http://www.salon.com/env/feature/2009/05/18/bees_pesticides/

A small tidbit case you can't open the above URL.

"Halting the sale of pesticides, though, would be no mean task. Over 120
countries use imidacloprid under the Bayer label on more than 140 crop
varieties, as well as on termites, flea collars and home garden
landscaping. And the product's patent expired a few years ago, paving
the way for it to be sold as a generic insecticide by dozens of smaller
corporations. In California alone, imidacloprid is the central
ingredient in 247 separate products sold by 50 different companies.
In a statement, the EPA says that before banning a pesticide, it "must
find that an 'imminent hazard' exists. The federal courts have ruled
that to make this finding, EPA must conclude, among other things, that
there is a substantial likelihood that imminent, serious harm will be
experienced from use of the pesticide." The EPA did not clarify what is
meant by "imminent hazard" and why the death of honeybees does not
qualify.
As Mussen points out, though, a few million dead honeybees may be the
cost of doing business. "If they didn't register products that were
toxic to honeybees, there wouldn't be a lot of products on the market
that were available for pest control."
All the more reason to start taking the world's most ubiquitous
insecticide off the market and invent a safer one, argues Walker, of the
National Honeybee Advisory Board. "It's on every golf course, it's on
every lawn. It's not just an agricultural product. There's really not
one part of our lives it's not touching.""

..........................
Bill who has not seen a bee for awhile.

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA

Not all who wander are lost.
- J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)