Monsanto Genetically Engineering Bees

After being blamed by massive amounts of bee keepers for the Honey Bee collapse, Monsanto purchased the largest bee research firm called Beeologics back in September of 2011. 

Their website says:

"Beeologics LLC is an international firm dedicated to restoring bee health and protecting the future of insect pollination. While its primary goal is to control the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) infection crises, Beeologics' mission is to become the guardian of bee health worldwide. Through continuous research, scientific innovation, and a focus on applicable solutions, Beeologics is developing a line of RNAi-based products to specifically address the long-term well being of the bees. "

In case you don't know RNAi-based products are a mechanism meant to block gene expression. RNAi-based products are genetically engineered products that Monsanto is now planning to use on the honey bees! The same bees who's health, (many beekeepers believe) has already been compromised by Monsanto's genetically engineered plants that produce pesticides. Their answer to this problem should be to stop making GM food, but instead it is to make more genetically engineered products that they will unleash on our planet without research to show any of them are safe.


RNAi (ribonucleic acid interference) is a process within living cells that moderates the activity of genes. It has been known by other names, including co-suppression, post transcriptional gene silencing and quelling. They all described the RNAi phenomenon. RNAs (ribonucleic acid) are the direct products of genes, and these small RNAs can bind to other specific messanger RNA (mRNA) molecules and either increase or decrease their activity, for example by preventing an mRNA from producing a protein. RNA interference has an important role in defending cells against parasitic genes - viruses and transposons,  but also in directing development as well as gene expression in general.

Monsanto In Route to Control Seeds & Pollination

Monsanto is already on its way to owning most of the seeds on the planet. They are replacing the natural spirit made food with Monsanto made frankenfood. They now also want to own the means of pollinating the food. Their frankenfoods that produce pesticides are believed by beekeepers to be killing the honey bees. Monsanto's solution to the colony collapse disorder is to replace God's honeybees with Monsanto's genetically modified bees that are resistant to all the pesticide producing food they make. 

Just as their GM seed has trespassed onto organic/conventional farmers fields by pollinators bringing pollen from one field to another, these frankenbees will also get out into the world and end up contaminating the native bees. When this happens Monsanto will probably sue any bee keeper who has bees that show similar genetics to their patented bees. Beekeepers could be forced to buy Monsanto bees when all bees are contaminated and changed into frankenbees.


Then there is you and I. Are we destined to be frankenpeople? Are we already contaminated? I eat only organic food in hope to not be contaminated by their products. We all need to do this to stop them. Do not buy anything but organic food or at least buy local from farmers you know who do no not sell genetically modified food. Do not buy non-organic corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and sugar beets - this means sugar as they are almost all GMO. Read labels. It is my opinion that the problems with human fertility, increased gastrointestinal problems and many other human diseases that have increased in the recent past may be linked to genetically engineered food. The research with animals certainly supports it. If nothing else, don't you wonder why so many more people have food allergies nowadays?

We must talk to our representatives and tell them we want labeling of GM food immediately if not outright banning of it until it has more research. So far the research is frightening. Since it is so hard to work on a federal level, get your state or even your local county to ban the growing of GM food in the county. If Monsanto claims they will sue your state or county for banning them (as they have been doing), tell your officials you will stand behind them. Don't let your officials be bullied by Monsanto.

Why do 40 other countries ban GM food outright or have laws regulating GM food when the United States won't even label it? It is up to us as citizens to get this changed.


Without the labeling, the only way for you to be safe is to eat organic food you grow or you get from reputable farmers/groceries. Additionally, this way you make sure you are not funding the further expansion of Monsanto, Bayer or Syngeta.(All part of the GM food chain.)


For more information on the research go to Jeffrey Smith's site here.

Great New Research on Honey Bees & Neonicotinoids

 You can find numerous posts about the research. Here are a few. Check at least one of them out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/bees-neonicotinoid-pesticides-studies_n_1388385.html

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/neonicotinoids-bee-collapse

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-17556307

Help Protect The Honey Bees - Act Now

We have the chance to get one of the neonicotinoid pesticides banned but we must act quickly. It will just take a few moment of your time.

