tagged w/ Colony Collapse Disorder
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I love honey, can't imagine a world without it. Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz, on the other hand, warn that I might need to rethink that perspective at the rate pesticides are killing off the honeybee population worldwide. This is a thoughtful, persuasive interview with the creators of the new documentary "Queen of the Sun." http://www.mrmedia.com/2012/06/new-documentary-investigates-whats-killing-bees-2012-video-interview/#.T9-m-HDCNbCI love honey, can't imagine a world without it. Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz, on... more
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A corn pesticide manufactured by the German chemical company Bayer has come under scrutiny in two scientific studies that indicate that it is responsible for mass deaths of pollinating bees.
By Josephine Marcott, Minneapolis Star Tribune / April 6, 2012
Minneapolis
In a spring ritual as old as life itself, Steve Ellis' bees return to their hives day after day loaded with pollen from the dandelions and flowering trees that are in full bloom across central Minnesota.
But for too many of them, a day of foraging ends in convulsions and death.
"You wouldn't think people could get attached to insects," said Ellis, a commercial honey producer from Barrett, Minn. "But it's hard for us to see our bees getting injured like that."
Hard enough that Ellis and other beekeepers from across the country last month asked the federal government for a temporary ban on one the most widely used pesticides until its effect on bees is clear. They fear it is contributing to a worldwide die-off and the inexplicable phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder" that is devastating honeybee hives.
"We are asking the EPA to do its job," said Jeff Anderson, a commercial beekeeper from Eagle Bend, Minn. "Give us products that are safe."
The beekeepers and several environmental groups argue in an emergency petition filed with the EPA that the agency failed to require some legally mandated field testing before the pesticide was approved in 2003. New research, including two studies published last week in the journal Science, raises serious questions about its effect on pollinators of all kinds, they maintain.
The EPA said it has based its continued approval on hundreds of studies. In 2010, the agency said no data show that bee colonies are harmed by exposure. Nevertheless, it agreed to accelerate its routine review of the pesticide – meaning it will be completed in 2018.
Meanwhile, officials with the manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, say they are confident that the research will continue to prove the product is safe for bees when used appropriately.
"I tend to believe that science will win out over emotion," said Jack Boyne, director of communications for Bayer CropScience.
The beekeepers and others say they filed the emergency petition because they fear that the EPA's review process will deliver a verdict too late for the nation's honeybees and the farmers who rely on them.
"Seventy percent of crops – apples, oranges, zucchini, melons, strawberries – they all need pollinators," said Vera Krischik, an associate professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota who studies the pesticides and bees. "It's a huge issue."
Then there are the unknown numbers of bumblebees, wasps, butterflies and other wild pollinating insects that fill the same role across the natural world.
"We are headed in a very dangerous direction," Ellis said.
Anderson said beekeepers have always been on the front lines of the nation's pesticide wars; that's how he got into business in the first place. His wife's grandfather moved his California beekeeping business to Minnesota in the early 1960s after another pesticide, Sevin, critically damaged his agricultural pollinating business.
Anderson went on to win a landmark case at the Minnesota Supreme Court against the state Department of Natural Resources over pesticide drift that killed his bees.
Like Ellis, he is among the gypsy beekeepers who follow the seasons, pollinating almonds, cherries and other crops in the South and West in winter and returning to Minnesota in the spring to make honey.
The pesticides beekeepers are fighting now are different than those of the past, Anderson said. Those were applied at predictable times, making it easy to keep bees out of harm's way.
The pesticides most widely used now are among a class of nicotine-based chemicals called neonicotinoids that are designed to become an intrinsic part of the plant. They were developed in large part because they are much less toxic to humans and other mammals than previous pesticides. But in high doses, they are a neurotoxin to insects.
Since their introduction in the 1990s, they have exploded in popularity among farmers and in products for home gardeners. Today, 90 percent of seed corn is coated with the pesticides before planting, and the chemicals are the active ingredient in hundreds of backyard products.
The pesticide is sprayed on plants and, when used as a seed coating, it grows into all parts of the plant, including the pollen and the nectar that bees eat.
When used properly, say both Bayer and the EPA, the toxin levels are not high enough to hurt bees. But many scientists and beekeepers say that, as in all pesticide regulation, the field research is questionable because it's done by the manufacturer.
