Community | January 17, 2009 | 20 comments

Extensive GM contamination of honey

source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_16509.cfm

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JanforGore
NOTE: A German magazine has had honey tested and found extensive GM contamination.

This is a summary in English of the most relevant parts of the article reporting their findings.

The original article in German is here

http://www.oekotest.de/cgi/ot/otgs.cgi?doc=92008

Thanks to the GMWatch translators for this http://web.archive.org/web/20071225180614rn_1/www.gmwatch...
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In 2008, media reports showcased the various impacts of environmental contamination on bees and beekeepers: in the Germany's Baden-Württemberg state, 500 million bees died in Spring due to the insecticidal seed treatment agent clothianidin. Another example is the case of a Swabian beekeeper, who destroyed his whole honey harvest because it contained pollen of the GM corn MON810, after the administrative court declared the honey as 'non marketable'. The judgement is not yet absolute.

In its January edition, the German eco- magazine Öko-Test published an article on the analysis of 24 honeys, including 6 canola honeys, for GM and pesticide contamination, as well as other quality criteria.

Only 3 products were rated "very good" while six either got an "inadequate" rating or "failed". A whopping eleven samples (almost half of the samples) - mainly from South America - were contaminated with GM pollen, predominantly of GM Roundup Ready soy. Although the oil plant supplies little nectar and therefore is not a honey plant, the bees apparently still take the pollen. Latin American countries - where aplenty GM soy is grown - are at the same time suppliers of a bigger part of the world honey production.

At least, honey from German beekeepers as well as those from Southeastern Europe and fair trade honey were unpolluted. For the latter, the reason might be that small-scale beekeepers often produce their honey in less contaminated regions than big apiaries. Among the canola honeys, the lab found GM in the Canadian Canola-Clover Honey - unsurprisingly, as Canada mostly grows GM canola.

Pesticides appeared virtually exclusively in German products, mostly the insecticide thiacloprid - found in honeys with a high proportion of canola. Unfortunately, even the supposedly organic canola honey by Allos contained increased residues.

Reacting to the test results, the company Breitsamer wrote that beekeepers are victims of genetic engineering; they themselves are not using GM, do not grow GM crops, and do not have any interest in herbicide resistant crops. Furthermore, the bees could not be controlled as they search for nectar within an area of 50 square kilometre. By way of contrast, the discounter Lidl commented that the entry of GM soy pollen is completely accidental, and could vary widely within one charge; moreover, the quantities are very small.

The article concludes that while nobody wants GM in their honey, the findings show that coexistence of conventional and GM agriculture is impossible. Therefore, the ratings reflect a political reality rather than being due to lack of due diligence by the honey producers. Furthermore, the legal position does not support the honey as the GM pollen are not GMOs as such - the legislation explicitly deals with GMOs. Thus, the GM content in honey neither has to be approved nor labelled. On the other hand, judgements such as the one from the administrative court regarding the GM maize MON810 show that there are other legal conceptions. The background: at present MON810 is not clearly approved for human consumption.

Sometimes the level of 0.9 percent is used - as honey only contains only around 0.1 to 0.5 percent pollen, labelling then would not be compulsory. In any case, transparency for the consumer falls by the wayside.
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20 comments // Extensive GM contamination of honey

  • csmonut
    • 0
      csmonut  

    • Bees pollinate almost 80% of all crops.
      Without them we will starve.....oh wait!

      Monsanto has the answer! They will just keep producing seeds that farmers have to buy at exorbitant prices so that they can plant crops every year....oh, wait!

      The farmers can't afford the seeds...so we'll all starve.

      Down with GM foods!
      Down with Monsanto and all those that follow in their footsteps!

    • 3 years ago
  • onechance
  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • Tinkering with the building blocks of life will no doubt yield results - good, bad & unexpected. Just as nature continues to produce endless combinations of DNA combos so that life may perpetuate itself under as many conditions as possible. Bottom line: nature needs to be taken far more seriously than proponents of GMs claim, & the sole source of our food - not unnatural Frankenfoods.

      However, if we fail to save the honey bee from extinction, we'll still have a world with a burgeoning population that needs to be fed. By then it would have to be GMs or soylent green because it won't matter anymore if we reach this point. The fact that the very foundation of our food chain is in jeopardy is what we get for not paying attention to what really is important to our health, our future & the survival of nature’s food chain as we know it.

