WATER POLLUTION
Chemical leak tainted drinking water in West Virginia with substance used to process coal
AP
Questions about the lack of readily available toxicity data for many commercial chemicals came into the spotlight in January after crude 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) contaminated drinking water for some 300,000 people in the Charleston, W.Va., area. With little known about the human health and environmental effects of the obscure substance used to process coal, the state issued a dayslong ban on the use of tap water for drinking and washing. A corroded commercial storage tank leaked thousands of gallons of a liquid containing MCHM into a river just upstream of the municipal water supply intake pipe. Four former executives of the company that owned the tank were indicted in mid-December on federal charges of criminal violations under the Clean Water Act.—JESSICA MORRISON
POLLINATORS
Neonicotinoids Under Fire
SHU TTERSTOCK
Pesticides linked to bee deaths
hand, pointed to the analysis as support for arguments to end the application of neonicotinoid pesticides on soybeans. Pressure to phase out neonicotinoids rose EPA’s analysis came just a month after this year because of concerns that the inCanadian beekeepers filed a class-action secticides may harm honeybees and other lawsuit against pesticide manufacturer animals that spread pollen from Syngenta, claiming the company’s O N N flower to flower. neonicotinoid product thiaCiting the “breadth, severity, Cl methoxam and its breakdown N N S and persistence” of honeybee product clothianidin led to losses, President Barack Obama more than $400 CH3 NO2 in June ordered the Environmillion in damThiamethoxam ages from 2006 to mental Protection Agency to assess the impact of all 2013. These alleged N Cl pesticides, including neoharms include bee H S N N nicotinoids, on the health of deaths and adverse NO2 pollinators. reproductive, imNH As part of that assessment, EPA con- H3C munological, and becluded in October that treating seeds havioral effects in bees. Clothianidin with neonicotinoid insecticides Despite the growprovides little or no benefit for ing worries and lawsuits N soybean yields. Pesticide manu- HN linking neonicotinoids facturers disputed the report, with bee declines, Syngenta N Cl N saying EPA did not consider all asked EPA earlier this year to NO2 available information. Environmenincrease allowable levels of Imidacloprid thiamethoxam on certain crops. tal advocacy groups, on the other CEN.ACS.ORG
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Environmental groups criticized the request, saying it would be a “step backward for pollinator health.” EPA is still considering the request. Meanwhile, a group of U.S. senators also began putting pressure on EPA to restrict the use of neonicotinoids. In a November letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, the lawmakers raised concerns about sublethal effects of the pesticides on bees, including impacts on navigation, behavior, reproduction, and disease resistance. At the same time, the European Union is conducting its own review of the effects of neonicotinoids on pollinators. The EU enacted a two-year ban on three neonicotinoid pesticides—thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and imidacloprid—last year because of concerns for bee health. Syngenta is challenging that ban, saying it was based on an inaccurate assessment by the European Food Safety Authority.—BRITT ERICKSON
