Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms

[Generic Other]

A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.

A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say there is growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important factor.

The pesticide industry disputes that. But its representatives also say they are open to further studies to clarify what, if anything, is happening.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/science/earth/soaring-bee-deaths-in-2012-sound-alarm-on-malady.html?smid=fb-share

Colony Collapse. The Bees are the canaries in our mineshaft.

[Squinch]

1. This is HUGE and no one gets it.

[cliffordu]

3. Yep. This shit is as sad as it can get.

And can starve us for real.

[Squinch]

7. And do it between one growing season and the next.

[RevStPatrick]

2. I was talking with a coworker today about GMOs and...

...the "Monsanto protection bill."
She is (rightfully) concerned about GMOs.
I told her not to worry about it, because the bees will all be dead soon and we won't be far behind.

She was (rightfully) not amused...

[Politicalboi]

4. We have Bayer to thank for this

They should have to stop what they are doing no matter what the cost to their fucking company. How long is this "study" going to to take? How many more years do we have when this gets worse? Yes Bayer aspirin for heart attacks, but they will eventually kill you. I am sooooo glad I have no kids. I wouldn't want any child to have to live in this mess for all the money in the world.

[Cleita]

10. Me too. I always felt cheated that I couldn't have children, but now I'm

feeling fortunate that I didn't bring any innocent child in the world to look forward to this increasing blighted world.

[villager]

5. How lovely that both parties cooperated in protecting Monsanto from their Earth-blighting ways.

Good ol' Hope & Change!

Well, there will certainly be "change" once we finish wiping out the bees....

[benld74]

6. BAN the pesticides like France did,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Blanks]

18. Exactly.

[Cleita]

8. I think it's the genetically modified crops that's doing it.

I don't have proof, but I wish someone with authority would take it as a possibility and go out there to prove or disprove it scientifically. Wouldn't the neonicotinoids would be a result of genetically altered plants?

[jeff47]

14. Doesn't work like that

If you're talking about the mechanisms to actually genetically modify a plant, they aren't going to affect bees - bee cells are far too different from plant cells. It's a little like dogs can't catch HIV, but the differences between bees and plants are far greater.

If you're talking about neonicotinoids themselves, those are sprayed on the crop and not introduced through genetic modification. The crop does not have to be genetically modified to use the insecticide - it doesn't harm plants.

[Cleita]

15. What about genes that are spliced into the plant to make them

resistant to insect infestation especially if they kill the insect? Wouldn't they kill bees too? I have read that there are such genetically modified plants. Whether they have been introduced to the field and farm, I don't know, but what if they have?

[jeff47]

17. Those aren't neonicotinoids.

Those are other insecticides.

And last I heard no such crops had been approved yet. But the last time I heard about them was quite a while ago.

[caseymoz]

20. The article's a little misleading.

When they say incorporated into the crops, they don't mean the crops have been genetically modified. They mean that the seeds are mixed with the neonicotinoid insecticide for planting. The pesticide dust from the planting, though, goes everywhere.

I thought this question was settled when a scientist demonstrated that bees exposed to neonicotinoids showed, among other symptoms, an inability to find their way back to their hives.

Since this has gotten to be such a terrible problem, I have an idea. Let's put a moratorium on the use of those pesticides and see if it doesn't help? If it doesn't help, let's try taking that moratorium off and stop using another family of pesticides. Until we find the right one.

[HomeboyHombre]

11. Everyone knows the cause is neo-nicotinoids

but since that means Big Chemical won't be able to sell it, "we just don't know what's causing it. It's a mystery."

[Wellstone ruled]

12. Last summer we were watching Bees working in

and around the tassels of a corn field. Couple of days later,we noticed bee carcass's laying between in the same corn rows. BTW,DeKalb Hybrid Seed signs were posted along the front of this field,anyone whom thinks this GMO shit is safe needs to get real. Corn pollen from GMO fields is toxic to not only bees,but,also butterfly's and song birds. This field was a DeKalb(Monsanto)seed field. DUH!!!!!

[KoKo]

13. Recommend....

[Orrex]

16. I remember the good old days

When lots of people were certain that cell phones were to blame.

[Cleita]

19. We have so many bees and wasps on our property, but I don't know if

they are honey bees. My step daughter who is a master gardener has planted so many trees and shrubs on two acres that attracts thousands of the critters. Maybe people need to start putting flowering, bee attracting ornamentals and fruit and berry plants in their gardens so that whatever is killing them in the commercial fields can be counteracted by pesticide and genetically altered free plants for them to buzz around in the ornamental gardens of people's houses.

[Smilo]

21. No bees, no pollination

no plants, no humans.

Did you know commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that provide one out of every three bites of food on our tables?

Butterflies are also dying:

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/13/17302569-scientists-see-ominous-decline-in-mexicos-monarch-butterflies?lite


When Honey Bees Are Gone By G Logan

When honey bees are gone nearly all food items eaten by birds animals and primarily humans will be affected. Every plant or tree that has a blossom needs to be pollinated before it will bear it's fruit and reproduce its own kind. It is true that some pollination is done by the wind and the rain but if we were to rely solely on wind and rain, these plants and shrubs would bear very little fruit.

A single flower on the cucumber vine for example, needs about thirty visits from a honey bee before that flower will turn into a cucumber. All varieties of squash and Mellon's are the same each flower needs multiple visits from the honey bee before the flower can turn into a squash or a melon.


http://ezinearticles.com/?When-Honey-Bees-Are-Gone&id=3623271

[KoKo]

22. Our Food Supply is at Great Risk...we can't allow Monsanto and

their Other Seed Manipulators to endanger US, Our Children, Grandchildren ANY LONGER.

We are RUINING our LAND, SOIL, ENVIRONMENT...because of these BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS!

This is not "Hybridizing Seeds" which has been done since the beginning of Civilization. THIS IS DIFFERENT. THIS IS EMBEDDING PESTICIDES into OUR SEEDS and PATENTING it ALL to benefit a Few Companies who have not had Centuries of Experience with Hybridization who had TIME to see if their EXPERIMENTS KILLED anyone.

This is Fast Genetic Patenting that is introducing Chemicals and DNA that we have NO IDEA what the outcome will be for Any of Us!

[Tanuki]

23. Here are some ideas for trying to help the bees

http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=xerces_bumble

http://www.xerces.org/bumblebees/#

http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/BeeConservationintheSoutheastHoneyBeeProgramCAESEntomologyUGA.html

http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/general_guidelines.html

[AverageJoe90]

24. I'm not concerned about mass starvation, or anything that extreme.....

But it does provide evidence that GMOs & artificial pesticides(or at least certain types) aren't nearly as beneficial as we've been led to believe.

[Kurovski]

25. K&R. (nt)

[marions ghost]

26. They know

that the pesticides and plant modifications are causing this.

Stupid.