ENTOMOLOGY 765 (2007).

82 Memorandum: Review of Data Package DP336888 for Clothianidin 4, PC Code 044309, EPA (Nov. 16, 

2007).

83EPA November 2010 Memorandum, supra note 32. 

84 See Memorandum: Reclassification of MRID 46907801/46907802 Data Package 336888 for 

Clothianidin 1, PC Code 044309, EPA (Dec. 22, 2010).

85 Id.

86 EPA November 2010 Memorandum, supra note 32, at 2 (emphasis added).
EMERGENCY PETITION

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complying with guideline 850.3040 and assessing the long-term toxicity of clothianidin on honey 

bees. In short, Bayer still has neither provided the outstanding data nor complied with the 

condition for clothianidin’s registration, which was to have been completed by December 

2004. Nonetheless, clothianidin retains its registration status and EPA has approved its use on 

more than 30 crops as well as ornamental, turfgrass and structural applications.87 Shockingly,

EPA still has not assessed its effects on bees eight years later.

D. EPA’s Endangered Species Act Violation

Congress enacted the ESA, in part, to provide a “means whereby the ecosystems upon 

which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved.” 16 U.S.C. § 

1531(b). When a species has been listed as threatened or endangered under the ESA, all Federal

agencies – including EPA – must ensure that their programs and activities are in compliance with 

the ESA. When EPA first conditionally registered clothianidin for use on corn it recognized ESA 

compliance would be necessary:

88

Clothianidin is expected to present acute and/or chronic toxicity risk to 

endangered/threatened birds and mammals via possible ingestion of treated corn 

and canola seeds. Endangered/threatened non-target insects may be impacted via 

residue laden pollen and nectar. The potential use sites cover the entire U.S.

because corn is grown in almost all U.S. states. 

Based on the admittedly clearly foreseeable and widespread effects, consultation with the 

Fish and Wildlife Service and/or National Marine Fisheries Service was necessary to ensure that 

EPA’s approval of clothianidin did not jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or 

threatened species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical 

habitat of these species, under 16 U.S.C. §1536(a)(2) (known as “Section 7(a)(2)”). EPA has 

frankly admitted that it has not complied with Section 7(a)(2) to date. Despite having allowed

clothianidin-based products to be used across now what amount to many tens of millions of acres 

 

87 See Appendix A for the approved uses of clothianidin products; note that Petitioners cannot be certain 

Appendix A includes every such product and approved use; EPA must determine that.

88 Clothianidin Fact Sheet, supra note 20, at 16.
EMERGENCY PETITION

25

annually, in almost 30 different formulations, EPA’s recent Registration Review Problem 

Formulation document admits:89

The Agency has not conducted a risk assessment that supports a complete 

endangered species determination for clothianidin. The ecological risk 

assessment planned during registration review will allow the Agency to determine 

whether clothianidin’s use has “no effect” or “may affect” federally listed 

threatened or endangered species (listed species) or their designated critical 

habitats. When an assessment concludes that a pesticide’s use “may affect” a 

listed species or its designated critical habitat, the Agency will consult with the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or National Marine Fisheries Service (the

Services), as appropriate.

This is not an academic exercise; the ESA is a strong, proactive law that EPA has treated

lightly. More than 15 ESA-listed insects, ranging from beetles to butterflies to grasshoppers and 

other taxa, are potentially directly affected now by clothianidin-based products.

90 The 2010 Risk 

Assessment for mustard seed and cotton uses admits as much:

91

[I]nformation from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident 

reports involving other neonicotinoid insecticides (e.g. imidacloprid) also suggest 

the potential for long term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects. 

Despite the “long term toxic risk,” EPA has not even made the basic, required formal 

determination as to how clothianidin “may effect” any of the ESA-listed species more than nine 

years after its conditional registration, much less consulted on the key ESA action-forcing 

determination as to whether broad use of the compound “jeopardizes” the survival of these 

species. Harmful effects on many non-insect ESA-listed species are also foreseeable, based on 

 

89 Registration Review: Problem Formulation for the Environmental Fate and Ecological Risk, Endangered 

Species, and Drinking Water Exposure Assessments of Clothianidin, EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution 

Prevention (2011).

90 A non-exhaustive list shows 18 threatened or endangered insects that clothianidin may affect: American 

burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus); Behren's fritillary (or Behren's silverspot) (Speyeria zerene behrensii); 

Callippe silverspot (Speyeria callippe callippe); Delhi Sands flower-loving fly (Rhaphiomidas terminatus 

abdominalis); Fender's blue (Icaricia icarioides fender); Hine's emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora hineana); Karner 

blue (Plebejus melissa samuelis); Kern primrose sphinx moth (Euproserpinus euterpe); Lange's metalmark 

(Apodemia mormo langei); Mitchell's satyr butterfly Neonympha mitchellii mitchelli; Myrtle's silverspot (Speyeria 

zerene myrtleae); Northeastern beach tiger beetle (Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis); Ohlone tiger beetle (Cicindela 

ohlone) Quino checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha quino); Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica

lincolniana); San Bruno elfin (Callophrys mossii bayensis); Schaus swallowtail (Papilio aristodemus ponceanus); 

Zayante band-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis infantilis). This list likely will need updating as more species are 

regularly added and numerous “Candidate” species await further action, including native bees. 

91 EPA November 2010 Memorandum, supra note 32, at 52.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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the many declines of insectivorous birds documented in Europe due to neonicotinoid use.92 EPA 

has not made the required “effects” determinations or consulted for them either.

The documents suggest EPA is seeking to paper over various inadequate forms of 

“compliance” that fall far short of actually making biologically-based “effects” determinations 

and doing the consultations that are mandated under Section 7(a)(2), not optional. Yet, elsewhere 

the agency admits its own violations. At Appendix H of the 2011 Registration Review Problem 

Formulation, EPA outlines the need for four studies, on “Pollinator Larval Toxicity”; “Pollinator 

Laboratory Chronic Feeding”; “Residues in Pollen and Nectar/ Field Residue Analysis”; and 

(once again) the long-missing “Field Test for Pollinators”. For each of those studies, the agency 

states (emphasis added)93: 

EPA is required by section 7(a)(2) of the ESA to ensure that any action it 

authorizes or takes “...is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any 

endangered or threatened species or result in the destruction of or adverse 

modification of critical habitat” and to use the “best scientific data available” in 

carrying out this obligation. The data EPA intends to call in are necessary to 

inform the determination required by the ESA as to whether continued 

registration of a pesticide is not likely to jeopardize the species or its critical 

habitat. The lack of these data will limit the flexibility that the agency and 

registrants have in coming into compliance with the ESA and could result in use 

restrictions which are unnecessarily severe. In addition, the lack of these data 

may result in assumed risk and potential mitigation of clothianidin formulations 

under FIFRA.

The statement’s focus on “continued registration” and “coming into compliance with the 

ESA” entirely begs the question of complying with the ESA before approving the pesticide, 

which the agency did not do, and not after it has approved clothianidin. EPA’s attempts to do

post hoc Section 7(a)(2) “compliance” are inadequate and clearly violate the ESA.

E. Clothianidin’s Rejection by New York State

The rejection of clothianidin is not limited to prominent European nations. In 2005, the 

New York State Department of Conservation advised Bayer CropScience regarding the 

withdrawal of its application for “Poncho 600,” with the active ingredient clothianidin, stating:

94

 

92 Tennekes, supra note 45.

93 EPA Registration Review: Problem Formulation, supra, note 89, App. H.

94 Letter from NY State Dep’t of Envtl. Conservation to Bayer CropScience, available at

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/insect-mite/cadusafos-cyromazine/clothianidin/clothianidn_wth_1105.pdf.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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Based on the high toxicity of clothianidin and the potential long-term chronic 

effects to honey bees, environmental persistence, possible role as an endocrine 

disrupter, chronic toxic risk to non-endangered and endangered small birds, and 

acute/chronic toxicity to non-endangered and endangered mammals, Poncho 600 

should not be accepted for registration in New York State.