The emergency petition, filed by 30 beekeepers and national environmental groups that includes Beyond Pesticides and the Center for Food Safety, targets just one of the six neonicotinoids, clothianidin, in part because they say the field study for that one was inadequate. Officials from Bayer and the EPA disagree.
The attorney for the environmental groups said he hopes the petition will prompt the agency to open up the issue up for public comment and discussion. EPA did not respond to questions about the petition, but it previously announced plans to hold a scientific meeting in the fall to consider the entire class of pesticides, which will include the latest research.
All pesticides in the group work the same way, and none of the research underlying their approval by the EPA has taken into account "the cumulative effect" in bees, Krischik said.
Beekeepers say it helps explain what they are seeing.
"During corn planting we have a light kill on our bees," Anderson said. "And the inability of the colony to produce a good brood."
He thinks that as farmers plant millions of acres of corn, dust from the pesticide-coated seeds floats out over the countryside. It lands on bees and other flowering plants and builds up over time in the soil.
"My theory is that some of the things that come up, like dandelions, are coming up toxic," he said. "Every year they come up more toxic."
Continued at linkA corn pesticide manufactured by the German chemical company Bayer has come under... more
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Nicotine-based pesticides in widespread use by farmers are implicated in the mass deaths of bees, according to a new study by US scientists.
The authoritative, peer-reviewed research undermines the pesticide industry's long-repeated arguments that bees are not being harmed, and piles pressure on UK and US authorities to follow other countries by introducing bans on the chemicals.
Pesticide companies have been trying to protect their multi-billion pound businesses by lobbying internationally against bans on neonicotinoids, a group of toxic chemicals designed to paralyse insects by attacking their nervous systems.
Agricultural crops in Scotland, England and around the world are dosed with the chemicals to prevent insects from damaging them. But evidence has been mounting that they could be to blame for the "colony collapse disorder" that has been decimating bee populations.
The US has been losing one-third of its honeybee hives every year, while beekeepers in Europe say that more than one million bee colonies have been wiped out in France, Germany, Italy and the UK since 1994.
Although neonicotinoids have faced bans or restrictions in Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia, regulators in the UK and the US have so far accepted the industry's contention that the toxins were not poisoning bees.
But that view has now been seriously challenged by a new study from scientists at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They found neonicotinoids in bees, in pollen, in soil and in dandelions, suggesting that bees could be contaminated in several different ways.
"We know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees," said Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology at Purdue and a co-author of the study. Bees also suffered from tremors, unco-ordinated movement and convulsions, which are all signs of insecticide poisoning.
"This material is so concentrated that even small amounts landing on flowering plants around a field can kill foragers or be transported to the hive in contaminated pollen," Krupke said.
"It stands out as being an enormous source of potential environmental contamination, not just for honeybees, but for any insects living in or near these fields. The fact that these compounds can persist for months or years means that plants growing in these soils can take up these compounds in leaf tissue or pollen."
Krupke's study, conducted with four colleagues was reviewed for errors by fellow scientists before it was published.
The study has been seized on by beekeepers and environmental groups in Scotland campaigning for a neonicotinoid ban. "We are facing a global ecological catastrophe in which honeybees, bumblebees and butterflies are being wiped from the face of the landscape in every country where neonicotinoids have been introduced," said Graham White, a beekeeper from the Scottish Borders.
"The appalling truth is that we no longer have a credible regulatory system for pesticides in Scotland or the UK. All of the so-called regulators are so symbiotically and financially dependent on the pesticide industry that they have no independent freedom of action."
Buglife, which campaigns to protect insects, described neonicotinoids as "massively toxic" to wildlife. "All the evidence indicates that this pollution kills bees, moths, hoverflies and other essential pollinator species," said Craig Macadam, the group's Scottish officer. "The government must ban neonicotinoids now before further damage is done to our fragile ecosystems."
The pesticide industry, however, blamed parasites and diseases for killing bees, and maintained that the levels of neonicotinoids in pollen were too low to damage their health. Restrictions in France, now withdrawn, had made no difference to bee health, it argued.
"Although poorly-targeted insecticides would certainly harm bees, farmers value bees and strict practices are prescribed and followed to ensure that exposure does not occur," said Dominic Dyer, the chief executive of the Crop Protection Association, which represents pesticide companies.
"The use of seed treatments reduces the need for a farmer to spray broad-spectrum insecticides on his or her crop for much of the season and is therefore seen as being more environmentally friendly."Nicotine-based pesticides in widespread use by farmers are implicated in the mass... more
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If you were looking for more evidence of apocalyptic doom in the early days of 2012, listen for a buzzing noise.
