Vestaron’s Spear Bioinsecticide No Longer Carries Bee Toxicity Warning

Posted by Brian Sparks|December 30, 2015

Vestaron Corp., a developer of peptide-based insecticides, has received EPA approval to delete the bee toxicity warning statement from its Spear biopesticide label following a review. The removal of the toxicity statement is supported by third-party topical and feeding evaluations that show Spear has no increased mortality or detrimental effects to honeybees.

The results of these studies were presented at a talk by Robert Kennedy, Chief Scientific Officer at Vestaron, at the AgChem Summit 2015: Pollinators and Pesticides on December 2 in Arlington, VA.

After presenting the talk, Kennedy said that, “It’s exciting to unveil our more environmentally compatible biopesticides, which for the first time perform comparably to synthetic insecticides.”

John Sorenson, CEO of Vestaron, added, “This is a transformative time for Vestaron. We are leading the way in the development of new insecticidal peptides with the 2016 commercialization of Spear for control of thrips in greenhouses. In early 2016, we will be submitting additional data to the EPA on Spear’s effects on beneficial insects used in greenhouses.”

The Spear family of bioinsecticides uses two new unique modes of action with no known resistance. This family of biopesticides is based on natural peptides, which degrade to useful nutrients in the environment.