Clothianidin, is produced by the German corporation Bayer CropScience. It is used as a treatment on crop seeds, including corn and canola, and works by expressing itself in the plants' pollen and nectar. These are some of honey bees' favorite sources of food.  No major independent study has verified the safety of this pesticide. However independent studies have shown that neonicotinoid pesticides like clothianidin are highly toxic to honey bees, providing compelling evidence that they should be immediately taken off the market until the E.P.A. can conduct a full and valid scientific review. 

Clothianidin was approved by the EPA in 2010 - but now the EPA is reviewing this approval. The deadline to submit a comment is Tuesday and we need to urge federal administrators to cancel the approval of this dangerous chemical. 

You can use this link to voice your opinion to the EPA. Every voice helps. Just click the "Submit a comment" box in the upper right hand corner to write to them. If you think they may want additional information from you to support what you tell them, include an email, address or phone.

Here is an example of what I wrote to them.

No major independent study has verified the safety of Clothianidin. However independent studies have shown that neonicotinoid pesticides like clothianidin are highly toxic to honey bees, providing compelling evidence that they should be immediately taken off the market until the E.P.A. can conduct a full and valid scientific review. Our honey bee population is dwindling and without them we will loose many of our major food crops. Please take Clothianidin off the market. You can find some of this research at these links below. I can supply additional information if you like. Sharol Tilgner - sharoltilgner@yahoo.com

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029268

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603

More information on the honey bees at these links:

Dreaming A Beautiful World: Honey Bee Pesticide Exposure - New ...

Jan 19, 2012

Abstract: Populations of honey bees and other pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years. A variety of stressors have been implicated as potential causes, including agricultural pesticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides ...

Dreaming A Beautiful World: Dan Rather Honey Bee Report

Sep 23, 2011

This fantastic Dan Rather report on the honey bees and the damage done to the honey bees by neonicotinoid pesticides can be seen by clicking below on vimeo.com. As we suspected all along current research is continuing ...

New United Nations Report on Honey Bees - Dreaming A Beautiful ...

Mar 14, 2011

New United Nations Report on Honey Bees. The United Nations just put out a news release on the world-wide decline of our honey bees. On March 10, 2011 the United Nations wrote “The way humanity manages or ...

Dreaming A Beautiful World: Save The Honey Bees

Mar 02, 2011

Bee Keepers try to keep up with the loss. Each year they loose 30-40% of their hives. This can't keep up. Some of them are going out of business. Who will pollinate our food if not for the honey bees. Although there are other ...

Dreaming A Beautiful World: A Cause of the Honey Bee Deaths

Nov 15, 2010

My bees died this spring. They had been healthy and happy 5 days prior when I had put an essential oil in their hive to kill off mites. Something I do every spring and not something that would harm them. However, 5 days later ...

Honey Bee Pesticide Exposure - New Study

Multiple Routes of Pesticide Exposure for Honey Bees Living Near Agricultural Fields is the title of a new research article published on honey bee deaths. It was published on January 3, 2012.

Abstract: Populations of honey bees and other pollinators have declined worldwide in recent years. A variety of stressors have been implicated as potential causes, including agricultural pesticides. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are widely used and highly toxic to honey bees, have been found in previous analyses of honey bee pollen and comb material. However, the routes of exposure have remained largely undefined. We used LC/MS-MS to analyze samples of honey bees, pollen stored in the hive and several potential exposure routes associated with plantings of neonicotinoid treated maize. Our results demonstrate that bees are exposed to these compounds and several other agricultural pesticides in several ways throughout the foraging period. During spring, extremely high levels of clothianidin and thiamethoxam were found in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of treated maize seed. We also found neonicotinoids in the soil of each field we sampled, including unplanted fields. Plants visited by foraging bees (dandelions) growing near these fields were found to contain neonicotinoids as well. This indicates deposition of neonicotinoids on the flowers, uptake by the root system, or both. Dead bees collected near hive entrances during the spring sampling period were found to contain clothianidin as well, although whether exposure was oral (consuming pollen) or by contact (soil/planter dust) is unclear. We also detected the insecticide clothianidin in pollen collected by bees and stored in the hive. When maize plants in our field reached anthesis, maize pollen from treated seed was found to contain clothianidin and other pesticides; and honey bees in our study readily collected maize pollen. These findings clarify some of the mechanisms by which honey bees may be exposed to agricultural pesticides throughout the growing season. These results have implications for a wide range of large-scale annual cropping systems that utilize neonicotinoid seed treatments.