In 2007, the same Department rejected the application by Arysta LifeScience to register four 

insecticide products (variations of Arena, Clutch and Celero) containing clothianidin.95 The 

Department justified that rejection based on a lengthy list of “unmitigated concerns” about

required information that the company did not submit, including adequate pollinator field 

studies. These actions underscore the weakness of EPA’s conditional registration of this 

pesticide, as a prominent State agency cannot depend on EPA’s risk management decisions. 

F. Critical New Studies on Exposure Pathways 

Both EPA’s analytical failures and the emergency nature of this Petition are underscored

by two recent studies. They illustrate that if a valid, comprehensive pollinator field study, as EPA 

imposed as a condition of registration nine years ago, had actually been undertaken, it would 

have demonstrated unacceptable adverse effects. The first study is from the United States, the 

second is from Italy. 

The first was published in January of 2012 and conducted by Christian Krupke of the 

Department of Entomology at Purdue University, as well as several Purdue colleagues, and Brian 

Eitzer of the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment 

Station (hereinafter “Krupke et al.”).96 They reported on their efforts to determine how bees are 

being exposed to pesticides commonly applied to either corn seed before planting or to corn 

plants later in the season. Two major systemic insecticides are used to treat corn seed, 

clothianidin and thiamethoxam (the latter is metabolized to the former in bees and plants). The

researchers collected samples from a variety of potential exposure routes in and near fields and 

analyzed them to determine whether pesticides were present. They sampled soil, pollen both 

collected by honey bees and directly from plants, neighboring dandelion flowers and both dead 

and healthy bees. They also checked waste products produced during planting.

 

95 Letter from NY State Dep’t of Envtl. Conservation to Arysta LifeScience (July 17, 2007), available at

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/insect-mite/cadusafos-cyromazine/clothianidin/clothianidin_den_0707.pdf. 

96

 Krupke et al., supra note 2.
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Corn is sown with tractor-drawn planters using a forced air/vacuum system and a 

perforated disc to pick up individual seeds and drop them into the planting furrow at the selected 

spacing. Kernels treated with neonicotinoids do not flow readily and may stick to one another, 

causing uneven plant spacing. To overcome this, white talc powder is added to seed boxes to 

reduce friction and ensure smooth flow. Much of this talc then is exhausted across entire fields 

during planting, either down with the seed or behind the planter and into the air via an exhaust 

fan. The researchers sampled this waste talc after planting to determine whether this material was 

contaminated with pesticides abraded from treated seeds. The waste is a mixture of the talc that 

has been in contact with treated corn kernels and minute pieces of the seeds.

Among the concerns confirmed by the study is that clothianidin is accumulating in the 

environment; Krupke et al. found that soil from fields that had not been treated for two years still 

tested positive for clothianidin residues. The authors state: 

Soil collected from areas near our test site revealed that neonicotinoid insecticide 

residues were present in all samples tested, with clothianidin occurring in each 

field sampled ... These results demonstrate that honey bees living and foraging 

near agricultural fields are exposed to neonicotinoids and other pesticides 

through multiple mechanisms throughout the spring and summer ... We show that 

bees living in these environments will forage for maize pollen and transport 

pollen containing neonicotinoids to the hive.

They found corn (or maize) pollen was frequently collected by foraging honey bees while it was 

available; corn pollen comprised over 50% of the pollen collected, by volume.

During the spring planting period, the contaminated dust that arises from this soil may 

settle on flowers frequented by bees, or possibly on the insects themselves. Of potentially greater 

concern are the very high levels of neonicotinoids found in the talc that has been exposed to 

treated seed. The report states:

The large areas being planted with neonicotinoid treated seeds, combined with 

the high persistence of these materials and the mobility of disturbed soil and talc 

dust, carry potential for effects over an area that may exceed the boundaries of 

the production fields themselves.

Later in the season, when planting is largely complete, the researchers found bees collect 

corn pollen that contains translocated neonicotinoids and other pesticides from seed. 

Translocation of neonicotinoids into pollen has previously been reported for corn grown from 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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imidacloprid-treated seed, but Krupke et al. say the degree to which honey bees in their study 

gathered corn pollen was surprising: 

The finding that bee-collected pollen contained neonicotinoids is of particular 

concern because of the risks to newly-emerged nurse bees, which must feed upon 

pollen reserves in the hive immediately following emergence.

Importantly, the amount of the pesticides found in and around corn fields was near the range 

known to kill honey bees. Also, dead bees collected near treated fields contained pesticide 

residues, whereas none of the apparently healthy, live bees sampled from the same locations had 

any detectable clothianidin. Lethal levels in pollen are an obvious concern, but sub-lethal levels 

are also worthy of study as even slight behavioral effects may impact how affected bees carry out 

important tasks such as brood rearing, orientation and communication.

Krupke et al. specifically compared their findings of clothianidin’s impact on bees in and 

near treated corn fields to those of the Cutler and Scott-Dupree 2007 commissioned by Bayer in 

treated canola fields and stated (emphasis added):

The levels of clothianidin in bee-collected pollen that we found are approximately 

10-fold higher than reported from experiments conducted in canola grown from 

clothianidin-treated seed.97

It is now shown that the study upon which EPA relied - and which the agency later admitted it 

should not have - was performed in a crop field that had a 10-fold lower exposure level of 

clothianidin to bees via collected pollen than the levels found in and near treated corn 

fields. EPA must fully consider the Krupke et al. study, especially on the issue of there being an 

“imminent hazard” justifying suspension.98

In sum, Krupke et al. show that, contrary to EPA’s initial assumption that the substance 

stays confined in the treated plants themselves when the agency approved clothianidin as a seed 

treatment product and approved its labeling, the material is broadcast over the soil of almost all 

 

97 Krupke et al., supra note 2, citing to Cutler & Scott-Dupree, supra note 81. 

98 The Administrator is requested to take note of language in a very recent U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 

decision, Sierra Club v. EPA, __ 9th Cir. 567, No. 10-71457, (Jan. 20, 2012). This case involved a successful 

challenge to EPA’s decisionmaking under the Clean Air Act about a State Implementation Plan; the scientific 

questions were about ozone levels. The Plaintiffs’ claim was EPA failed to consider the most current ozone data. 

While based on a different context than presented in this Petition, the agency’s obligations are the same with respect 

to reasoned decisionmaking. The Court stated, at 590-91: 

[W]e should not silently rubber stamp agency action that is arbitrary and capricious in its 

reliance on old data without meaningful comment on the significance of more current compiled 

data. We hold that EPA’s failure to even consider the new data and to provide an explanation for 

its choice rooted in the data presented was arbitrary and capricious. 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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of America’s extremely vast corn acreage and is scattered over neighboring lands. EPA’s recent 

assessments admit the “terrestrial ecosystems potentially at risk” from treated fields “include 

other cultivated fields, fencerows, hedgerows, meadows, fallow fields or grasslands, woodlands, 

riparian habitats, and other uncultivated areas.”99 Being persistent, and repeatedly spread each 

planting season, clothianidin dust and contamination from treated seeds create an essentially 

perennial exposure situation for bees and other beneficial insects across America, everywhere 

corn is grown commercially (in almost every State), and at toxicity levels roughly ten-fold higher 

than EPA had been led to believe by Bayer’s discredited 2007 field study. 

The second recent study was published in January 2012 and conducted by eight scientists 

at the University of Padova, Italy (hereinafter “Tapparo et al.”).100 They quantitatively measured 

the previously underestimated pathway of environmental exposure of honey bees to clothianidin 

(Poncho) as well as the other neonicotinoids, namely, the atmospheric emission of particulate

matter by standard pneumatic corn seed planting machines (also used in Krupke et al.). Their 

results show that the environmental release of particles containing neonicotinoids can produce 

high exposure levels for bees, with lethal effects consistent with the colony loss phenomenon

observed by beekeepers.