San Francisco biologists published findings Jan. 3 revealing that more than three quarters of honey bee hives sampled in the San Francisco Bay area tested positive for a deadly parasite; the fateful Apocephalus borealis fly was also detected in commercial hives near Bakersfield and as far away as South Dakota.
The parasite, a small fly, embeds its eggs into a bee's abdomen. Then a week after the infected bees die, larvae hatch and emerge from their bellies, adding to the self-propagating zombie-like dimension of this narrative.
Infected bees, which media reports have dubbed "zom-bees," become extremely disoriented. They abandon their hives—often at night although bees aren't normally noctural—and flutter toward lights, where they remain stranded until they die. Researchers first found infected, stranded worker bees within light fixtures on the campus of San Francisco State University.
Infected bees also lost their equilibrium, and became unable to stand on their legs or began walking in circles, according to the study, published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.
Researchers say it's probable that the parasitic flies have long been present at low levels in hives, but speculate that "something has happened recently that has increased density making [the flies] an emerging threat."
The study could provide a key piece of the puzzle in explaining Colony Collapse Disorder, which has decimated some hives across the country, with beekeepers reporting losses of 30 to 90 percent over the past five years.
http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/weblogs/animal-blog/2012/jan/05/zom-bees-take-flight/If you were looking for more evidence of apocalyptic doom in the early days of 2012,... more
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The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics and has decided to lodge its protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
At its general body meeting in New Delhi, the IOA decided that it would seek the removal of Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide, responsible for the thousands of deaths during the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. However, the issue of boycotting the event did not even come up for discussion.
Acting IOA president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the IOA will convey the sentiments of Indians to IOC chief Jacques Rogge and London Games Organising Committee chief Sebastian Coe.
"It is IOA's considered opinion that the sponsorship by Dow Chemical is against the spirit of the Olympic ideals. Olympic Games showcase the best of human endeavour, sporting spirit and camaraderie, and to have Dow Chemical even as one of the sponsors negates all these lofty values," said Malhotra.
"IOA's views not only reflect the concerns of the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy but the feelings of millions of people all over the world and it is not a partisan demand.
"We in fact are making IOC aware of the feelings of the people who have suffered due to that tragedy. It is not only the Indians who are protesting this sponsorship; there has been an outcry against this world over from various NGOs and other bodies. It is no longer a local issue."
There has been a huge outcry in India over Dow's involvement with the Games. Olympians and the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have demanded either Dow's sponsorship be withdrawn or India boycott the event.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ioa-to-lodge-protest-over-london-olympic-sponsor-dow/1/164530.html
More at the linkThe Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow... more
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Consciousness TV...
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Up to 12 million bees found dead in Florida and no one knows why
By Eddie Sage on 05 October 2011
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Authorities have already ruled out disease, including the infamous “Colony Collapse Disorder” (CCD), as the cause of a recent honeybee holocaust that took place in Brevard County, Florida.
The UK’s Daily Mail reports that up to 12 million bees from roughly 800 apiaries in the area all dropped dead at roughly the same time around September 26 — and local beekeepers say pesticides are likely to blame.
CCD is the term often used to describe the inexplicable mass die-off of honeybees around the world, which typically involves honeybees leaving their hives and, for whatever reason, never finding their way back home.
Mass die-offs associated with CCD often occur at seemingly random locations around the world, and typically involve a gradual process of disappearance and eventual colony collapse — and the dead bees are typically nowhere to be found.
But the recent Florida event involved hundreds of colonies from 30 different sites in a one-and-a-half mile radius literally dropping dead all at the same time and leaving their carcasses behind, which is why authorities have dismissed CCD as the cause.
Based on the appearance of the dead bees, as well as the synchronous timing of their deaths, pesticide sprayings appear to be the culprit in this case. “I’m a pretty tough guy, but it is heart wrenching,” said Charles Smith of Smith Family Honey Company to News 13 in Orlando. His family’s company lost an estimated $150,000 worth of bees in the recent die-off.
“Not only is it a monetary loss here, but we work really hard on these bees to keep them in good health.”
The Florida die-off coincides with a recent county-wide mosquito eradication effort, during which helicopters flew over various parts of the county and sprayed airborne pesticides.
