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Pollinator Protection: Advancing the Science
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Sound science is the basis for EPA’s regulatory decisions. Data used for analytical and regulatory purposes must be of the highest quality. EPA’s mission to protect pollinators is challenging because we first need to refine our current study requirements and then design additional studies that can provide us with the necessary quality data.
This page provides information about how EPA is working to advance the science for pollinator risk assessment.
International Workshop on Risk Assessment for Insect Pollinators
The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) is a professional science organization that supports workshops designed to address important science issues. EPA is a member of the SETAC Steering Committee that organized an international workshop on pesticide risk assessment for pollinators. The workshop was held during January 16 - 21, 2011, and brought together 48 experts from government, industry, academic, and non-governmental organizations, representing a range of expertise including toxicologists, statisticians, bee biologists, modelers, beekeepers, risk assessors and risk managers from North America, South America , Europe, Australia, and Africa . The conference had four main goals:
- Develop methods to measure exposure from both systemic and non-systemic pesticides;
- Identify consistent methods to identify and measure toxic effects of pesticides to bees;
- Develop a risk assessment process for pollinator species; and
- Evaluate whether the methods for evaluating risks to honey bees are adequate to estimate risk to other types of insect pollinators (bees).
The SETAC conference will provide us with important scientific groundwork to better protect pollinators through our regulatory programs. An executive summary of the workshop is now available: Pesticide Risk Assessment for Pollinators: Summary of a SETAC Pellston Workshop. 
The full proceedings will be published in 2012.
New Web-based Portal for Reporting Bee-Related Incidents
In addition to relying on sound science, we also use incident reports to help guide our pesticide regulatory decisions. After learning from beekeepers about pesticide incidents that were never reported to EPA, we worked with the National Pesticide Information Center (NPIC), a long-standing EPA partner, to develop a new Web-based portal for beekeepers to report incidents . Information from these reports will help us identify bee kills associated with the use of a specific pesticide or active ingredient. The reports of pesticide incidents can help identify patterns that indicate a potential unreasonable adverse effect of a pesticide. In addition to reporting incidents through the NPIC portal, beekeepers now have the option of also reporting incidents directly to the Office of Pesticide Programs.
Supporting Research into Pesticides and Pollinators
- We’re partnering with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Agricultural Research Service as well as USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study pollinator decline;
- We've provided input on research related to pesticides being conducted by both government and universities to help ensure the production of quality data that is useful in our risk assessments.
- Our Analytical Chemistry Laboratory has developed methods for scientists to measure residues of neonicotinoid pesticides at 0.2 parts per billion, which is 10 times lower than what has previously been measured. EPA scientists have also found a way to measure a wider range of environmental degradates (breakdown products) for these pesticides.
- We’re making pollinator protection a priority issue in annual grants awarded by EPA:
- Pesticide Environmental Stewardship (PESP) grants fund research projects on pesticide risk reduction.
- Strategic Agricultural Initiative grants support grower transition to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and sustainable pest management practices.
- Pesticide Registration Improvement Renewal Act (PRIA2) Partnership funds projects that reduce pesticide risk to pollinators by demonstrating innovative IPM practices and technologies and outreach/education.