They also tested different configurations of the planter exhaust pipes, including 

modifications aimed at reducing emissions of the neonicotinoids. They concluded these various

exhaust modifications “have a limited effect on both the factor emission and the effective bee 

contamination”.

EPA’s communications on reported, neonicotinoid-caused, mass bee kills regularly 

blame faulty planter exhaust systems. But, the findings of Tapparo et al. neutralize that blameshifting, as exhaust modifications only have a “limited effect”. Krupke et al., who made very 

clear that they followed the insecticide label directions for use, confirm Tapparo et al. on the 

point that the toxic dust from planting the coated seeds will escape in any event, regardless of the 

label warnings, directions for use or other farming techniques that EPA may urge (but is in no 

position to mandate or enforce). 

 

99 Memorandum: Revised Assessment for Clothianidin Registration of Prosper T400 Seed Treatment on 

Mustard Seed (Oilseed and Condiment) and Poncho/Votivo Seed Treatment on Cotton, PC Code 044309, EPA 

Environmental Fate and Effects Division (Dec. 2, 2010), at 21.

100 Tapparo et al., supra note 2.
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Tapparo et al. concluded by suggesting reforms, not just to preserve honey bees but also 

to protect broader ecosystems from this pervasive and increasing contamination source:

This emission source of particles with acute toxic effects on bees (and on 

other insects too) is of concern for both apiculture and crop productions based on 

bee pollination. But it is also a widespread ecological problem that, in view of the 

worldwide increase in corn production partly promoted by government subsidies 

to renewable energy sources, and the consequent predictable exacerbation of the 

problem, should require a deeper analysis of the related agricultural policies. 

As Krupke et al., Tapparo et al., and a vast number of other studies and real-world 

experiences show, the effect of EPA’s policies and decisions has been to imprudently expose 

vast numbers of America’s beneficial insects to damaging toxin levels and not just in and near 

corn fields as clothianidin is approved for dozens of other uses. For the owners of honey bees 

that are privately held, the economic and workload impacts are devastating (see Table 1). Many 

commercial beekeepers have gone out of business, filed for bankruptcy or both.

STATEMENT OF LEGAL GROUNDS

VII. Allowing Sale and Use of Clothianidin Without a Field Study Required for its

Conditional Registration is Arbitrary and Capricious; Immediate Suspension is 

Required

Well over a year has passed since EPA finally acknowledged it had improperly relied on 

the Cutler and Scott-Dupree 2007 study as satisfying the outstanding data requirement that the 

agency made a condition of clothianidin’s registration. Clothianidin thus exists in a regulatory 

limbo in which EPA continues to allow its sale and use even though Bayer failed to meet a 

crucial condition imposed back in 2003.

A conditional registration is authorized under three circumstances:

EPA may conditionally register a pesticide if “the pesticide and proposed use are 

identical or substantially similar to any currently registered pesticide and use 

thereof, or differ only in ways that would not significantly increase the risk of 

unreasonable adverse effects on the environment,”

101

 

101 7 U.S.C. § 136a(c)(7)(A)(i).
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EPA may conditionally amend a pesticide’s registration “to permit additional uses 

of such pesticide,”

102

EPA may conditionally register a pesticide “containing an active ingredient not 

contained in any currently registered pesticide for a period reasonably sufficient 

for the generation and submission of required data” but “only if [EPA] determines 

that use of the pesticide during such period will not cause any unreasonable 

adverse effect on the environment, and that use of the pesticide is in the public 

interest.”

103

Only the last of these circumstances—generating data for a newly-developed pesticide—even 

arguably applied in 2003, but none of these circumstances apply in 2012. Accordingly, 

maintaining the registration of clothianidin violates FIFRA for at least two reasons.

First, EPA no longer has statutory authorization to maintain the registration of 

clothianidin because of the outstanding data. By its own terms, FIFRA does not allow

conditional registrations to go on indefinitely. A conditional registration may only last for a 

period “reasonably sufficient” to generate the outstanding data necessary for unconditional 

registration. Nine years far exceeds the amount of time “reasonably sufficient” to generate 

those data. Even the 16 months since EPA’s 2010 downgrade of Bayer’s 2007 study is more 

than “reasonably sufficient” time for Bayer to have conducted the missing pollinator field study 

that complies with guideline 850.3040. Because much more than a reasonably sufficient time has 

passed for Bayer to produce the missing data required for conditional registration, EPA now 

lacks authority to prolong clothianidin’s registration; immediate suspension is required. EPA 

must require completion of the missing field tests using actual commonly-applied mixes.

Second, EPA has not determined and, given the state of independent peer-reviewed 

scientific research, it could not reasonably determine, that clothianidin will not have 

unreasonable adverse effects on the environment if the compound’s registration is allowed to 

continue. Nor can EPA determine that maintaining its registration is in the public interest.

Indeed, EPA itself admitted in an official memorandum in 2010 that clothianidin may have 

significant adverse impacts on pollinators:

104

 

102 Id. § 136a(c)(7)(B).

103 Id. § 136a(c)(7)(C); Hardin v. Jackson, 625 F.3d 739, 740 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (dismissal affirmed on other 

grounds) (emphasis added). 

104 See, e.g., EPA November 2010 Memorandum, supra note 32, at 2.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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[I]nformation from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports 

involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the 

potential for long term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

In sum, EPA is maintaining conditional registration for clothianidin “without making the 

findings required by law for such a registration and contrary to the statutory terms which 

preclude a conditional registration.”

105 The agency’s actions and inactions, as a matter of law, are

arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the mandates of FIFRA. The agency has severely harmed

the Petitioners’ interests in maintaining healthy populations of honey bees and other beneficial

insects, as well as in preventing further resulting economic and ecosystem damage. Immediate 

suspension of clothianidin’s registration is the required remedy.

VIII. Studies Linking Neonicotinoids to Declining Honey Bee Populations and 

Health Justify Immediate Suspension of Clothianidin’s Registration 

In addition to the law, the weight of the science justifies suspension as shown in this 

Petition and in the State of the Science report in Appendix B, because clothianidin use has been 

shown to be a likely factor in the abnormal declines in honey bee populations. This pesticide, in 

addition to its lethal effects, also affects bee behavior and cognition in ways that compromise the 

overall health of colonies.

To reiterate, honey bees are social insects that rely heavily on a certain level of memory, 

cognition and communication to coordinate activities essential for their survival.106 Chronic 

ingestion of neonicotinoids damages foraging behavior, overall mobility and the communication 

that allows these social insects to coordinate their activities.

107 Neonicotinoid pesticides also 

have several other indirect effects on honey bees, such as premature shifts in hive roles.

108 They 

can impair honey bees’ medium-term olfactory memory and associative learning abilities, which 

 

105 Hardin, supra note 103, 625 F.3d at 741.

106 Judy Y. Wu et al., Sub-Lethal Effects of Pesticide Residues in Brood Comb on Worker Honey Bee (Apis 

mellifera) Development and Longevity, 6 PLoS ONE e14720 (2011).

107 See, e.g., Piotr Medrzycki et al., Effects of Imidacloprid Administered in Sub-Lethal Doses on Honey 

Bee Behaviour. Laboratory Tests, 56 Bulletin of Insectology 59 (2003), available at

www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol56-2003-059-062medryzcki.pdf; E.C. Yang et al., Abnormal Foraging 

Behavior Induced by Sub-Lethal Dosage of Imidacloprid in the Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae), 101 J. OF ECON.

ENTOMOLOGY 1743 (2008).

108 Wu et al. supra note 6 at 1–2; see also Yang et al., supra note 107.
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foraging honey bees rely on, inter alia, to find their way back to the hive.109 Impairment of these 

functions is consistent with the absence of dead bees inside the hives in reported CCD cases.

