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Iain Kelley

Director, Regulatory Policy and Issue Management, Bayer Crop Science

Expert Bio

Iain Kelly, Ph.D. has over 30 years’ experience in the agrochemical industry with Bayer and legacy companies, holding a wide variety of technical and regulatory positions relating to assessing and managing the risks associated with the use of crop protection products. In his present role he coordinates a range of bee health related topics and is a Bayer Research Fellow. He is the current chair of CropLife America’s Pollinator Team. Originally a native of Scotland he has lived in the U.S. since 1986 and is now a citizen.

Iain holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Leeds University, UK, and his practical experience with pesticide development covers the fields of residue chemistry, plant metabolism, environmental fate and human and environmental risk assessment. He has a major interest in holistic approaches to risk assessment and is a champion of cross-functional teams in assessing and minimizing any potential risks associated with crop protection products. His experience in this area covers an extensive range of major projects from food, drinking water and residential uses to non-target organisms such as plants and bees. Iain has been an active leader in industry committees, workgroups and scientific societies to further the use of sound science in the registration of crop protection products.

He chaired the CropLife America team that developed CARES (Cumulative and Aggregate Risk Assessment System) for quantifying human risk. He also chaired CropLife America’s Environmental Risk Assessment Committee during which time, in collaboration with CropLife International, he led an industry effort to develop and conduct environmental risk assessment workshops for regulatory authorities and industry representatives in Southeast Asia and Latin America. He has participated in several national and international expert symposia on risk assessment as well as presenting widely on the topic. Recently he has been involved in numerous outreach activities aimed at bringing a diverse stakeholder base together to address the challenges of ensuring healthy honey bees and is current chair of CropLife America’s Pollinator Team. Iain has received a number of internal and external awards for his work including a CropLife America Workhorse award, a CropLife America Lincoln award and twice winning Bayer’s top Luminary award.

Studies, Articles and Answers

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Showing 10 out of 12 results

Question

Q: So going beyong basic GMO talk, I would like to know what you are doing regarding all the pesticides used on your GMO crops. It would appear that the crops that are being sprayed are literally destroying the bee population...http://www.treehugger.com/natu

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: Contrary to some reports you may have read, honey bee colonies are not being eliminated but are actually increasing in North America and across the globe. Much of this increase has occurred during the same time that neonicotinoids were introduced to agriculture. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Belgium, France and Germany all report that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of the invasive parasite Varroa mite and bee diseases, but not with exposure to agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry is committed to the safe use of its products throug [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: Contrary to some reports you may have read, honey bee colonies are not being eliminated but are actually increasing in North America and across the globe. Much of this increase has occurred during the same time that neonicotinoids were introduced to agriculture. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Belgium, France and Germany all report that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of the invasive parasite Varroa mite and bee diseases, but not with exposure to agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry is committed to the safe use of its products throug [...]

Environment Crop protectants

Question

Q: So going beyong basic GMO talk, I would like to know what you are doing regarding all the pesticides used on your GMO crops. It would appear that the crops that are being sprayed are literally destroying the bee population...http://www.treehugger.com/natu

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: Contrary to some reports you may have read, honey bee colonies are not being eliminated but are actually increasing in North America and across the globe. Much of this increase has occurred during the same time that neonicotinoids were introduced to agriculture. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Belgium, France and Germany all report that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of the invasive parasite Varroa mite and bee diseases, but not with exposure to agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry is committed to the safe use of its products throug [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: Contrary to some reports you may have read, honey bee colonies are not being eliminated but are actually increasing in North America and across the globe. Much of this increase has occurred during the same time that neonicotinoids were introduced to agriculture. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Belgium, France and Germany all report that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of the invasive parasite Varroa mite and bee diseases, but not with exposure to agrochemicals. The agrochemical industry is committed to the safe use of its products throug [...]

Environment Crop protectants

Question

Q: Why are Neonicotinoid insecticides still in use in the United States while Europe has banned their use after evidence of harm to bees and other wildlife?

Answered By Iain Kelley - May 15, 2014

A: Neonicotinoid insecticides represent an important advancement in agricultural technology that has helped American farmers increase productivity and improve cost competitiveness. Most scientists and bee experts agree that declining bee health is a result of multiple factors, including parasites, diseases, inadequate nutrition, weather and hive-management practices. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in Europe and North America show that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of Varroa mite and bee diseases but not with exposure to agrochemicals. Comprehensive reviews [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - May 15, 2014

A: Neonicotinoid insecticides represent an important advancement in agricultural technology that has helped American farmers increase productivity and improve cost competitiveness. Most scientists and bee experts agree that declining bee health is a result of multiple factors, including parasites, diseases, inadequate nutrition, weather and hive-management practices. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in Europe and North America show that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of Varroa mite and bee diseases but not with exposure to agrochemicals. Comprehensive reviews [...]