Officials, of course, deny that this taxpayer-funded spraying initiative had anything to do with the bee genocide, though.
“The fact that it was so widespread and so rapid, I think you can pretty much rule out disease,” said Bill Kern, an entomologist from the University of Florida (UF) toFlorida Today. “It happened essentially almost in one day. Usually diseases affect adults or the brood, you don’t have something that kills them both.”
Many of the beekeepers who lost their hives in the mass killing raised their bees to sell to American farmers, who then used them to pollinate food crops. Because of their massive losses, many of these beekeepers could end up losing their entire beekeeping businesses.
.Consciousness TV...
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Up to 12 million bees found dead in Florida and no one... more
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Permanent Peoples' Tribunal accuses biotech giants Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF of promoting dangerous pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids
The world's major agrochemical companies, Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF, will face a public tribunal in early December accused of systematic human rights violations.
They are accused of violating more than 20 instruments of international human rights law through promoting reliance on the sale and use of dangerous and unsafe pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids.
The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal (PPT), an international opinion tribunal created in 1979, will hear expert testimony from scientists, medical doctors and lawyers to prove the charges. Victims who have been injured by these products - from farmers, farmworkers, mothers and consumers from around the world - will also testify to the causes and nature of their injuries.
The cases will be heard over a four-day trial in Bangalore, India beginning December 3. While the Tribunal has no legal weight, and cannot force sanctions on companies, it aims to expose and raise awareness of large-scale human rights violations.
Pesticides Action Network (PAN) International, a global network comprised of 600 organisations in 90 countries, has spent years collecting information to bring about the indictments and is seeking justice for more than 25 specific cases - such as Silvino Talavera, an 11-year-old from Paraguay who died days after breathing in a cloud of Monsanto's RoundUp herbicide sprayed by a crop duster. The trial will also hear evidence of the link between pesticide use and a decline in bees.
The corporations, known as the 'Big 6' control 74 per cent of the global pesticide market, as well as dominating the global seed market.
Bayer reject the allegations saying they are a 'wholesale distortion of the role of pesticides in our society.' Monsanto, Syngenta and Dow, after being contacted by the Ecologist, were unavailable for comment.
Pesticide poisonings
An estimated 355,000 people are believed to die each year from unintentional toxic chemical poisoning, according the World Health Organization, many of these from use or exposure to pesticides and other agrochemicals. Nick Mole from PAN UK said the trial would give a voice to the otherwise voiceless victims of pesticides.
‘The pesticide industry is massive and incredibly powerful. It is difficult to prove corporate manslaughter even when these products are killing hundreds of people a year,' he said. ‘We've spoken to people who have been abused and we are allowing them to give voice to their individual stories. We will be presenting the outcome of the Tribunal to the corporations and will be inviting their response,' he said.
It is hoped that the verdict, to be delivered on December 6, will lead to greater discussions at UN institutions on holding agrochemical corporations accountable for crimes relating to the impact of their products.
More at the linkPermanent Peoples' Tribunal accuses biotech giants Monsanto, Dow, Bayer,... more
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Click on the main link for a 125 page PDF all about frogs and follow link below to submit your comments to the EPA. Hurry, deadline November 14th.
SAVE THE FROGS!
Amphibian populations have been rapidly disappearing worldwide and nearly one-third of the world's amphibian species are on the verge of extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1979. Frogs and other amphibians face an array of threats from climate change to habitat destruction; pesticide use; over-collection for frog legs and dissections; invasive species; and infectious diseases spread by human activity. Frogs eat mosquitoes, provide us with medical advances, serve as food for birds, fish and monkeys, and their tadpoles filter our drinking water. Plus they look and sound cool, and kids love them!
EPA Seeks Your Opinion On Atrazine!
The US Environmental Protection Agency is now seeking public comments regarding a potential ban on Atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States. The EPA's call for comments was prompted by 10,012 petition signatures received from SAVE THE FROGS! supporters, and over 50,000 emails from supporters of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The call for comments appeared in the September 14th, 2011 Federal Register, the official journal of the Government of the United States.Speak from the heart in your own words! The commenting period ends November 14th, so please don't delay.
Please copy and paste this address to submit your comments:http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0586-0001
Thank You.
http://savethefrogs.com/actions/pesticides/images/Atrazine-Ban-220.jpgClick on the main link for a 125 page PDF all about frogs and follow link below to... more
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Monsanto Co. announced Wednesday that it had bought Beeologics, a company that is developing a product that promises to help bees survive an illness that has been wiping out colonies across the world.
Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, did not disclose the terms of the sale.
Beeologics, a research company founded in 2007 with headquarters in Florida and Israel, has developed a product called Remembee, which is an anti-viral agent that the company's researchers believe could stem the impact of colony collapse disorder. The mysterious disorder has decimated honeybee populations around the globe, with far-reaching implications for agriculture.
"While the investment is an enabling technology for us, we're absolutely committed to Beeologics' existing work," explained Kelly Powers, a Monsanto spokesperson. "I don't need to tell you how important bees are to farmers who rely on pollination, and Remembee has great promise, pending approvals."
Remembee is still subject to further trials, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing Remembee for approval, Powers noted.
Remembee, according to Beeologics' website, utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression. The company claims that the agent has proved effective in mitigating the effects of a virus that may be linked to the disorder.
Bees are the "workhorses" of agriculture, pollinating everything from almonds to alfalfa, and an estimated $14 billion in American crops rely on bees for pollination. Since the disorder was first reported in late 2006, it has been confounding scientists who have blamed everything from mites to pesticides to travel-related stress. Bee colonies are shipped around the country, from field to field, for pollination. In recent years, partly because of colony collapse disorder, farmers have been paying increasingly high rates for pollination via rented hives.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/19f6f7b2-1c8a-50f8-b84f-47c351ec044d.html#ixzz1ZwEz5LoO
http://www.pyroenergen.com/articles09/images/colony-collapse-disorder2.jpgMonsanto Co. announced Wednesday that it had bought Beeologics, a company that is... more
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Full video report at the link
Last week, after many months of the kind of deep journalism that has become all too rare, Dan Rather’s investigative team aired a hard-hitting piece that lays bare the policy failures behind Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and zeros in on neonicotinoid pesticides. You can see the episode here.
The problem in five words? “The chemical companies do the testing.” To quote a key passage of this piece:
Rather: “The chemical companies do the testing?”
Beekeeper Steve Ellis: “Yes, they design the tests, they conduct the tests and they pay for the tests.”
Rather: “Not the EPA?”
Ellis: “Not the EPA.”
The politics behind how we regulate pesticides in the U.S. has a long history that runs deep. Yet this fact is simple: chemical companies test their own products for safety. And it should be a scandal.
More at the linkFull video report at the link
Last week, after many months of the kind of deep... more
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I have to admit, seeing a honey bee these days is now like see a rainbow or finding a four leaf clover and by chance witnessing a shooting star. As I traveled over the U.S. something I noticed puzzled me. Where have all the bees gone?
What is extremely disturbing is that the honey bees are disappearing in large numbers in countries like the U.S, France, Argentina, Italy and elsewhere. Perhaps even more disturbing is that no one seems to know where they are going, as very few are found dead around the beehives.
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man”
Attributed to ~ Albert Einstein
http://rtruth.blog.com/2011/09/23/bee-aware/I have to admit, seeing a honey bee these days is now like see a rainbow or finding a... more
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mab001
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added this
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1 year ago
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ecoalex
ecoalex
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The EPA knew the pesticide Clothianidin caused honey bee colony collapse disorder,yet approved it anyway.Without honey bees,other pollinators which aren't as effective will have to be used.This is disturbing because if the EPA would allow a pesticide that kills pollinators of so many food crops,what else will the EPA allow? This is corporate capture of a regulatory agency beyond criminality,this is a world wide event that has lasting effects on the world's food supply.
Nicitinic pesticides are extremely toxic to honey bees,yet are one of the most widely used types of pesticides used because it is a systemic pesticide,it is present in all parts of the target plant,especially in flowers and pollen,why bees are so susceptible to nicotinic pesticides.These pesticides also easily translocate into plants also they are highly soluble,which allows them to easily run off into streams .
Honey Bee colony collapse disorder is a serious problem world wide,it is common wherever nicotinic pesticides are used.This type of pesticide has a lower toxicity to humans than other types of pesticides;Organochlorides,Pyrethroids,Organophosphates,Ryanoids,Carbamates,
Biologicals,or Diatomaceous earth
Borate
Borax
Boric Acid
Examples of nicotinic pesticides;
Acetamiprid
Clothianidin
Imidacloprid
Nitenpyram
Nithiazine
Thiacloprid
Thiamethoxam
http://current.com/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgfDBohD34ecoalex
ecoalex
added this
The EPA knew the pesticide... more
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Synopsis
Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.
Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.
Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.
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Please check out this must see film.Synopsis
Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally... more
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A quick premise for the people that do not know who Monsanto is and what is high fructose corn syrup:
Monsanto is the leading producer of biochemical products and the world's largest seed company. It has monopolized agriculture and our food with its genetically engineered corn, soy and cotton.
From this GM corn, a substance is made: High fructose corn syrup; it's found as an ingredient in almost every conventional food. It's used as a sweetener, flavor enhancer, preservative and is cheap.
More and more studies are showing the dangerous effects of this substance that not only feeds humans but is used to feed livestock, pigs, chickens, fishes and even our precious bees!
This genetically engineered food has been deteriorating people's health for over 40 years since its introduction to our agriculture.
It was engineered to work in conjunction with the herbicide "Roundup" which contaminates water, soil and kills all plants and animals.
Ironically, this industry is heavily subsidized by the government; our tax money are put to work against us and to enrich corporations like Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Bayer etc.
You can learn more about who owns nature here (excellent publication):
http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/707/01/etc_won_report_final_color.pdf
Said this, since 2006, billions of bee colonies have died for no apparent reason. This phenomenon has affected the world's food production, and has been titled "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD). As you might know already, bees are responsible for 1/3 of the world's food production, and it is one of the world's most important natural assets.
We think of the CCD for the bees as the cancer for humans.
We believe that one of the main causes of the massive dying off of bees is high fructose corn syrup. Learn more about the importance of bees:
http://www.pan-europe.info/Resources/Articles/A_World_Without_Bees.pdf.
Other causes are pesticides, antibiotics, parasites, pathogens, livestock-like practices (bigger hive cell sizes, migratory stress, antibiotics, various chemicals used), drought, etc.
Also, as a result of this diet, the honey that gets produced is essentially high fructose corn syrup and honey mixed together; there isn't such a thing as "pure" or "natural" honey.
Now, why would beekeepers feed this poison to bees? Simply and tragically because it is a money saving solution, the quick fix mentality and the adoption of short sighted solutions.
Who's behind all of this?
The corporations that control corn, soy, cotton, also control nature, control our economy and society just like the fossil fuel industry does. Corporatism is killing nature and people, represents our current economy and laws, and is the new Nazism or form of imperialism.
What's the solution?
A healthy environment and organic beekeeping are the answer to this problem, learn more here: http://www.bee-hexagon.net/files/file/fileE/Organic/ProgramAbstracts.pdf
This can only be achieved if we steer away from a chemical based agriculture and embrace an organic agriculture where principles of permaculture, sustainability and biodiversity are implemented.
You can start by supporting the organic market, you can call your congress representatives and pressure them to subsidize organic agriculture and abandon our current system: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.
More than that, you can sign the petition that can stop this all:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/bring-down-monsanto-monopoly/
Save our planet, all of us and our dear bees now!
Article from:
http://organiclegion.org/pt/Commercial-Bee-Farms-Feed-GM-High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup-to-Bees/blog.htm
More info on the CCD: http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder
A study on the HFCS and bees:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826110118.htm
Photo by bcJordan:http://www.flickr.com/photos/28568408@N03/2667935792/
P.S.: If you are an artist and would like to donate/volunteer your artwork to us, you can submit it to: http://organiclegion.org/artthatmovestheworld.htm.
We are looking right now for a drawing or picture showing/suggesting Hitler/Nazism and GMO Corn. Thank you.
Join the Organic Movement:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/A quick premise for the people that do not know who Monsanto is and what is high... more
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Honeybees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, in an extraordinary example of the natural world adapting swiftly to our depredations, according to a prominent bee expert.
Scientists have found numerous examples of a new phenomenon – bees "entombing" or sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put them out of use, and protect the rest of the hive from their contents. The pollen stored in the sealed-up cells has been found to contain dramatically higher levels of pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals than the pollen stored in neighbouring cells, which is used to feed growing young bees.
"This is a novel finding, and very striking. The implication is that the bees are sensing [pesticides] and actually sealing it off. They are recognising that something is wrong with the pollen and encapsulating it," said Jeff Pettis, an entomologist with the US Department of Agriculture. "Bees would not normally seal off pollen."
