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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, JUNE 2017
VISIT TO BAYER BEE CARE: MONHEIM AM RHEIN, GERMANY OUT AND ABOUT Don MacLeod Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to meet with Dr Christian Maus, Lead Scientist of Bayer Bee Care, when he has been in New Zealand. Dr Maus has repeatedly invited me to visit the Bayer Bee Care Center in Germany.
A private trip to Europe for three weeks in April meant that I could visit the Bayer Bee Care Center on 2–3 May before returning home. This is a report of that visit. The Bayer Bee Care Center is located on a 160-hectare campus at Monheim am Rhein in Germany, just a few kilometres south of Dusseldorf. This site includes the worldwide headquarters of Bayer Crop Science and Bayer Animal Health. For Bayer Crop Science, it is the centre of their insecticide and fungicide research and development (herbicides are located at another site). Meetings with staff My first meeting was with Dr Christian Maus and Coralie van Breukelen-Groeneveld, Head of the Bee Care Center. Our discussion covered their activities and purpose and what is happening in the wider world with respect to pesticides and their effects on bees. The Bee Care Center at Monheim was opened in 2012 to help build a transparent and collaborative platform to promote bee health. Bayer Crop Science and Bayer Animal Health have recognised that they needed a complete understanding of their products and the health of pollinators, especially honey bees. Bayer believes that the challenges faced by beekeepers keeping bees healthy are multifactorial; i.e., there is no one factor that causes all honey bee problems. The factors include varroa, control of pathogens, a healthy food supply and environment for bees. It costs Bayer up to US $100 million (plus 11 years’ research and development) to bring a new pesticide to market, and companies now need to assure pollinator safety. Bayer has identified that there is increasing public interest in not just honey bees, but
Tunnel house research trial at Bayer’s Hofchen Research Station, 2 May 2017. Bayer is trialling a new spraying technique on flowering canola. Note the nuc in the right-hand corner of the tunnel house. The methodology is described in the OECD field test 75 Honey Bee (Apis mellifera L.) Brood Test under semi-field conditions. From left to right: Volkmar Krieg, Peter Trodtfeld, Coralie van Breukelen-Groeneveld, Dr Ulrich Krieg.
many countries worldwide. Bayer wishes to be transparent in its research efforts and encourage open discussion. The company has even had groups opposed to pesticides tour their facility at Monheim and talk to the researchers. They do not anticipate that the European Union will lift the ban on certain seed treatment uses of clothianidin and imidacloprid soon. Their personal opinion is that it is now a political matter and expect that the ban will remain in place. I asked them what they would see with the Bayer takeover of Monsanto, in particular Monsanto’s patent on the use of RNA interference (RNAi) techniques to control varroa. They did not expect the takeover would occur until 2018 at the earliest and there had been no discussion of this patent at their level. I was concerned it had blocked
bumble bees and solitary bees. Both the public and media are asking questions about their safety and welfare. Bayer has recently extended its Bee Care research programme and has now commenced research testing of pesticides against honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees. Note that no country has yet mandated pesticide testing on bumble bees and solitary bees as a registration requirement to date. I find it very refreshing that a corporation is conducting pure environmental research for a future unknown use, whereas our Government is focusing research only on probable outcomes with forecast positive benefits. A major purpose of the Bee Care Center is to share their research on honey bees with as large an audience as possible, so Bayer has rolled out its Bee Care programme in
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