This is one more kick at this cat. The attempt to avoid the reality
continues and will not end until the beekeeping industry launches a
class action suit against Bayer in particular and all other found
ins. They do not even try to create compelling controversy anymore.
Ignoring it seems good enough.
I am sure that bee keepers are now doing their own checking before
they set out hives in order to minimize the risk of exposure. That
may be good enough in most cases and the farmers will be working
around it all also. That could also be the reason things have
quieted down.
It is hard to understand how anyone thought that a persistent
pesticide background would fail to be concentrated by foraging bees
except as wishful thinking.
Study Links
Pesticides to Bumblebee Destruction…Again
by Elizabeth
Renter
December 13th, 2012
In today’s news from
the desk of Captain Obvious—scientists have found that pesticides
may be contributing to the decline in bumblebees. Yes, apparently we
needed another study for this. That study, led by biologists with the
University of London, looked at what happened to bees in areas where
different crops are sprayed with pesticides. What they found could
explain why bumblebee colonies are failing.
According to Raw
Story, the study was particularly important because it looked at what
happened to bees following pesticide exposure for four weeks. Current
industry guidelines in the testing of pesticides for safety, only
require 96 hours.
The bees were divided
into four groups. Three had access to feeder boxes with a sugary
syrup spiked with either imidacloprid insecticide or a filter paper
with gamma-cyhalothrin on it. The bees were not forced into these
boxes, but the boxes were left in the path of the bees, around
landscaping for pollen-foraging. The fourth group of bees was a
control group, having no access to the chemicals.
All of the bees who
were allowed access to the pesticides showed negative results. Those
colonies who had contact with imidacloprid were less likely to return
to the nest after foraging. Also, the larvae in that colony was less
likely to mature to adult bumblebees, suggesting the adult bees
brought home the chemicals to the immature insects.
The other group
exposed to chemicals, in this case gamma-cyhalothrin, experienced a
higher death rate. In both colonies exposed to pesticides, the
colonies were more likely to fail.
While this study,
published in Nature, was only conducted on bumblebees (the
big fuzzy ones), the same results would be likely in other bee
varieties—specifically honey bees, whose colonies are much larger.
“Our findings have clear implications for the conservation of
insect pollinators in areas of agricultural intensification,
particularly social bees, with their complex social organisation and
dependence on a critical threshold of workers,” said
researchers.
And of course this
isn’t the only evidence linking pesticides with bee collapse.
Another study confirms that the bee population decline is also
linked to corn insecticides that are among the most widely used
in the world. The study sheds more light on the rampant
downfall of the bee population through mass die-offs, also known as
colony collapse disorder, with the researchers noting that an
increase in bee deaths began to be observed as soon as the
insecticide was put into use.
Bees are the
pollinators of the vast majority of plant life. They are said to
account for 80% of pollination by insects. And with populations
dropping, it’s crucial that people in power take note of studies
like this and take steps to remedy the declining numbers.
But, as we
reported in April, Monsanto, the company responsible for keeping GMO
crops front and center, will be doing their best to bury any links
between bee populations and pesticides. Last year they actually
bought out a bee research company, Beeologics, to ensure they had
input into any potentially damaging information that would come out
of the bee world. This company was recognized as one
of the leaders in the world on bee research. Now, however, they have
fallen under Monsanto’s spell and their objectivity has been lost.
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