Health & Safety How GMOs Are Made

Question

Q: Why are Neonicotinoid insecticides still in use in the United States while Europe has banned their use after evidence of harm to bees and other wildlife?

Answered By Iain Kelley - May 15, 2014

A: Neonicotinoid insecticides represent an important advancement in agricultural technology that has helped American farmers increase productivity and improve cost competitiveness. Most scientists and bee experts agree that declining bee health is a result of multiple factors, including parasites, diseases, inadequate nutrition, weather and hive-management practices. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in Europe and North America show that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of Varroa mite and bee diseases but not with exposure to agrochemicals. Comprehensive reviews [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - May 15, 2014

A: Neonicotinoid insecticides represent an important advancement in agricultural technology that has helped American farmers increase productivity and improve cost competitiveness. Most scientists and bee experts agree that declining bee health is a result of multiple factors, including parasites, diseases, inadequate nutrition, weather and hive-management practices. Large, multifactorial studies conducted in Europe and North America show that poor bee health correlates well with the presence of Varroa mite and bee diseases but not with exposure to agrochemicals. Comprehensive reviews [...]

Health & Safety How GMOs Are Made

Question

Q: Do neonicotinoids and Roundup affect the wild bee populations? If so, how are you working to stop this bee killoff?

Answered By Bill Reeves - Oct 01, 2014

A: Like all companies that produce seed for crops that require insect pollination, Monsanto is concerned about honey bee health. Both our vegetable-seed business and our alfalfa-seed business rely on healthy pollinators to be productive. With respect to the question about possible impacts of Roundup herbicide on honey bees, there is sufficient information to conclude that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient, glyphosate, do not cause adverse effects in honey bees.   In addition to toxicity testing conducted in support of regulatory submissions to the Environmental Protection Age [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Pesticide Registration Process is designed to assess that pesticides used according to label directions do not pose any unreasonable adverse effects to either native or managed bees. Recent guidelines from EPA, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) define this process under which neonicotinoids continue to be assessed. In 2007, the National Academy of Science issued an extensive study, “Status of Pollinators in North America,” highlighting the central role that habitat has in ma [...]

Answered By Bill Reeves - Oct 01, 2014

A: Like all companies that produce seed for crops that require insect pollination, Monsanto is concerned about honey bee health. Both our vegetable-seed business and our alfalfa-seed business rely on healthy pollinators to be productive. With respect to the question about possible impacts of Roundup herbicide on honey bees, there is sufficient information to conclude that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient, glyphosate, do not cause adverse effects in honey bees.   In addition to toxicity testing conducted in support of regulatory submissions to the Environmental Protection Age [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Pesticide Registration Process is designed to assess that pesticides used according to label directions do not pose any unreasonable adverse effects to either native or managed bees. Recent guidelines from EPA, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) define this process under which neonicotinoids continue to be assessed. In 2007, the National Academy of Science issued an extensive study, “Status of Pollinators in North America,” highlighting the central role that habitat has in ma [...]

Environment

Question

Q: Do neonicotinoids and Roundup affect the wild bee populations? If so, how are you working to stop this bee killoff?

Answered By Bill Reeves - Oct 01, 2014

A: Like all companies that produce seed for crops that require insect pollination, Monsanto is concerned about honey bee health. Both our vegetable-seed business and our alfalfa-seed business rely on healthy pollinators to be productive. With respect to the question about possible impacts of Roundup herbicide on honey bees, there is sufficient information to conclude that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient, glyphosate, do not cause adverse effects in honey bees.   In addition to toxicity testing conducted in support of regulatory submissions to the Environmental Protection Age [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Pesticide Registration Process is designed to assess that pesticides used according to label directions do not pose any unreasonable adverse effects to either native or managed bees. Recent guidelines from EPA, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) define this process under which neonicotinoids continue to be assessed. In 2007, the National Academy of Science issued an extensive study, “Status of Pollinators in North America,” highlighting the central role that habitat has in ma [...]

Answered By Bill Reeves - Oct 01, 2014

A: Like all companies that produce seed for crops that require insect pollination, Monsanto is concerned about honey bee health. Both our vegetable-seed business and our alfalfa-seed business rely on healthy pollinators to be productive. With respect to the question about possible impacts of Roundup herbicide on honey bees, there is sufficient information to conclude that Roundup herbicide and its active ingredient, glyphosate, do not cause adverse effects in honey bees.   In addition to toxicity testing conducted in support of regulatory submissions to the Environmental Protection Age [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Pesticide Registration Process is designed to assess that pesticides used according to label directions do not pose any unreasonable adverse effects to either native or managed bees. Recent guidelines from EPA, Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) and California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) define this process under which neonicotinoids continue to be assessed. In 2007, the National Academy of Science issued an extensive study, “Status of Pollinators in North America,” highlighting the central role that habitat has in ma [...]