As indicated above, recent studies also confirm neonicotinoids interact with common bee 

pathogens and parasites, making the bees more vulnerable to the deadly effects of both. Studies 

reveal that neonicotinoids weaken honey bees so they are more vulnerable to mortality from gut 

parasites like Nosema spp. and vice versa.110 The combination of the increasing prevalence of 

Nosema spp. with high pesticide content in beehives can create synergistic effects, contributing

further to colony depopulation.

In sum, peer-reviewed studies demonstrate neonicotinoids including clothianidin have the 

potential to wreak havoc on U.S. pollinators. Due to uncontrollable drift and blowing of 

contaminated dust and soils, this includes vast acreage of lands neighboring the fields where the 

pesticide is intentionally applied. EPA also has approved it in various formulations for use on 

ornamental and landscaping plants and as trunk injections to trees that are foreseeably visited by 

many species of bees and other beneficial insects, including threatened and endangered species

(see Appendix A on Approved Uses). As shown in this Petition and bolstered by the State of the 

Science report, the levels of clothianidin applied through its spectrum of approved uses pose 

significant acute and chronic risks. Thus, the compound clearly meets EPA’s own criteria for 

Special Review in Title 40 CFR 154 Subpart A:

§ 154.7 Criteria for initiation of Special Review.

(a) The Administrator may conduct a Special Review of a pesticide use if 

he determines, based on a validated test or other significant evidence, that the use 

of the pesticide (taking into account the ingredients, impurities, metabolites, and 

degradation products of the pesticide):

/////////////////

(3) May result in residues in the environment of nontarget organisms at 

levels which equal or exceed concentrations acutely or chronically toxic to such 

organisms, or at levels which produce adverse reproductive effects in such 

organisms, as determined from tests conducted on representative species or from 

other appropriate data.

(4) May pose a risk to the continued existence of any endangered or 

threatened species designated by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of 

Commerce under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended.

/////////////////

 

109 Decourtye et al., supra note 4; see also Alex Decourtye et al., Effects of Imidacloprid and Delamethrin 

on Associative Learning in Honeybees Under Semi-Field and Laboratory Conditions, 57 ECOTOXICOLOGY &

ENVTL. SAFETY 410 (2004).

110 Pettis et al., supra note 46; Vidau et al., supra note 47.
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(6) May otherwise pose a risk to humans or to the environment which is 

of sufficient magnitude to merit a determination whether the use of the pesticide 

product offers offsetting social, economic, and environmental benefits that justify 

initial or continued registration.

In addition to the fatal procedural and legal defects in clothianidin’s conditional 

registration, the weight of the current science on its adverse effects mandates immediate 

suspension of its registration and its removal from the market and the environment.

IX. Immediate Suspension is Warranted Under 7 U.S.C. § 136d

EPA also has more than enough evidence and cause to make the determinations 

necessary to suspend registration of clothianidin under 7 U.S.C. § 136d.

A. Cancellation Proceedings are Required or at Least Warranted

7 U.S.C. § 136d(e)(1) provides: 

The Administrator shall issue a notice of intent to cancel a registration issued 

under section 136(a)(c)(7) of this title if ... the Administrator, at any time during 

the period provided for satisfaction of any condition imposed, determines that the 

registrant has failed to initiate and pursue appropriate action toward fulfilling 

any condition imposed.

By using the word “shall,” in contrast to the use of “may” in section 136d(b), Congress imposed 

on EPA a mandatory duty to initiate cancellation proceedings when a registrant has, for example, 

effectively extended its conditional registration by delaying its own compliance with a condition.

Based on the unreasonable delays by Bayer, a determination by EPA that clothianidin did 

not now conform to the criteria for cancellation under section 136d(e)(1) would be contrary to 

FIFRA and arbitrary and capricious. Alternatively, even if EPA rejects this interpretation of 

FIFRA, initiation of cancellation proceedings is still warranted under 7 U.S.C. § 136d(b)(1). That 

section states the Administrator may initiate cancellation proceedings if she determines that a 

pesticide “generally causes unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.” As discussed

above, the strong weight of the evidence shows that recent and widespread use of clothianidin is

causing unreasonable adverse effects.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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B. Clothianidin Presents an “Imminent Hazard”; Immediate Suspension 

is Warranted

Every year clothianidin remains in use, the viability of pollinator populations deteriorates 

more. After at least six consecutive winters resulting in significant, abnormal, die-offs of honey 

bees, their populations across the United States could collapse. Economic losses from the 

collapse of U.S. bee colonies would measure in the tens of billions of dollars.111 The ecological 

impacts of lost pollinators also would be devastating and perhaps irreparable. With the stakes so 

high, and with America’s beekeepers and honey producers already suffering severe losses, EPA 

cannot reasonably interpret FIFRA to require putting off suspension until this hazard somehow

becomes more imminent.

X. Clothianidin’s Inadequate Labeling Renders It Misbranded; a Stop Sale, Use or 

Removal Order is Required

Section 2(q)(1)(F) of FIFRA states a pesticide is “misbranded” if its labeling lacks 

“directions for use” which are “adequate to protect health and the environment.”112 It is unlawful 

to sell or distribute a misbranded pesticide.

113 Section 13(a) authorizes EPA to issue an order 

prohibiting the sale, use or removal of any pesticide or device whenever there is reason to 

believe its use would violate any provision of FIFRA.114

Clothianidin seed treatment products are misbranded because their labeling lacks 

directions for use adequate to protect against devastating harm to beneficial insects, particularly 

honey bees and including Federally-listed threatened and endangered species.

115 The Krupke et 

al., Tapparo et al. and other studies show that farmers are broadcasting it far and wide via many 

pathways of exposure for which there is no foreseeable likelihood that label warnings could 

mitigate the exposure of unintended targets. (This is particularly the case because label warnings 

are very rarely enforced.) The researchers found that when corn seeds were treated with 

clothianidin according to the label guidelines it nevertheless became widespread across the 

agricultural landscape, including neighboring lands over which the user of the pesticide typically 

 

111 E.g., Johnson, supra note 14, at 1.

112 7 U.S.C. § 136(q)(1)(F); see also id. § 136(q)(1)(G) (pesticide is misbranded if its label lacks a warning 

adequate to protect health and the environment).

113 7 U.S.C. § 136j(a)(2)(I).

114 Id. § 136k(a).

115 Appendix C: Sample Labels of Pesticides Containing Clothianidin.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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lacks any means of controlling the harmful effects and no modifications to the planting 

machinery have been shown to significantly reduce it.

Current labeling for clothianidin seed treatments, such as Poncho 600 and Poncho Beta 

(see Appendix C), lack any warnings or directions for use as to how pollinators and other 

beneficial insects, including threatened and endangered species, actually are to be protected.

EPA should determine that no label warning or directions could provide adequate protection

based on the available evidence.

Indeed, the agency’s regulatory documents contain several assertions by EPA scientists to 

this effect. EFED’s entomologist, Allen Vaughan, asserted in an official Memorandum that

applied to cucurbits and fruiting vegetables, but also applies more generally, that:

116

Because of the extreme persistence of clothianidin in soil environments (half-life 

= 148 to 1,155 days) and the potential for translocation of this systemic pesticide 

to pollen and nectar, EFED does not believe that precautionary bee labeling 

language will effectively mitigate hazards from soil treatment or seed application 

of clothianidin to cucurbits and fruiting vegetables ...mitigation measures have 

not been developed to protect bees from exposure to soil-applied systemic 

pesticides.

