A local beekeeper is joining a $450-million class action lawsuit launched against two chemical companies that alleges their pesticides are decimating bee colonies.
Jim Coneybeare, owner and operator of Coneybeare Honey just north of Fergus, told the Advertiser he is joining the class action suit against Bayer CropScience Inc. and Syngenta Canada Inc. and their parent companies.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants were negligent in their design, manufacture, sale and distribution of neonicotinoid pesticides or “neonics,” specifically those containing thiomethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid.
Coneybeare said he has joined a growing list of beekeepers in the $450-million lawsuit, 20 of which he knows personally.
The statement of claim also alleges the pesticides, which are a neurotoxin to insects, are widely coated on corn, soybean and canola seeds in Canada to protect the plants from pests such as aphids.
The honey producers, lead by primary plaintiffs Sun Parlor Honey of Cottam, Ontario and Munro Honey of Alvinston, Ontario, say studies have shown that bees exposed to the pesticides have smaller colonies, have trouble navigating and fail to return to their hives.
The pesticides were also found in 70 per cent of dead bees tested by Health Canada in 2013.
Coneybeare contends the chemicals are not only killing his bees, but have an adverse impact on the environment. The use of the pesticides, he says, has forced him to move some of his hives to areas of Grey County and further north, where crop farming is not that prevalent. But he has seen the impact the chemicals are having on his queen bees.
“There are pockets in Wellington County with 100,000 acres of corn, 100% treated,” Coneybeare said.
He added that in areas with heavy crop activity his hives have produced about one-tenth of the honey expected.
The losses come primarily in May, June and July, when bees are active and hives are expanding, Coneybeare explained.
“Losing queens [that] time of year is a death sentence for the hives,” he said. “We’re still seeing at least 10 per cent of the queens failing.”
According to him the companies are claiming bee deaths are due to other causes such as Varroa mites.
“OMAFRA inspections showed I had no threat in my hives,” Coneybeare said of the bee deaths he says have cost him about $250,000.
“It’s a controlled deflection,” he added, of the chemical companies response to the deaths.
Coneybeare said the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association is offering support for the lawsuit, but has no direct involvement.
“The goal is to stop the use of the neonicotinoids to stop the harm to the bees and the beekeepers,” said Paula Lombardi, a lawyer with London-based law firm Siskinds LLP, which is handling the Canada-wide class action. “
The basis of the claim is that they (the companies) were negligent.”
Lombardi, an environmental lawyer, said she was initially contacted by the Sierra Club of Canada about the issue and later by two commercial beekeeping companies before launching the lawsuit.
“Most have suffered substantial losses,” she said of the commercial ventures.
She is hoping a settlement will be reached before the case goes to trial.
A settlement, according to her, could be in place within two years.
Bayer and Syngenta officials have told several media outlets they could not comment on the matter because their companies have not yet been served with the lawsuit.
