Sep 19, 2008, The News & Observer
Italy is latest to ban sale of Bayer pesticide
Pesticides made by Bayer CropScience have been banned in a third European country after the chemicals were linked to bee deaths.
Italy this week followed Germany and Slovenia in banning sales of chemicals used to coat crop seeds, including clothianidin and imidecloprid, according to a statement by the Italian health ministry and the German consumer watchdog group, Coalition Against Bayer Dangers. Both pesticides are made and sold by Bayer CropScience, a German company that has its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park.
Beekeepers in the three countries blame the pesticides for killing large numbers of honeybees. Clothianidin and related pesticides generated about $1 billion of Bayer CropScience’s $8.6 billion in global sales last year.
Sabine Vollmer, Staff Writer