Beekeepers Suggest Pesticide is Destroying Insect Colonies

[Ladyhawke1]

The Blue Bird of Happiness here. :/



http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/10-5
and as we speak
Mr. Sanders Goes to Washington:


http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/10-6

Yes, what you do not know can hurt you.

 

[lesa]

I bet my 8 year old nephew knows that eating poison is not a good idea. Why would anyone think that bees could eat pesticide and not be sick?? It really makes you wonder!

 

[digitS']

"Blue Bird," here is more on the pesticide part of your post from Grist:

Leaked EPA document reveals . . .

The story includes the heck that's been raised by Colorado bee keeper from the get-go.

Steve

Sorry! Edited to include the RIGHT news story . . .

 

[hoodat]

There is one important factor that the FDA always ignores.
They allow a dose of insecticide that is not lethal to bees and think that's the end of it but consider that a rule of thumb is that it takes 100 gallons of nectar to produce 25 gallons of honey. That means that everything in that nectar, including the pesticides, is 4 times as concentrated in the honey as in the nectar so to be safe the FDA should require that an insecticide at 4 times the strength recommended should not be lethal to honeybees, not at the strength recommended for spraying.

 

[JimWWhite]

We've had a lot of discussion here in our county beekeeping association meetings and everyone pretty much agrees the problem with CCD is happening almost entirely with the commercial operations who are carting their bees from Florida to New York, to Washington, to California, to Texas and where ever. We're being told by the local experts here that there are some problems with varroa mites and nosema but CCD may very well be caused by bees being placed on trucks and hauled across the country in all kinds of conditions. This put them under tremendous stress. They also are encountering diseases they normally wouldn't get and are coming in contact with many different pesticides in their daily foraging. And their diets are under constant change. With all this the hive simily gives up and fades away. It's not like they all just up and die one day. The colony just quits multiplying and in a short period of time the hive is empty.

 

[wifezilla]

Do you feel that feeding High Fructose Corn Syrup instead of sugar might have anything to do with it?
http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2009/08/20/the-bee-problem-is-hfcs-to-blame/

 

[JimWWhite]

Personally I believe the sugar vs hfcs issue is really nothing more the sugar cane industry vs the corn growers industry. It's just one of those FUD things where one side tries to make the other side look like they're selling poison. Both sides have an army of scientists who are paid to do research and come up with evidence that their side is better than the other. There's billions of dollars involved so can you blame them? From everything I've been able to read is that sugar and corn syrup are molecularly identical. We have two hives at the moment and we feed them hfcs and sugar throughout the year and we've seen no difference. I'm sure there will be some who'll jump on this because they read this or that and are convinced that hfcs is a harmful chemical but I just think it's better to take things like this with a grain of salt.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

December 29, 1997 - This is when I first heard about this problem. I was appalled and scared then and I tried to share the information. When our radio and TV news services do not address what is really important to our world and its survival..then it takes many years for the subject to get into the mainstream and for it to come to the public's attention if ever. But by then it may be too late.

I personally do not care who dances with the stars nor do I care what Brittany does with her life. However, I do care about the world I live in.

The link below is from December 29, 1997, and you will be able to HEAR the entire program on this subject. You can click on the LISTEN or the MP3 to hear the entire program.

Forgotten Pollinators-Americas Bees

http://www.democracynow.org/1997/12/29/forgotten_pollinators_americas_bees

How will we survive the loss of our bees?

 

[Collector]

This is the answer that makes the most sense to me. I have a friend who keeps a large amount of bees, about a semi load. I have heard a lot of different ideas for the dieing off of colonies from him over the years. this one seems to make the most sense of all theories we've discussed.
I hope that that they will start doing some scientific studies that have some actual control, before all the bee keepers give up. It is such a critical part of our agriculture and food supply.
Do you think that they would ever start treating garden seeds with this poison?

 

[JimWWhite]

Again, we've had a lot of discussion at our BeeKeepers Association meetings here in Iredell County, NC. about this very subject. One basic idea keeps coming up and that is: The survival of the honeybees will be the result of ordinary people who set up and keep bees on their properties and let them propogate. There's a huge effort going on across the country right now with people starting to keep bees. Did you know that there are many, many buildings in NYC that have 10 or more beehives on top of them now? Even the tallest highrises have them. And they're living peacefully amongst the city people and foraging throughout Central Park. There's also a lot of people like myself who just a year ago decided to join in and help by setting up just one hive in their yards. Mine's expanded to two now and I'll have as many as twenty before the end of next year or perhaps 2012. Unless there's some superbug that kills bees quickly and completely that comes along I really believe our little friends will be fine. We do need to continue our efforts and make sure they have a future so that we have one too. And again, from what we're hearing from our apiary experts the problems the press keep reporting on is almost entirely confined to the commercial beekeepers who put their hives on trucks and follow the crops all over the country. You won't see that in print because reporters would have to work too hard to get to the real truth. So go to your local Ag extension, get the number of your local BeeKeeping Association and attend some meetings. I'll bet they're offering courses several times a year for free to anyone who wants to come and learn how to be a beekeeper. If nothing more you'll earn money selling your excess honey and helping the world in a very important way.