PRESQUE ISLE — Potato growers in Maine are cautiously watching as the Environmental Protection Agency reviews regulations for a popular insecticide that can be harmful to bees.
Imidacloprid is effective against the Colorado potato beetle, which can seriously damage potato crops, according to Don Flannery, executive director of the Maine Potato Board.
The EPA is currently reviewing use of the pesticide as required every 15 years to ensure that it is still useful without causing “unreasonable adverse effects on human health or the environment.”
As part of that review process, the EPA has completed a draft ecological risk assessment for agricultural uses of the pesticide and has opened a public comment period that is supposed to end March 15.
The National Potato Council has asked for an extension to finish surveying potato growers about their use of the insecticide, “including observations of any decline or negative effects on the bee population.”
Imidacloprid is widely used by Maine potato farmers, Flannery said, and is used to control pests on rice, maize, vegetables, sugar beets, fruit and cotton, among others.
He said imidacloprid was needed to fight off the Colorado Potato Beetle, which “is everywhere. You may never even see it, but it can eat right through your crop.”
Both adult beetles and their larvae feed on the foliage of the plants, skeletonizing them.
Flannery said he did not believe that use of the pesticide on potato crops had a big impact on the bee population, because “bees are not customarily attracted to potatoes.”
“But this bee issue is in the forefront in recent years because of issues like colony collapse disorder.”
According to the National Pesticide Information Center, the pesticide’s role in Colony Collapse Disorder is not yet clear.
More information on the draft assessment and an opportunity to provide comments can be found at www.regulations.gov.