It would be specious to suggest that the inability of precautionary labeling language to mitigate 

the environmental hazards of clothianidin is limited to a “special case” of cucurbits and fruiting 

vegetables. The degree of hazard is many orders of magnitude greater for corn seed treatment, 

such as Poncho 600, planted now across tens of millions of acres, than for the relatively minor 

acreage of cucurbits and fruiting vegetables, and just as incapable of mitigation by label 

warnings or use directions. EPA lacks any basis to assert that unenforceable exhortations to 

farmers actually will protect bees from the risks; again, the evidence from the recent field studies 

is that even if farmers heed those exhortations, and even if their planter exhausts are modified, it 

would not significantly reduce the harmful effects. 

Foliar applications of the products also are misbranded; many have label language 

warning against use when bees are “actively visiting” the plants even though the field half-life of 

clothianidin can be 25 days or more. This defect also applies to clothianidin-based products sold 

to landscapers and homeowners in retail stores across the nation. Huge volumes of these 

 

116 Allen W. Vaughan, Clothianidin Registration of New Products and New Uses of Sepresto 75WS and 

PROCEEDTM OPTIMUM: Addendum to Address Mitigation of Bee Hazard, Envtl. Risk Branch, EFED, EPA

(2009); emphasis added.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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products reportedly are sold and the rates recommended on the container labels can be as high as 

40 times the rate allowed for agricultural applications, resulting in lethal doses. Yet, these 

products can be sold without any bee hazard statement. Compared to crop uses, this entire use 

area is “flying under the radar” of EPA control.

These facts, in view of the Vaughan admission, show the labels on clothianidin products 

violate FIFRA. The statute is explicit and requires that EPA find a product is misbranded if:

117

(F) the labeling accompanying it does not contain directions for use which are 

necessary for effecting the purpose for which the product is intended and if 

complied with, together with any requirements imposed under section 136a(d) of 

this title, are adequate to protect health and the environment; [or]

(G) the label does not contain a warning or caution statement which may be 

necessary and if complied with, together with any requirements imposed under 

section 136a(d) of this title, is adequate to protect health and the environment.

As indicated, based on the above language, EPA recently issued a stop sale, use or

removal order for a comparable herbicide based on the label because of similarly undisclosed

impacts on non-target organisms. EPA registered DuPont’s broadleaf herbicide Imprelis in 2010.

In the course of investigation, the agency discovered that the approved labels did not warn about 

potential damage to trees when the product was used in accordance with the label directions.

EPA therefore determined Imprelis was misbranded because it lacked: “directions for use and/or

warning or caution statements that are adequate to protect the environment, namely certain 

species of trees.”118 Accordingly, the agency ordered DuPont to “immediately cease the sale, use 

or removal of Imprelis products.”119

The facts that led EPA to issue the order for Imprelis are indistinguishable from the facts

here, namely, that clothianidin product labels lack warnings or directions for use adequate to 

protect non-target insects, including Federally-listed threatened and endangered species. It is 

irrelevant that in the Imprelis case the organisms being killed were large visible trees and in this 

case the organisms being killed are small insects that may go unnoticed until they are gone.

 

117 7 U.S.C. § 136(q); emphasis added.

118 EPA Region III, In re E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Stop Sale, Use, or Removal Order, Docket No. 

FIFRA-03-2011-0277SS (Aug. 11, 2011) ¶ 22.

119 Id. ¶ 24 (emphasis in original).
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39

Accordingly, Petitioners request EPA to formally determine that clothianidin is misbranded and 

issue a stop sale, use or removal order on an emergency basis.

XI. EPA’s Actions Violate the Endangered Species Act.

As indicated, EPA has violated Section 7(a)(2) of the ESA by failing to make the 

required “effects” determinations and failing to undergo consultation with the Services 

concerning clothianidin’s impacts on native endangered and threatened species. EPA has in 

effect admitted these violations and it explicitly acknowledged the foreseeability of adverse 

effects on ESA-listed species back in 2003 when it first registered the compound. Petitioners 

request EPA to make the needed effects determinations and initiate and complete the required 

consultation process. The agency must suspend the continued use of clothianidin in the interim to 

make this ESA compliance meaningful and in accordance with the statute’s requirements, 

otherwise clothianidin may continue to take listed threatened and endangered species without the 

required take authorization under the ESA and may degrade designated critical habitat.

CONCLUSION

If EPA does nothing the collapse of honey bee populations nationwide and severe 

damage to the Nation’s agriculture, as well as to populations of native pollinators and other 

beneficial insects, and to the Petitioners’ interests, are foreseeable. But, it is not too late. Taking 

the actions requested in this Emergency Petition can preserve these remarkable insects for future 

generations and prevent massive economic and ecological damage, but not if the actions are 

delayed for years.

For the foregoing reasons, Petitioners respectfully request EPA to promptly suspend the 

registration of clothianidin. Petitioners also request EPA to make a formal determination that 

clothianidin is misbranded because its labeling is inadequate and to issue a stop sale, use or 

removal order. In the alternative, Petitioners request EPA to initiate Special Review and 

cancellation procedures and suspend clothianidin’s registration pending the outcome of those 

procedures. Clothianidin does not meet the burden under EPA’s criteria to be “entitled” to 

continued registration per 40 CFR§ 154.5 on Special Review petitions.
EMERGENCY PETITION

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In view of the emergency nature of this matter, the severity of the impacts the Petitioners 

are suffering and EPA’s excessive delays to date in complying with FIFRA and the ESA and in 

resolving the concerns over clothianidin’s environmental effects, the agency is urged to grant the 

requests in this Petition within 90 days of its filing date. Failure to promptly resolve these

matters will create a high likelihood of significant harm to the Petitioners, the public and the 

environment.

DATED this 20th day of March, 2012.

/s/____________________________

Peter T. Jenkins, Attorney for Petitioners

Center for Food Safety and International Center for Technology Assessment

660 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Suite 302

Washington, DC 20003

Phone: (202) 547-9359

Email: PJenkins@icta.org

TABLES

Table 1. Beekeeper and Honey Producer Petitioners

Table 2. Environmental and Consumer Organization Petitioners

APPENDICES

Appendix A - Approved Uses of Clothianidin

Appendix B – PANNA report: Pesticides and Honey Bees – The State of the Science

Appendix C - Sample Labels of Pesticides Containing Clothianidin
EMERGENCY PETITION

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Table 1. Beekeeper and Honey Producer Petitioners (27)

Jeff Anderson, owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms (CMHF), is a commercial beekeeper residing 

in Oakdale, California and Eagle Bend, Minnesota. CMHF is a 3,000 hive commercial migratory 

beekeeping operation. Mr. Anderson has worked in this operation for 36 years and owned it for that last 

15; experiences include an extensive fight over improper use of insecticides in Minnesota which over the 

course of 5 years killed 11,000 of his bee hives. This first hand exposure has mad him adept at 

identifying abnormal bee mortality attributed to pesticides as compared to ‘normal’ pest and pathogen 

caused mortality. Abnormal bee mortality again reared its head for CMHF in the form of excessive 

overwinter mortality starting in the spring of 2005. Another issue related to bee health which has

worsened in subsequent years is a ‘light’ bee kill which appears to correlate with corn planting in 

Minnesota. The hives fail to build in a normal fashion during planting season. The appearance of these

and other similar symptoms correlate directly with the introduction of clothianidin seed treatment in 

2004 on agricultural crops in his area. In 2011, the spring issues included abnormally high queen 

mortality. Of the 3,000 hives first brought to Minnesota, 25% plus had to be re-queened. Even with this 

extra manipulation which in essence should have raised the spring count to 3750 hives, the season’s 

abnormal mortality resulted in a spring 2012 count of 1800 hives; representing over 50% actual 

mortality.

Manley and Linda Bigalk are beekeepers near Cresco, Iowa, which is in northeastern Iowa near the 

Minnesota border. They have been commercial beekeepers for over 50 years. They are producerspackers and supply a grocery chain of about 110 stores in the region. They also are farmers. They are 

very concerned about clothianidin as it pertains to the honey industry, environment and to consumers 

of honey. Their bees have been stressed these last years. They don’t have the vigor they used to; 

evidently their immune systems have been stressed. The Bigalks used to run about 1,400 hives and are 

down to 600 at present. They are replacing 30% of their bees each year and some years more. Things 

have dramatically changed as it used to be about 15%. They believe the systemic insecticides, 

neonicotinoids including clothianidin, have had an effect.