But the bees' last-ditch efforts to save themselves appear to be unsuccessful – the entombing behaviour is found in many hives that subsequently die off, according to Pettis. "The presence of entombing is the biggest single predictor of colony loss. It's a defence mechanism that has failed." These colonies were likely to already be in trouble, and their death could be attributed to a mix of factors in addition to pesticides, he added.
Bees are also sealing off pollen that contains substances used by beekeepers to control pests such as the varroa mite, another factor in the widespread decline of bee populations. These substances may also be harmful to bees, Pettis said. "Beekeepers - and I am one – need to look at ourselves in the mirror and ask what we are doing," he said. "Certainly [the products] have effects on bees. It's a balancing act – if you do not control the parasite, bees die. If you control the parasite, bees will live but there are side-effects. This has to be managed."
The decline of bee populations has become an increasing concern in recent years. "Colony collapse disorder", the name given to the unexplained death of bee colonies, is affecting hives around the world. Scientists say there are likely to be numerous reasons for the die-off, ranging from agricultural pesticides to bee pests and diseases, pollution, and intensive farming, which reduces bee habitat and replaces multiple food sources with single, less nutritious, sources. Globalisation may also be a factor, as it spreads bee diseases around the world, and some measures taken to halt the deaths – such as massing bees in huge super-hives – can actually contribute to the problem, according to a recent study by the United Nations.
The loss of pollinators could have severe effects on agriculture, scientists have warned.
continuedHoneybees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, in an... more
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The EU's highest court may classify honey containing traces of genetically modified material as "food produced" from modified plants. Such a ruling may enable beekeepers with hives close to GM crops to seek damages.
Beekeepers with hives close to fields of Monsanto genetically modified maize can't sell their honey in the European Union without regulatory approval, an adviser to the European Court of Justice has said.
The presence in honey "even of a minute quantity of pollen" from the maize is reason enough to restrict its sale, Advocate General Yves Bot told the court last week.
Damage claim
"Food containing material from a genetically modified plant, whether that material is included intentionally or not, must always be regarded as 'food produced' from modified plants," said Bot. Acting as an independent adviser to the court, he was tasked with suggesting a ruling, based on previous EU decisions. If the EU tribunal follows Bot's advice, which it is expected to do, the ruling could have consequences across the bloc.
This would be a huge success for "anyone wanting to prevent food and animal feed from being more and more contaminated with genetically modified material," said Achim Willand, a lawyer representing food producers. "Beekeepers are especially susceptible because bees collect the pollen of GM plants within a radius of three to five kilometers," he told Deutsche Welle.
Monsanto's genetically modified corn type MON 810 has not been authorized for sale on the European food market. If new regulations are established, making it impossible for beekeepers to sell their product because it has been contaminated by pollen from MON 810 crops, the beekeepers may be able to claim damages from Monsanto.
Zero tolerance policy
"Yves Bot didn't use the word, but the opinion basically translates into a zero tolerance policy," said Thomas Radetzki, an advocate for German beekeepers against genetic engineering in agriculture. "It would mean that any produce with even the slightest trace of genetically modified crop would become a GM food product, with all the consequences."
cont.The EU's highest court may classify honey containing traces of genetically... more
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On December 8, PAN joined Beyond Pesticides and beekeepers from around the country in breaking a story that is coming to be known as “Wik-Bee Leaks” or the “Clothianidin Controversy.” As media are reporting, bees are dying off while EPA turns a blind eye.
People are outraged and have been asking us what they can do.
Urging EPA to pull a bee-killing pesticide that Germany, Italy and France have already banned is an important first step. The Agency will need unprecedented public pressure to make use of its emergency powers. And you can bet Bayer will batle to keep this blockbuster product on the market. But we have to pick this fight.
Here's why:
U.S. bee populations are still declining and scientists believe pesticides are a critical piece of the puzzle. Clothianidin’s family of pesticides (neonicotinoids, including imidacloprid) are an especially suspect culprit.
Clothianidin is on the U.S. market on the basis of unsound science and deeply flawed EPA decision-making. Like most pesticides registered in the last 15 years, it was rushed to market prior to safety testing with a “conditional registration.”
Beekeepers can’t take another season of losses. Beekeepers tell us that like their hives, their industry is on the verge of collapse. With 1/3 of food reliant on bees for pollination, the collapse of commercial beekeeping would devastate U.S. farmers as well.