Christian H. Krupke^1*, Greg J. Hunt¹, Brian D. Eitzer², Gladys Andino¹, Krispn Given¹

1 Department of Entomology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America, 2 Department of Analytical Chemistry, The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America

You can read the entire research article including their discussion of the results at this link: 

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029268

Please contact your representatives about this problem and ask them to submit a bill to save the honey bees from neonicotinoid poisoning. I am including a link here that will allow you to easily look up your federal and state representatives names and contact address/email/phone numbers. http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/

If you want to know more about the honey bees, here are past posts on the honey bees.

http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2011/09/dan-rather-honey-bee-report.html

Sept 23, 2011

Dreaming A Beautiful World: A Cause of the Honey Bee Deaths

Nov 15, 2010

New United Nations Report on Honey Bees

Mar 14, 2011

Dreaming A Beautiful World: Bill To Save The Bees

Mar 10, 2011

Dreaming A Beautiful World: Save The Honey Bees

Mar 02, 2011

New United Nations Report on Honey Bees

The United Nations just put out a news release on the world-wide decline of our honey bees.

On March 10, 2011 the United Nations wrote “The way humanity manages or mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part define our collective future in the 21st century,” UN Environment Program.  Executive Director Achim Steiner said , “The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees.”

The report – Global Bee Colony Disorders and other Threats to Insect Pollinators – cites more than a dozen potential factors of the pollinator loss ranging from declines in flowering plants and the use of memory-damaging insecticides to the worldwide spread of pests and air pollution. It encourages countries to offer farmers incentives to restore pollinator-friendly habitats such as flowering plants next to crop-producing fields. 

Some 20,000 flowering plant species upon which many bee species depend for food could be lost over the coming decades without greater conservation efforts. An Anglo-Dutch study has found that since the 1980s, there has been a 70 per cent drop in key wildflowers among them the mint, pea and perennial herb families. We can all help the honey bees and other pollinators by planting their favorite plants in our gardens and on our farms. I will include a list at the end of this blog.

Meanwhile the increasing use of chemicals in agriculture is being found to damage bees, weakening their immune systems, with laboratory studies showing that some insecticides and fungicides can act together to be 1,000 times more toxic to bees. They can also affect the sense of direction, memory and brain metabolism, and herbicides and pesticides may reduce the availability of plants bees need for food and for the larval stages of some pollinators.

Air pollution,  may be interfering with the ability of bees to find flowering plants and thus food, with scents that could travel over 800 meters in the 1800s now reaching less than 200 meters from a plant. Electromagnetic fields from sources such as power lines might also be changing the behavior of bees who are sensitive as they have small abdominal crystals that contain lead.

Another factor concerns parasites and pests, such as the Varroa mite, and tracheal mite that feed on the bees, as well as the small hive beetle, which damages honeycombs, stored honey and pollen.

At Rio+20, the meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next year marking the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit, they seek to ramp up international efforts for a green economy and sustainable development, Mr. Steiner called for investment and re-investment in nature-based services, from forests and fresh waters to flower meadows and coral reefs.

Many Bee Keepers Use Chemicals on the Hives
I would add to the UN's list of problems, the fact that bee keepers themselves are using chemicals on their bees to try and keep them alive. In an effort to combat mites and other bee pests, non-organic bee keepers have used a variety of chemicals on hives. Many are starting to realize this is adding to the problem. Organic bee keepers have been using essential oils with good results for many years now. This is also the reason many people will not eat any honey, pollen or other bee products that is from the general market. There is a concern it is laced with chemicals used on the hives. We of course must be concerned about all the pesticides the bees pick up when foraging too. This is something organic bee keepers must deal with unless they are far from non-organic farmers and gardeners.