Tim A. Brod of Highland Honey Bees, LLC., is a commercial beekeeper residing in Boulder, Colorado. He 

has been involved with bees for over 40 years, and for the last 6 with a registered licensed commercial 

operation. For the past 5 years, he has been experiencing an increase in bee mortality and poor broodqueen dysfunction. Some years the die off is as high as 40%. This pattern of die off and brood illness is 

alarming and not sustainable for the bees or for the business. He believes his excessive die off and 

"illness," is at the least partially due to new generations of pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids, and 

specifically seed treatments using these chemicals. He is very disappointed by EPA's poor management 

and science regarding these chemicals, and its inadequate enforcement and education of applicators.

Coalition4Bees is a grassroots group of beekeepers whose members share the goal of educating 

themselves and others in Boulder County, Colorado, about the effects of systemic pesticides on 

honeybees, other pollinators, soils, and groundwater. The members of this organization have all seen 

excessive mortality of their colonies over the past several years. A large percentage of the agricultural 

lands in Boulder County are planted in corn, the majority of which is treated with the neonicotinoid 

pesticide clothianidin. The members of Coalition4Bees believe this pesticide is very toxic to bees and 

other pollinators. They are reasonably certain that a significant percentage of their bee mortality is 

linked to this pesticide, and they are extremely concerned that if its use continues to be permitted, the 

damage to the food supply and the ecosystem could be devastating. 
EMERGENCY PETITION

42

Craig Byer is a commercial beekeeper in Huntington/Smithtown, New York. He serves as a board 

member on the American Apitherapy Society which uses the products of the hive to aid in overall 

health. He also runs a large pest control operation on Long Island and is fully aware of the detrimental 

effects on the environment of residual pesticides used to control insects. Because of persistent 

chemicals in the environment he has difficulty in maintaining his bee hives in a normal fashion. He is 

sure the use of clothianidin and other neonicotinoid pesticides has impacted the health of his bees. This 

is compounded by the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to avoid 

harm to bees and as well an inadequate enforcement of the label requirements. 

Cynthia Cole is a beekeeper and market gardener residing in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She has kept 

bees for four years for the purposes of collecting honey and for pollination, which is extremely 

important for her flower business. She is a member of the Barnstable County Beekeepers Association 

and Market Manager of the Mid-Cape Farmers Market. Overwintering mortality has been a problem for 

her. Losing hives is costly in terms of out-of-pocket expenses, time to restock the hive and lost honey 

production. She believes that this mortality, at least in part, is a result of exposure of her bees to 

neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin.

Ross Conrad, is a commercial beekeeper residing in Middlebury, Vermont. He manages 50-60 hives for 

pollination, as well as honey and wax production. He has relied on honey bees for part or all, of his 

income since 1993. His experience includes: -- author of one of the central books on the subject of 

Natural/Organic Beekeeping (Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, Chelsea 

Green publishing 2007); -- author of dozens of articles on beekeeping for bee related journals and 

periodicals in the United States and abroad; -- has taught dozens of courses and led dozens of bee 

related workshops and presentations throughout North America for groups from 4 to 300; -- offers 

Natural/Organic Beekeeping consultation services; -- is recognized nationally as a leader in the area of 

Natural/Organic Beekeeping. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and other excess 

losses other beekeepers are experiencing are of serious concern to Mr. Conrad as he does not want his 

operation to be impacted by chemicals toxic to honey bees that have not been improperly approved for 

the marketplace. The evidence indicating that honey bees become more susceptible to disease after 

exposure to sublethal doses of chemicals may be impacting his operation and it may be impacted more 

directly at some point in the future. 

James Doyle is a commercial beekeeper residing in Bainbridge, Indiana. He currently has 32 hives for 

honey production, and pollination services, including 10 years in it. The ongoing effects of excessive 

overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees has damaged his operation with an 

average of a 30% loss of hives over winter, and a general failure to thrive. Worker loss is preventing the 

hive from growing, thus making them vulnerable to predation by other insects. This has caused him to 

buy replacement bees each spring and feed sugar to replace the honey that was not gathered in an 

effort to keep the hives alive. The hive splits he is able to do go to replace losses to his own apiary so he 

cannot expand his operation or sell bees for profit. This damage is believed to have at least partly 

resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin.

Steve Ellis owns and operates Old Mill Honey Company, a migratory beekeeping operation with 2,300 

hives of bees during the summer honey-producing season. The managed hives of honey bees in this 

business produce honey for market over the summer months in Minnesota, and paid pollination services 

in the winter and spring in California. He has over 35 years of experience as a beekeeper; over that 

period he has observed many incidents related to pesticide poisoning. Each pesticide poisoning incident 

affects hives of honey bees differently, depending on the route of exposure of the bees and the mode of 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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action of the specific chemical. Monetary damages done to managed honey bees can become very 

great including the costs of replacing killed bees, contaminated beeswax comb, lost honey production, 

and lost income from failure to perform contracted pollination services. Over the course of the last five 

to six years, he has observed a new type of bee kill: bees dying of pesticide poisoning in the early spring, 

at corn seeding time, and early dandelion bloom. Neighboring beekeepers also have been reporting this 

unusual occurrence. Fall and winter mortality have remained between 30 and 40% over this period in his

operation. Clearly this level of losses is unsustainable. He keeps bees in west central Minnesota where

corn and soybeans are increasingly the dominant crops. It is not possible to locate his bees away from 

these crops during the summer growing season.

Adam French runs Cox Honey Farms, Inc., a commercial beekeeping operation in Shelley, Idaho. The 

business has operated for over 70 years. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and 

other excess losses of honey bees have at times crippled its operation. Excessive manpower and hours 

have been spent to regroup and bring colony counts back to normal. This damage is believed to have at 

least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, in the environment where it 

has impacted their bees. This is made worse by the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform 

the applicators how to avoid harm to bees and inadequate enforcement. 

Tim Fulton is a sideline beekeeper with a small operation based in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He has kept 

bees for over 15 years and produces about 2,000 lbs. of honey annually that he sells at a farmers market 

and from his home. He is President of Wisconsin Honey Producers, Program Chair of Kenosha Racine 

Beekeepers, and a member of the American Federation of Beekeepers. The ongoing effects of excessive 

overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged his operation significantly. 

When Mr. Fulton first started keeping bees, he had a high 90% overwintering success rate. Over the last 

5 to 6 years however, he has suffered consistent losses of 30-40%, and this only seems to be getting 

worse. Mr. Fulton’s hives are located between flying distance of two golf courses. The damage to his 

operation is believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including 

clothianidin, in the environment where it has impacted his bees. He recognizes this is a complex issue, 

but believes that the EPA needs to be more responsible to the pollinator and beekeeper population, 

especially in light of the growing local food movement, which depends heavily on honeybees.

David Hackenberg is a commercial beekeeper residing in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He has been keeping 

bees for 49 years, through his family business Hackenberg Apiaries. His experience includes serving 12 

years on the National Honey Board, President of the American Beekeeping Federation, and has served 

as Chair and Co-chair of the National Honey Bee Advisory Board. The ongoing effects of excessive 

overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged his operation. In 2006, he 

saw huge losses in a little less than three weeks. These disappearances coincided with neonicotinoid 

pesticides coming on the market. This damage is believed to have at least partly resulted from these 

pesticides, including clothianidin, in the environment where it has impacted his bees. This is believed to 

be compounded by the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to 

avoid harm to bees and inadequate enforcement of the label requirements. He currently has about 

3300 hives this spring. His annual losses have run 75-80%, or with continual protein feeding, they can be 

held closer to 60% losses, but both these levels are excessive.