Environment

Question

Q: With regard to neonics and bee health, is the biotech industry looking with a keen and critical eye at the planting technology being used? Please see httpwww.thecropsite.comnews16074whatcorncanolacomparisonstellusaboutneonicsandbeesplentyactually. Thank

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The article referenced effectively highlights different potential routes of exposure of bees to neonicotinoids. Canola is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees and represents a potentially high neonicotinoid exposure route for bees foraging on canola grown from treated seeds. Bees foraging in such areas, however, are not showing elevated losses and thus confirm that dietary exposure to neonicotinoids is not responsible for bee loss. The potential for bees exposed to dust containing neonicotinoids from treated seeds at planting represents a short-term-exposure scenario that would b [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The article referenced effectively highlights different potential routes of exposure of bees to neonicotinoids. Canola is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees and represents a potentially high neonicotinoid exposure route for bees foraging on canola grown from treated seeds. Bees foraging in such areas, however, are not showing elevated losses and thus confirm that dietary exposure to neonicotinoids is not responsible for bee loss. The potential for bees exposed to dust containing neonicotinoids from treated seeds at planting represents a short-term-exposure scenario that would b [...]

Environment Crop protectants

Question

Q: With regard to neonics and bee health, is the biotech industry looking with a keen and critical eye at the planting technology being used? Please see httpwww.thecropsite.comnews16074whatcorncanolacomparisonstellusaboutneonicsandbeesplentyactually. Thank

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The article referenced effectively highlights different potential routes of exposure of bees to neonicotinoids. Canola is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees and represents a potentially high neonicotinoid exposure route for bees foraging on canola grown from treated seeds. Bees foraging in such areas, however, are not showing elevated losses and thus confirm that dietary exposure to neonicotinoids is not responsible for bee loss. The potential for bees exposed to dust containing neonicotinoids from treated seeds at planting represents a short-term-exposure scenario that would b [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The article referenced effectively highlights different potential routes of exposure of bees to neonicotinoids. Canola is an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees and represents a potentially high neonicotinoid exposure route for bees foraging on canola grown from treated seeds. Bees foraging in such areas, however, are not showing elevated losses and thus confirm that dietary exposure to neonicotinoids is not responsible for bee loss. The potential for bees exposed to dust containing neonicotinoids from treated seeds at planting represents a short-term-exposure scenario that would b [...]

Environment Crop protectants

Question

Q: If neonics are not a significant concern or factor in the decline of honeybees, then why did Obama just issue a presidential memorandum, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out research into the role of neonicotinoids linked to bee dieo

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The presidential memo outlined a multi-stakeholder initiative to coordinate resources on addressing the multiple factors that are acknowledged as responsible for declining bee health, particularly improving pollinator habitat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as only one of the multiple government departments involved, was instructed to “assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bee and other pollinator health,” which is an appropriate and ongoing part of its Registration Review Process. [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The presidential memo outlined a multi-stakeholder initiative to coordinate resources on addressing the multiple factors that are acknowledged as responsible for declining bee health, particularly improving pollinator habitat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as only one of the multiple government departments involved, was instructed to “assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bee and other pollinator health,” which is an appropriate and ongoing part of its Registration Review Process. [...]

Health & Safety How GMOs Are Made

Question

Q: If neonics are not a significant concern or factor in the decline of honeybees, then why did Obama just issue a presidential memorandum, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to carry out research into the role of neonicotinoids linked to bee dieo

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The presidential memo outlined a multi-stakeholder initiative to coordinate resources on addressing the multiple factors that are acknowledged as responsible for declining bee health, particularly improving pollinator habitat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as only one of the multiple government departments involved, was instructed to “assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bee and other pollinator health,” which is an appropriate and ongoing part of its Registration Review Process. [...]

Answered By Iain Kelley - Aug 01, 2014

A: The presidential memo outlined a multi-stakeholder initiative to coordinate resources on addressing the multiple factors that are acknowledged as responsible for declining bee health, particularly improving pollinator habitat. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as only one of the multiple government departments involved, was instructed to “assess the effect of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bee and other pollinator health,” which is an appropriate and ongoing part of its Registration Review Process. [...]

Health & Safety How GMOs Are Made