An Additional Concern About Feeding Bees Sugar Water
I am also concerned about the practice of feeding sugar water to bees. This is done for a variety of reasons and in many cases is not necessary unless they are starving and there is no honey to feed them.  However it is a common practice. Sugar is not the healthiest thing to feed the bees and in my mind it has become even more suspect since GMO sugar has arrived on the scene. The sugar beets are genetically modified so that they are immune to the Roundup herbicide, which is made from glyphosate.  This allows farmers to spray Roundup to their hearts content on their fields. Genetically modified sugar beets accounted for roughly 90% of all sugar beets grown in the United States in 2010.  Sugar beets are the source of fifty-four percent of American produced sugar.  85% of the sugar on the United States market is produced domestically. I am concerned about the bees being fed this sugar that has had a lot of Round Up sprayed on it while it was growing. Since bees are so sensitive to small amounts of pesticides, they may also be sensitive to small amounts of herbicides. Bee Keepers may unknowingly be poisoning their bees themselves by feeding GMO sugar to their bees. (Just an additional thought to consider.) 

Original UN Press Release here: 
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=664&ArticleID=6923&l=en

Download report: Colony Disorders and other Threats to Insect Pollinators
 
List of Plants that honey bees prefer. Plant a variety of these to help the honey bees in your area. I have included Latin names in parenthesis. Use the older heirloom varieties rather than the hybridized varieties.

Borage (Borago officinalis), Blueberries and other Vacciuniums (Vaccium spp.), Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Catnep (Nepeta cataria), Dandelions (Yes, they like dandelions so let some grow - especially helpful in the early spring), Echium (Echium vulgare), Goldenrod (Solidago spp.), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifloia), All Asters, All mints (Mentha spp.), Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum),  Barberry/Oregon grape (Berberis spp.), All clovers, Bachelors Button (Centaurea cyanus), Echinacea (echinacea spp.) Elderberry (Sambucus spp.), Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium), Hawthorne (Crataegus spp.), Hazelnut (Corylus spp.), Heather (Erica spp.), All lavenders (Lavandula spp.), Linden (Tillia spp.), Maple tree (Acer spp), Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.), Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca), Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), Wild Roses (Rosa spp.), Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.), Thyme (Thymus spp.), Valerian (Valeriana spp.), Veronica (Veronica officinalis (Willow Salix spp.)
 

Bill To Save The Bees

We need to tell our federal and state representatives they need to submit a bill to ban neonicotinoids to save our honey bees. We can get them to do this by writing letters/emails to them. I am sharing a recent letter I sent out to my U.S. congressman, U.S. senators and my state senator and representative in Oregon. I am working both on the federal and state level to get bills passed. If we are unable to get our federal representatives to submit a bill perhaps we can at least get a state bill passed. (For details on why this is important, go to  http://dreamingabeautifulworld.blogspot.com/2011/03/save-honey-bees.html

Below is the actual letter I sent to Congressman Peter DeFazio.  Please copy and use this letter to send to your representatives. It helps to add your personal point of view. You can also write an entirely new letter. It is always more powerful to use your own words. However, if you don't have time, please copy and send this one, but change the representatives name and sign your name on the bottom. I am including a link here that will allow you to easily look up your federal and state representatives names and contact address/email/phone numbers. http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/

 Actual Letter  

Peter DeFazio 

405 East 8th Ave. #2030

Eugene, OR 97401

Re: Solution to Honey Bee Die Off

Dear Congressman DeFazio,

Our honey bees are going extinct and Bee keepers finally know why. We just need to do something about it. You have the ability to introduce a bill that will save the honey bees. Albert Einstein said “If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years left to live.”

You can save our honey bees and the one out of every three foods they alone are responsible for pollinating. Without the honey bees 1/3 of our food crops would not be pollinated and our diet would become severely restricted. Additionally we need the honey bees, and leaf cutting bees to pollinate alfalfa. There are 23 million acres of alfalfa in the United States. Alfalfa is fed to most dairy animals and some beef animals. Alfalfa is integral to milk production. Lactating animals need a lot of energy to keep up the milk production. Alfalfa is the primary source of energy for these animals on most dairy farms. The dairy industry needs the honey bees.

