Response from Bayer CropScience to Harvard School of Public Health study on neonicotinoids and honey bees

On Friday, May 9, 2014, the Harvard School of Public Health(HSPH) released a new study by Chensheng Lu via the Bulletin of Insectology. Bayer CropScience's scientists have reviewed the study and, in their opinion, find it to be seriously flawed for the following reasons:

• Feeding honey bees levels of neonicotinoids greater than 10 times what they would normally encounter is more than unrealistic – it is deceptive and represents a disservice to genuine scientific investigation related to honey bee health.
• Given the artificially high levels tested over 13 consecutive weeks, the colony failure rates observed are completely expected.
• Unfortunately, this latest study conducted by Dr. Lu repeats the fundamental flaws seen in his previous research and provides no meaningful information regarding honey bee risk assessment.

Bayer remains committed to understanding the multi-causes that impact the health of pollinators by bringing together some of the brightest minds in agriculture and apiology to develop comprehensive solutions for bee health through its North American Bee Care Center which is part of the company’s $12 million investment in bee health in 2014.