Paula L. Hendricks, is a commercial beekeeper residing in Ellsworth, Ohio. She has been a beekeeper for 

approximately ten years producing honey, soaps, candles, and other products. Her experience includes 

Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association and Ohio State Beekeepers Association, she is a 

past secretary of the Columbiana-Mahoning County Beekeepers Association. The ongoing effects of 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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excessive overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees has damaged this operation in 

the way of lost profits, lack of honey production, and bee loss in the upward numbers of 50% in the 

years 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Bees are very costly to replace. She has crop fields adjacent to 

her land; on the other side of the property is a golf course. Both rely heavily on pesticide and herbicide 

usage. Her damage is believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including 

clothianidin, in the environment where it has impacted his bees. This is believed to be compounded by 

the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to avoid harm to bees and 

inadequate enforcement of the label requirements.

Dr. Carl E. Korschgen is a commercial beekeeper residing in Columbia, Missouri. He has been a 

beekeeper for 4 years and is steadily increasing his operation by about 10 hives each year with an 

expectation of up to 50 hives in the next few years. His experience includes 32 years as a supervisory 

research biologist for the U. S. Department of Interior (USFWS and USGS), a member of the Boone 

Regional Beekeepers Association for 4 years. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality 

and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged his operation. Over the past two years he has lost 

about 40% of his hives over the winter period. This damage is believed to have at least partly resulted 

from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, in the environment where it has impacted his 

bees. This is believed to be compounded by the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the 

applicators how to avoid harm to bees and inadequate enforcement of the label requirements. Further, 

in the Columbia, Missouri region, he and many acquaintances have witnessed a noticeable lack of native 

insects, especially many species of grasshoppers, over the past several years. They do not know the 

cause of these declines but are very concerned that these declines are attributing to the reduction 

of wildlife species such as bobwhite quail and wild turkeys. 

Dr. Daniel F. Mayer is a commercial beekeeper residing in Hamilton, Montana. He has been a beekeeper 

since 1973 and maintains somewhat less than 100 colonies selling honey from the farm and at local 

markets. His experience includes 3 years as a Research Technician, 3 years as a county Extension Agent 

and 22 years as an Extension/Research Entomologist with a State University working with bees and is 

past president of the Western Apicultural Society. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering 

mortality and other excess losses of honey bees has damaged this operation increased overwintering 

losses (up from 15% 20 years ago to 30% now) which has led to increased costs and less profits. This 

damage is believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, 

in the environment where it has impacted his bees. This is believed to be compounded by the lack of 

labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to avoid harm to bees and 

inadequate enforcement of the label requirements. Having worked as an Extension/Research 

Entomologist for Washington State University and in the private sector for 40 years, much of his work 

experience focused on the effects of pesticides on bees. The symptoms he has seen of the dying off of 

honey bee colonies that began in the early 2000's and the continuing losses are classic for pesticide 

poisoning.

Gary McCallister is a commercial beekeeper residing in Grand Junction, Colorado. He has been building 

a small beekeeping operation since 2004. Beginning with one hive, he has expanded until, in 2012, he 

will have about 20 hives. He also sells and services native bee nests for small gardeners’ pollination 

needs. There has been a measurable decline in native bee populations in areas of commercial

agriculture due to pesticide usage. His is a small operation with plans to continue to increase in 

numbers of hives as he retires from full time employment. He is the founder of the Western Colorado 

Beekeepers Association and current Vice President of the WCBA. He also teaches beekeeping classes 

through the local University and Community College. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering 
EMERGENCY PETITION

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mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged his operation. In the last two years his

winter losses have exceeded 30%. He had lost at least three hives during summer operations that were 

obviously due to pesticide contamination.

Miles McGaughey is the head of Mountain Warrior Honey in Longmont, Colorado. He has been a 

commercial beekeeper for 25 years. He is also the president of the Boulder County Beekeepers 

Association. Up until recently he had 120 hives. He lost over 90% of his hives; currently he only has

about 60. This massive loss has put a hardship on my pocket book and on his family who have helped 

him through this. He believes his losses were due to the neonicotinoid pesticides sprayed in his area, 

which are poorly labeled about the effects they have on bees.

Cass Moore is a commercial beekeeper residing in Marysville, Ohio. He has a small bee-keeping 

operation (about 150 colonies) that provides supplemental income. He started bee-keeping when he 

was just 13 years old and has over 59 years of experience. He has formerly served on the Board of 

Directors for the American Honey Producers Association. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering 

mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged this operation greatly in recent years. 

Annual loss for winter colonies has ranged from 50-99% in the last twenty years. During that time, Mr. 

Moore has lost 40 or more colonies per year, with each colony being valued around $250. This damage 

is believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, in the 

environment where it has impacted his bees. This is believed to be compounded by the lack of labels on 

those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to avoid harm to bees and inadequate 

enforcement of the label requirements.

Charles E. Mraz is a third generation commercial beekeeper in Middlebury, Vermont, and current 

president of the 500 member Vermont Beekeepers Association. He has a producer/packer operation 

established by his grandfather in 1931. He operates 30 apiaries with a total of approximately 1,200 

honeybee colonies. Excessive winter losses and queen failures has had a very negative impact on the 

viability of his operation. During the winter of 2004/2005 his operation lost 45% of its colonies. Since 

this time he has routinely suffered winter losses of 20-25% and is losing colonies in the regular season at 

a much higher rate than ever experienced in the past. Historically winter losses were less than 5% and 

rarely as high as 10%. Honey production averages have fallen from 58,000 lbs. to 39,000 lbs. since 2004. 

He feels that neonicotinoid pesticides are not the only problems honey bees have, but he sees good 

evidence that they are contributing to the problems.

Eloise Naylor is a commercial beekeeper residing in Moorestown, New Jersey. She has been keeping 

bees for four years and hopes to supplement her retirement income with honey sales. Her experience 

includes Member of American Beekeeping Federation, Member of Eastern Apicultural Society, Member 

of New Jersey Beekeepers Association, Vice President of the of South Jersey Beekeepers Association. 

The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees has 

damaged this operation with yearly loss averages at 20 percent.

Michael Risk is a commercial beekeeper residing in Laingsburg, Michigan. He has a honey and queen 

rearing business and has been a beekeeper for 29 years. He is the President of the Center of 

Michigan Beekeepers Association and has been mentoring and instructing at the club level as well as at 

the Michigan State Beekeepers Association level for a number of years. The ongoing effects of excessive 

overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees has damaged this operation with losses 

last year of 70%, it resulted in buying packages of replacement bees and losing a full year of lost queen 

and nuc production and lost profits. These losses have cost an estimated $6,000 in lost sales and 
EMERGENCY PETITION

46

replacement bees. Last year was the worst but he has had a minimum of 30% overwintering losses the 

past 5 years. This damage is believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, 

including clothianidin, in the environment where it has impacted his bees. This is believed to be 

compounded by the lack of labels on those pesticides adequate to inform the applicators how to avoid 

harm to bees and inadequate enforcement of the label requirements.

Gus Rouse is President of Kona Queen based in Hawaii. He owns and operates the largest honey bee 

queen breeding operation in the country, which furnishes replacement queens for many of the larger 

beekeeping operations in the country. He has been on the American Beekeeping Federation Board of 

Directors for the last twelve years. Over the past 30 years he has seen how the demand for queens has 

gone from a spring business to a year around as beekeepers must fight to keep up their hive numbers. 

Customers typically used to buy queens equaling half the number of hives they owned to re-queen 

every hive every two years. Now customers typically have to use one or two queens per year per hive.