Until now, beekeepers did not know what was killing the bees. However, recent research points to the use of a group of pesticides called neonicotinoids. The manufacturers have been trying to implicate disease as the causative factor, but research now proves that it is these insecticides that are the main culprit. Neonicotinoids have already been banned in Italy, France and Germany. Italy has recently announced that one year after their ban the bees are back again!

No one has yet proposed a bill to ban neonicotinoids in our country. I am hoping you will be the one to do this.

I have attached additional information regarding this urgent matter below. Please take a look at the following short document to get a better understanding of the situation. I have also included the name and phone number of an OSU researcher who can give you additional data.

The Honey Bee Problem

Each year United States beekeepers lose 30-40% of their hives. This can't keep up. Some of them are going out of business. One large U.S. beekeeper named David Hackenberg who has been keeping bees for almost half a century, has recently reported a 70% loss of bees. Who will pollinate our food if not for the honey bees? Although there are other pollinators, the honey bees are alone responsible for pollinating 1/3 of all the fruits and vegetables we eat. Do we want to lose 1/3 of our food supply? We must save the bees for their own sake as well as ours. This drastic decrease in worldwide bee numbers is indicative of an environmental disaster. Many beekeepers are convinced this disaster is due to insecticides being used on orchards and farmland that the bees pollinate. This massive demise in our bees seems to have started with the introduction of one specific type of insecticide group called the neonicotinoids.

Brand Names of various chemical neonicotinoids:

Clothianidin: Poncho, Titan, Clutch, Belay, Arena.

Imidacloprid: Admire, Advantage, Confidor, Gaucho, Marathon, Merit, Premeir, Provado, Bayer Advanced, Rose Defense, Kohinor,  Hachikusan, Premise, Prothor, Legend and Winner. 

Thiamethoxam: Actara, Crusier, Platinum, Helix, Centric, Adage, Meridian and Flagship

Acetamiprid: Assail, Intruder, Adjust

Thiacloprid: Calypso

Some Countries Ban Neonicotinoids to Save the Bees

Some countries have put various bans on the use of neonicotinoids. These countries include France, Germany, Slovenia and Italy.  It has recently been noted that one year after placing bans on neonicotinoids in Italy, the bees came back. We want our bees back in the U.S. We must ban these neonicotinoids.

Research Confirms Bee Death Due To Neonicotinoids

Research by Dr Jeffrey Pettis and his team at the US Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory has shown that very low levels of imidacloprid (even microscopic doses) make the honey bees more vulnerable to infections.

Pettis exposed two groups of bees to the well-known bee disease agent Nosema. One of the groups was also fed tiny doses of the neonnicotinoid imidacloprid. There was a higher uptake of infection in the bees fed the insecticide, even though the insecticide could not subsequently be detected, which raises the possibility that such a phenomenon occurring in the wild might be simply undetectable.

Although the US study has not been published, French researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research in Avignon have independently carried out similar research and published their study in the journal Environmental Microbiology. They stated “We demonstrated that the interaction between nosema and a neonicotinoid (imidacloprid) significantly weakened honey bees.”

Professor Vincenzo Girolami from the University of Padua published research in the J. Econ. Entomol. 102 (5): 1808-1815 (2009) that examined the bee neonicotinoid affect by looking at corn grown from seed that was coated in neonicotinoids and how it effects the bees.  The research showed that the neonicotinoid coated seed grew corn that was deadly to the bees. It shows that bees drinking the poisoned guttation drops (kind of like dew drops but something the plant exudes) dropped dead within a few minutes.  Professor Girolami grew plants from neonicotinoid-coated maize seeds and observed that the concentration of these active substances in the guttation exudate from the corn leaves  is comparable with the pesticide solutions that are used to treat orchards. Bees are basically sucking concentrated poison. This effect would obviously persist even if the industry found a way of enclosing maize seeds within a smooth, biodegradable plastic coating, which would at least eliminate dispersion during sowing, though. (During dispersion of these coated seeds they kick up a dust from the coated seeds that also kills the bees if they fly through it.)

