Two Ontario honey-making families, owners of Sun Parlor Honey and Munro Honey, have hired Siskind LLP of
London, Ont., to launch a class-action lawsuit to recover losses related to
neonicitinoid seed treatments.
They are also seeking to “alter the behaviour of neonicinitoid
producers so that a product that does not present these risks to the bee
population is investigated and produced.”
They say the lawsuit will be filed this week and will seek between $400 and $450 million. Siskind is taking on the lawsuit on a contingency basis, meaning the families and others who join the lawsuit will not need to pay the lawyers, but will have to yield them a percentage of whatever they win from the lawsuit.
There is a range of opinion among researchers about the
degree to which neonicinitoid pesticides are responsible for the death of bees
and collapse of beekeepers’ colonies.
There is ongoing research, including some at the University
of Guelph, to determine the degree of damage neonicinitoids cause to colonies
and to find ways to reduce damage.
Corn producers whose seed is usually treated to prevent
insect damage have been advised to use additives that reduce the amount of
pesticide that escapes into the air when they are using air seeders to plant.
The Ontario government has also appointed a Ontario Bee
Health Working Group.
The lawsuit alleges that Bayer CropScience and Syngenta have
been “negligent in their manufacture, sale and distribution of neonicinitoids
in Ontario . . .”
Siskinds specializes in class-action lawsuits.