    • 3 years ago
  • retran
  • SeaJade
    • 0
      SeaJade  

    • Here is another concern regarding bees and the balance of nature...
      "Beekeepers fear sting of imported Australian hives".

      I try to create a healthy environment for the free bees in my urban area by planting flowers and vegetables they like (organic). Bees also love to pick about the ground, the leaf blowers so many people use to blow up their leaves and dust in urban areas decimate a large part of the bees environment. As individuals perhaps we can collectively find ways to nurture the bees in our own little areas.

      By GARANCE BURKE (Associated Press Writer)
      From Associated Press
      January 17, 2009 9:44 PM EST

      ATWATER, Calif. - Beekeepers who are battling a mysterious ailment that led to the disappearance of millions of honeybees now fear the sting of imported Australian bees that they worry could outcompete their hives and might carry a deadly parasite unseen in the United States.

      The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allowed shipments of Australian bees to resume despite concerns by some of its own scientists.

      Australia had been airfreighting the insects across the Pacific for four years to replace hives devastated by the perplexing colony collapse disorder. But six weeks ago the Australian government abruptly stopped the shipments, saying it could no longer be certain the country was free of a smaller, aggressive bee that has infested areas near the Great Barrier Reef, U.S. officials said.

      Early this month, the USDA decided to permit the bee shipments to resume with some precautions, and the first planeloads arrived in San Francisco last Monday.

      Beekeeper Ken Haff of Mandan, N.D., says he fears the foreign hives could kill off his apiary.

      "We've got enough problems with our own bee diseases that we don't know how to treat, and they open the border to a whole new species that could carry God knows what," said Haff, a vice president of the American Honey Producers Association. "That's a total slap in the face for us."

      Shad Sullivan, a bee wholesaler in California's Central Valley, said that in the four years he has imported bees from Australia, he has found that the hearty imports outlive domestic bees that have been weakened by pesticides, pests and diseases.

      "If the bees were truly carrying something that bad, I would have been the first to get it," Sullivan said as a thick cloud of the buzzing insects flew overhead. "I just haven't seen those kinds of devastation."

      Domestic honeybees feed on most flowering plants, and are vital pollinators for many food crops.

      However, domestic bee stocks have been waning since 2004, when scientists first got reports of the puzzling illness that has claimed up to 90 percent of commercial hives and has been labeled colony collapse disorder.

      That's also the year the USDA allowed imports of Australian hives, and scientists have been investigating whether Australia was a source of a virus tied to the bee die-off.

      Entomologists also fear that the aggressive bee species found near Australia's Great Barrier Reef could carry a deadly mite, said Jeff Pettis, the USDA's top bee scientist." continued at link above.

    • 3 years ago
  • scotious
  • artemis6
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • When the entire world either experiences a worldwide famine because their BT monocrops fail, or when we are all genetically modified because natural farming will be extinct and pharmaceutical companies can then make even more money from the ailments that it will bring. Then Monsanto will own a patent on you since they and other multi nationals will then own all of your food, water, and anything else you need to exist including your body because you consume their patented organisms. They already have tried to patent the pig, don't think humans are out of their line of sight. Then maybe the media will cover it instead of pushing people who want to tell the truth for the good of humans and other species to the background to cover for greed.

    • 3 years ago
  • northerntouchblog
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • You must work for Monsanto. Only excuse for your blatant asskissing in every thread about this topic. And once again you show absolutely nothing in regards to date to back up anything you say. And no health repercusions? The first few sentences here already tell of entire honey harvests being destroyed due to residue from their poison corn in it. They didn't let it GET to the consumer.. Now why is that? It proves that bees are pollinating these GM crops and it is contaminating the honey.That then tells me it contaminates much more than honey. Either post evidence that there are no health effects to cross pollinating this crap then, or give it up. I'm tired of plants coming into these threads thinking their pseudo informed responses based on air will actually prove anything. The fact these beekeepers are destroying entire honey harvests because of this speaks volumes. This crap is everywhere, and I for one am going to continue to fight its existence. And it is very easy for a big bully corporation to pay off a politician or a judge to get the ruling they want.

    • 3 years ago
  • retran
  • Mafioso
    • 0
      Mafioso  

    • As always great information Jan... I wish we were all as passionate and informed as you appear to be.

      Poor bees, no wonder they are dying!

    • 3 years ago
  • retran
  • SoyDevon
  • sammysoul
  • retran
  • twohawks
  • JanforGore
  • GreenhouseNeutralFoundation
  • JanforGore
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