Why are Honey Bees Susceptible:

Through mapping of the bee genome it became apparent that bees have a significantly reduced capacity to detoxify chemicals when compare with other insects. They are susceptible to sub-lethal exposures of pesticides. In respect to the neonicotinoids, it has been found that the honey bees have a  higher number of neurological receptors that are targeted by neonicotinoids than other insects. Many of the bees behaviors such as building honeycomb, the “waggle dance” that they communicate with and other behaviors are complex and necessitate a fully functioning nervous system. It is thought that the disruption of the neurological signaling by neonicotinoids causes them to become disoriented and impairs their ability fly, to forage, communicate with each other, discriminate smells (very important to the bee), effects their learning and weakens their immune system.

More Details Available

You can get more detailed information from Dr. Ramesh Sagili who is a researcher in the Department of Horticulture at the Oregon State University. His primary focus at OSU is honeybee health, nutrition and pollination.

Dr. Ramesh Sagili

Department of Horticulture

4017 Ag. and Life Sciences Bldg.

Corvallis, Oregon 97331-7304

sagilir@hort.oregonstate.edu

Phone: 541-737-5460

Fax: 541-737-3479

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this ecologically/economically serious matter. Please let me know if I can be of additional assistance in this matter. I look forward to hearing back from your office and hope you will be introducing a bill to save the honey bees in the near future.

Respectfully Yours,

Dr. Sharol Tilgner

Save The Honey Bees

The Current Scoop & What You Can Do!

 

Our bees keep disappearing. Bee Keepers try to keep up with the loss. Each year they loose 30-40% of their hives. This can't keep up. Some of them are going out of business. Who will pollinate our food if not for the honey bees. Although there are other pollinators, the honey bees are alone responsible for pollinating 1/3 of all the fruits and vegetables we eat. Do we want to loose 1/3 of our food supply? We must save the bees for their own sake as well as ours. This drastic decrease in worldwide bee numbers is indicative of an environmental disaster. Many bee keepers are convinced this disaster is due to insecticides being used on orchards and farmland that the bees pollinate. This massive demise in our bees seems to have started with the introduction of  one specific type of insecticide group called the neonicotinoids.

If we don't buy it, they don't make it!

If you are a farmer or gardener, you can help the bees by not using neonicotinoid insecticides or seeds coated with neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids include imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam, acetamiprid, thiacloprid, and dinotefuran. The Brand names  are listed below.

Brand Names to Avoid!

Clothianidin: Poncho, Titan, Clutch, Belay, Arena. 

Imidacloprid: Admire, Advantage, Confidor, Gaucho, Marathon, Merit, Premeir, Provado, Bayer Advanced, Rose Defense, Kohinor,  Hachikusan, Premise, Prothor, and Winner.  

Thiamethoxam: Actara, Crusier, Platinum, Helix, Centric

Acetamiprid: Assail, Intruder, Adjust

Thiacloprid: Calypso

If you use insecticides, read the label and do not use any insecticide with one of these names listed in the label contents. (By the way, there are alternatives to insecticides.) Print this blog and put it in your purse or wallet so you have it with you when you go to the store to purchase an insecticide. (Print a few to share with friends.) Tell stores not to carry these products and explain why. Educate all your friends. Send this email to everyone who gardens. Especially educate those who use pesticides.

Some Countries Ban Neonicotinoids to Save the Bees

Some countries have put various bans on the use of neonicotinoids. These countries include France, Germany, Slovenia and Italy.  It has been noted that the year after placing bans on neonicotinoids, the bees come back. We want our bees back in the U.S. We must ban these neonicotinoids.

Research Confirms Bee Death Due To Neonicotinoids

Research by Dr Jeffrey Pettis and his team at the US Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory has shown that very low levels of imidacloprid (even microscopic doses)  make the honey bees more vulnerable to infections.

Pettis  exposed two groups of bees to the well-known bee disease agent Nosema. One of the groups was also fed tiny doses of imidacloprid. There was a higher uptake of infection in the bees fed the insecticide, even though the insecticide could not subsequently be detected, which raises the possibility that such a phenomenon occurring in the wild might be simply undetectable. 