Thomas C. Theobald is a commercial beekeeper and owner of the Niwot Honey Farm in Niwot, 

Colorado. He has conducted this beekeeping business for 37 years. He was one of the founders, and 

president for 30 years, of the Boulder County Beekeepers Association. He served two terms as vicepresident of the Colorado Beekeepers' Association, and was the last County Bee Inspector in the State of 

Colorado. He is losing 40 to 60% of his colonies each year and in 2011 had the smallest honey crop in 36 

years. He believes a primary cause of these continuing losses is the uncontrolled spread of neonicotinoid 

pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and others) over 200 million acres of agricultural 

land and untold acres of urban and suburban land. If EPA does not regulate these chemicals properly, 

there may be no 38th year for his business.

Tim Tucker is a commercial beekeeper based in Niotaze, Kansas. He has been keeping bees since 1991 

and currently runs between 3-400 colonies of bees. He has been a President of the Kansas Honey 

Producers Association and is currently on the National Honey Bee Advisory Board and is also VicePresident of the American Beekeeping Federation. During the past seven years he has had winter losses 

that have been dramatic when the bees were placed in intensively farmed areas. While these are areas 

which provide good nectar sources, such as soybean, cotton and alfalfa, they make an obvious 

difference in harming the health of the colonies. After heavy losses which were around 50% in 2006 and 

2007 he had to move to locations which kept the bees from high exposure to the pesticides that are 

being used. Since moving away from intensively farmed areas the bees have been healthier and 

overwintered better but these areas tend to be less productive for production of honey. It is his opinion 

that the new neonicotinoid pesticides are responsible for winter dwindling of honey bee colonies and 

lack of vigor in the surviving colonies. He has had to resort to other means of earning income such as 

selling bee colonies and queens to other beekeepers to supplement income that has been dramatically 

impacted for the past seven or eight years.

Charles Vorisek is a full time beekeeper residing in Linesville, Pennsylvania. He has the largest bee 

keeping operation in his county in northwestern Pennsylvania. His operation provides critical pollination 

services for orchards along Lake Erie. His pollination and honey sales help fill a void left by a large 

number of bee keepers leaving the business in his areas. He was instrumental in reorganization of the 

Northwestern PA Beekeepers Association in 2001 and has held the offices of President and Vice 

President every year since and he is actively involved with Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association, 

for which is currently Vice President. The ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and other 

excess losses of honey bees have damaged this operation. Losses over the past six years have been 50-

75% each winter. It is increasingly difficult to meet regular expenses of utilities, fuel and health 
EMERGENCY PETITION

47

insurance, because of the cost of just getting back to the previous year’s level. He has pollination 

contracts in areas where neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, are used. He can routinely 

expect a 25% colony failure during pollination and as he track those same colonies through winter, he 

finds an approximately 75% failure rate. With the honeybee range of 2-3 miles, it is virtually impossible 

to avoid these pesticide exposures in his area. As a Farm Bureau member himself he knows, through 

talking with the average crop farmer, that they have no concept that these seed treatments can harm 

honeybees. Every farmer he knows has concern for honeybees, yet their education as far as their 

impacts on bees is inadequate. 

Western Colorado Beekeepers Association is a beekeeper association located in Grand Junction, 

Colorado. They are a group of beginner, hobby, and commercial beekeepers that represent beekeeping 

in a large rural part of Colorado. There are those with over 1000 hives in the area, smaller commercial 

producers with 20+ hives, and the typical beginners and hobbyists as well. The ongoing effects of 

excessive overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees have damaged their

operations. Winter losses have been above 30% for the last two years. Several members have reported 

obvious pesticide kills. The area is heavily agricultural and pesticide use is common. This damage is 

believed to have at least partly resulted from neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, in the 

environment where it has impacted bees.

Stephen Whittlesey, is a commercial organic blueberry farmer and beekeeper residing in West 

Barnstable, Massachusetts. He has owned about twenty bee colonies, beginning in 1971 until present, 

using them for propagating one 1,000 highbush blueberry bushes which are organically grown. He is a 

member of the Barnstable County Beekeepers Association and the Cape Cod Organic Growers 

Association. Ongoing effects of excessive overwintering mortality and other excess losses of honey bees 

have damaged his operation. Typical losses in the seventies and early eighties would amount to 10 to 

15% annually, and were sustainable. Losses now are between 50 to 70% annually and are not 

sustainable. This has resulted in poor propagation and consequent decreased yields in the blueberry 

business and has resulted in his operating the blueberry business at a loss the last three years. He has

had to buy many new colonies of bumble bees and honeybees every year, and each year the price of the 

bees and the shipping get higher and higher. The damage to his bees is I believe the result, at least 

partly, of neonicotinoid pesticides, including clothianidin, in the environment.

Table 2. Environmental and Consumer Organization Petitioners (4)

Beyond Pesticides, located in Washington, DC, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1981. Beyond 

Pesticides promotes safe air, water, land, and food and works to protect public health and the 

environment by encouraging a transition away from the use of toxic pesticides. With Beyond Pesticides’ 

resources made available to the public on a national scale, Beyond Pesticides has contributed to a 

significant reduction in unnecessary pesticide use, thus improving protection of public health and the 

environment. The risks to public health and the environment from pesticides are large. Beyond 

Pesticides and its members have a vital interest in a thriving agricultural system, which includes healthy 

populations of honey bees and wild crop pollinators, as well as healthy natural ecosystems, managed 

landscapes and gardens. Honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder and general decline of pollinator health, 

along with inadequate regulation of pesticides known to kill and have sub-lethal impacts on bees and 
EMERGENCY PETITION

48

other pollinators, are of grave concern to the organization and its members.

Center for Food Safety (CFS), located in Washington, DC, and San Francisco California, is a nonprofit 

organization. Since its founding in 1997, CFS has sought to ameliorate the adverse impacts of industrial 

farming and food production systems on human health, animal welfare and the environment. CFS has 

over 200,000 members across the country. CFS seeks to protect human health and the environment by 

advocating for thorough, science-based, safety testing of new agricultural products prior to any 

marketing and cultivation of crops in a manner that minimizes negative impacts such as increased use of 

pesticides and evolution of resistant pests and weeds. CFS also seeks to provide consumers with a 

means of identifying genetically engineered (GE) foods on the market and to encourage full public 

participation in defining the issues presented by GE crops. Finally, a foundational part of CFS’ mission is 

to further the public’s fundamental right to know what is in their food. CFS and its members have a vital 

interest in the survival and health of honey bees and other crop pollinators to ensure a nutritious and 

safe food supply and healthy natural ecosystems and gardens. The ongoing collapse of populations of 

honey bees and other beneficial insects, and failure to provide adequate label warnings on these 

pesticides, has damaged this interest.

CFS has a sister organization, the Petitioner International Center for Technology Assessment

(ICTA), based at the same Washington, DC, location. It is a non-profit organization committed to 

providing the public with full assessments of technological impacts on society. ICTA explores the 

economic, ethical, social, environmental and political impacts that can result from the applications of 

technology or technological systems. ICTA’s interest in the development of safe agricultural technologies 

has been harmed by the use of unsafe, improperly-labeled, pesticides that contribute to decline in 

honey bees and other insects. 

Pesticide Action Network of North America (PANNA), is a San Francisco-based, non-profit corporation 

that serves as an independent regional center of Pesticide Action Network International, a coalition of 

public interest organizations in more than 90 countries. For nearly 30 years, PANNA has worked to 

replace the use of hazardous pesticides with healthier, ecologically sound, pest management across the 

United States and around the world. PANNA provides scientific expertise, public education and access to 

pesticide data and analysis, policy development and coalition support to more than 100 affiliated 

organizations in North America. PANNA has more than 70,000 members across the United States. 

PANNA’s members live and recreate in areas of the country where pesticides such as clothianidin are 

applied, and in which pesticide drift and transport occurs, and thus have a strong interest in ensuring 

that federal regulatory agencies protect public health and the environment from clothianidin 

contamination.