German Govt. Suspends Clothianidin-Based Pesticides After Bee Dieoff - ChemEng News

A few weeks after honeybee keepers in the southern German state of Baden Württemberg reported a wave of sudden honeybee deaths, federal authorities have ordered a suspension on the sale and trafficking of clothianidin-based pesticides.

"It can unequivocally be concluded that a poisoning of the bees is due to the rub-off of the pesticide ingredient clothianidin from corn seeds," notes a press release from the Julius Kuehn Institute (JKI), the German federal agricultural research agency. Beekeepers in the region started finding piles of dead bees at the entrance of hives in early May, right around the time corn seeding takes place," says Walter Haefeker, president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association.

To protect seedlings, corn seeds can be coated with the pesticide clothianidin (shown), which is produced by Monheim, Germany-based Bayer CropScience and was approved for use in Germany in 2004. The pesticide was approved for use with some restrictions in the U.S. in 2003.

Clothianidin is a neurotoxin, specifically interfering with insect acetylcholine receptors. Although the pesticide is also toxic to bees, clothianidin was approved because bees were not expected to have any contact with clothianidin-coated seeds under soil, says Stefanie Hahn, a spokeswoman for the JKI.

EDIT

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i21/8621notw7.html

and the German government takes action. How long has our country been ignoring it? And we've not taken ANY steps that I know of to try to put a halt to it.

just as I was expecting one to be placed out in the back yard he called me and said they're all dead, This has been a couple few years ago, btw. Our apple tree bloomed this year but it set no fruit where as the pear trees nearby did. The weather was quite different when they each bloomed though. The pears bloomed first during a warm spell while when the apples bloomed it was rather cool. We have lots of clover in our neighborhood yards and I'm not seeing any bees on any of them and they're in bloom now.

Bayer is introducing an above ground application of a neonicotinoid for soybeans this year....they are trying to get ahead of Syngenta.
It is not this active ingredient though.....but the same family..