Thank you for taking a stand with beekeepers.On December 8, PAN joined Beyond Pesticides and beekeepers from around the country in... more
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Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives.
Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
Vanishing of the Bees follows commercial beekeepers David Hackenberg and Dave Mendes as they strive to keep their bees healthy and fulfill pollination contracts across the U.S. The film explores the struggles they face as the two friends plead their case on Capital Hill and travel across the Pacific Ocean in the quest to protect their honeybees.
Filming across the US, in Europe, Australia and Asia, this documentary examines the alarming disappearance of honeybees and the greater meaning it holds about the relationship between mankind and mother earth. As scientists puzzle over the cause, organic beekeepers indicate alternative reasons for this tragic loss. Conflicting options abound and after years of research, a definitive answer has not been found to this harrowing mystery.Honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing... more
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Few ecological disasters have been as confounding as the massive and devastating die-off of the world's honeybees. The phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) -- in which disoriented honeybees die far from their hives -- has kept scientists, beekeepers, and regulators desperately seeking the cause. After all, the honeybee, nature's ultimate utility player, pollinates a third of all the food we eat and contributes an estimated $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the U.S. economy.
The long list of possible suspects has included pests, viruses, fungi, and also pesticides, particularly so-called neonicotinoids, a class of neurotoxins that kills insects by attacking their nervous systems. For years, their leading manufacturer, Bayer Crop Science, a subsidiary of the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG (BAYRY), has tangled with regulators and fended off lawsuits from angry beekeepers who allege that the pesticides have disoriented and ultimately killed their bees. The company has countered that, when used correctly, the pesticides pose little risk.
A cheer must have gone up at Bayer on Thursday when a front-page New York Times article, under the headline "Scientists and Soldiers Solve a Bee Mystery," described how a newly released study pinpoints a different cause for the die-off: "a fungus tag-teaming with a virus." The study, written in collaboration with Army scientists at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center outside Baltimore, analyzed the proteins of afflicted bees using a new Army software system. The Bayer pesticides, however, go unmentioned.
What the Times article did not explore -- nor did the study disclose -- was the relationship between the study's lead author, Montana bee researcher Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, and Bayer Crop Science. In recent years Bromenshenk has received a significant research grant from Bayer to study bee pollination. Indeed, before receiving the Bayer funding, Bromenshenk was lined up on the opposite side: He had signed on to serve as an expert witness for beekeepers who brought a class-action lawsuit against Bayer in 2003. He then dropped out and received the grant.
Reporter: scientist "did not volunteer" funding sources
Bromenshenk's company, Bee Alert Technology, which is developing hand-held acoustic scanners that use sound to detect various bee ailments, will profit more from a finding that disease, and not pesticides, is harming bees. Two years ago Bromenshenk acknowledged as much to me when I was reporting on the possible neonicotinoid/CCD connection for Conde Nast Portfolio magazine, which folded before I completed my reporting.
Bromenshenk defends the study and emphasized that it did not examine the impact of pesticides. "It wasn't on the table because others are funded to do that," he says, noting that no Bayer funds were used on the new study. Bromenshenk vociferously denies that receiving funding from Bayer (to study bee pollination of onions) had anything to do with his decision to withdraw from the plaintiff's side in the litigation against Bayer. "We got no money from Bayer," he says. "We did no work for Bayer; Bayer was sending us warning letters by lawyers."
A Bayer publicist reached last night said she was not authorized to comment on the topic but was trying to reach an official company spokesperson.
The Times reporter who authored the recent article, Kirk Johnson, responded in an e-mail that Dr. Bromenshenk "did not volunteer his funding sources." Johnson's e-mail notes that he found the peer-reviewed scientific paper cautious and that he "tried to convey that caution in my story." Adds Johnson: The study "doesn't say pesticides aren't a cause of the underlying vulnerability that the virus-fungus combo then exploits...."
At least one scientist questions the new study. Dr. James Frazier, professor of entomology at Penn State University, who is currently researching the sublethal impact of pesticides on bees, said that while Bromenshenk's study generated some useful data, Bromenshenk has a conflict of interest as CEO of a company developing scanners to diagnose bee diseases. "He could benefit financially from that if this thing gets popularized," Frazier says, "so it's a difficult situation to deal with." He adds that his own research has shown that pesticides affect bees "absolutely, in multiple ways."Few ecological disasters have been as confounding as the massive and devastating... more
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