The sudden disappearance of bee colonies in the US (and elsewhere) has been in the media over the past few weeks. In this issue of Pesticides News, we look at the theories put forward to explain this, including the use of certain pesticides (page 3). The impact of this loss of the bee population cannot be overestimated, as bees are vital to the pollination of crops, and their loss impacts on the livelihoods of farmers (large and small scale), and on the availability of foodstuffs. Information from beekeeping organisations has not been factored into the reviews of pesticides, and we call for chemical assessment processes in Europe to take into account independent studies when making assessments, and for the involvement of civil society in these reviews.

Abou Thiam of PAN Africa also concentrates on the role of civil society, in this case, the role of NGOs in the ambitious multi-stakeholder programme to eliminate stockpiles of obsolete pesticides in Africa. A programme of awareness raising among NGOs in the seven countries in which this programme takes place has been undertaken, and NGOs are already playing a part in identifying stockpile sites. NGOs will have a vital role in prevention activities to stop the build up of new stockpiles. They will need to campaign and advocate to make sure that prevention activities are given the political will and resources needed, and to take their part in disseminating training and information on the impacts of stockpiles on the health of communities and the environment, and the delivery of targeted prevention programmes (page 6).

Prevention activities include training in integrated pest management, and a successful initiative in training farmers in IPM through Farmer Field Schools in Iran is covered in this issue (page 8). The approach is to empower farmers to adopt alternative crop management techniques such as IPM, lessening the country’s heavy reliance on toxic pesticides. A pilot project in Sooteh Village, Mazandaran Province, which trains people in mixed farming (duck/rice or fish/rice) using IPM and organic methods has reduced the use of pesticides in the village and increased the income and food security of the farmers. Community involvement is also the focus of an article outlining the successful reduction in malaria cases without using DDT, which has been trialed in Mexico, and is now being rolled out to other countries (page 15).

The FAO has strengthened its call for the phase-out of the most hazardous chemicals, and the WHO is supporting the phase out of DDT under the Stockholm Convention (page 15). Meanwhile however, another planned phase-out, that of methyl bromide, is being reversed in the US. Nick Mole looks at the reasons behind this (page 12).

Lastly, do look at PAN UK’s website www.pan-uk.org to see details of the summer book sale. Publications discounted by up to 60% include the Living with Poison report on endosulfan use in cotton, and The Pesticide Detox which explores the potential for phasing out of hazardous pesticides and phasing in of cost effective alternatives.