Although the US study has not been published, French researchers at the National Institute for Agricultural Research in Avignon have independently carried out similar research and published their study in the journal Environmental Microbiology. They stated “We demonstrated that the interaction between nosema and a neonicotinoid (imidacloprid) significantly weakened honeybees.” 

Professor Vincenzo Girolami from the University of Padua published research in the J. Econ. Entomol. 102 (5): 1808-1815 (2009) that examined the bee neonicotinoid affect by looking at corn grown from seed that was coated in neonicotinoids and how it effects the bees.  The research showed that the neonicotinoid coated seed grew corn that was deadly to the bees. It shows that bees drinking the poisoned guttation drops (kind of like dew drops but something the plant exudes) dropped dead within a few minutes.  Professor Girolami grew plants from neonicotinoid-coated maize seeds and observed that the concentration of these active substances in the guttation exudate from the corn leaves  is comparable with the pesticide solutions that are used to treat orchards. Bees are basically sucking concentrated poison. This effect would obviously persist even if the industry found a way of enclosing maize seeds within a smooth, biodegradable plastic coating, which would at least eliminate dispersion during sowing, though. (During dispersion of these coated seeds they kick up a dust from the coated seeds that also kills the bees if they fly through it.)

What Can You Do?

It is obvious to any thinking person that we have a potentially devastating environmental problem on our hands. A problem that needs immediate action. In France the beekeepers took to the streets and burnt their empty bee hives that had once housed all their bees that were now dead. What are we willing to do. Everyone can stop buying and using neonicotinoids. We can all write to the EPA and USDA and tell them of your expectation that they will do something immediately. Tell your congress person you want a bill to ban these poisons. Write letters to your local paper. Do anything you can think of as we must act quickly.

We must take action now and tell the EPA and USDA to ban Bayer's insecticide imidacloprid and other neonicotinoid pesticides. I have two different places linked below that will allow you to have your voice heard by them.

http://www.capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=22033501&type=AN

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=5833

 

A Cause of the Honey Bee Deaths

My bees died this spring. They had been healthy and happy 5 days prior when I had put an essential oil in their hive to kill off mites. Something I do every spring and not something that would harm them. However, 5 days later I was walking by the hive, I noticed hundreds of dead bees at the doorstep to the hive and on the ground in front of the hive. I looked inside and most of the rest were in various stages on their way to death. The ones still alive appeared to be drunk. I thought they looked like they had some sort of nervous system toxicity.

When I called my local bee association and spoke with one of the respected mentors there. He told me he thought my bees had a new type of Nosema called Nosema ceranae. I got my microscope out and dissected some bees and did see the Nocema spores. However, with ceranae the bees usually die away from the hive and what I had was a massive amt of dead bees (appeared to be all of them) in the hive or right outside of the hive. Plus the ones still alive looked drunk. I was so sure they were poisoned with something.

Upon further investigation I came upon what I think was the culprit. A type of insecticide called imidicloprid. It is my personal belief that this insecticide is a main cause of the massive honey bee deaths being experienced on the planet.

In 2003, 13 North Dakota beekeepers brought a class-action lawsuit against Bayer, alleging that the company's neonicotinoid, Imidacloprid, which had been used in nearby fields, was responsible for the loss of more than 60% of their hives. The beekeepers said their bees appeared to be getting drunk from the spray. They could not walk straight and could not work. (Just like mine!)

Dr. Daniel Mayer a retired bee expert from Washington State University, traveled to 17 different bee yards in North Dakota and observed dead bees and bees in the throes of what looked like Imidacloprid poisoning. He theorized that after foraging in planted fields where the seeds had been treated with Imidacloprid, the bees then brought the pesticide back to the hive, where it built up in the wax combs.

Pennsylvania beekeeper Dave Hackenberg lost 60% of his colonies. In an interview with Linda Mounton Howe, he said hat he and other beekeepers thought the culprits were systemic nicotine-based insecticides getting into crops that flower, contaminating the pollen on which honeybees forage. Imidacloprid (Called Gaucho by Bayer is a nicotine-based insecticide.)

Many of us beekeepers think that the virus and fungi that are being found in the bees guts when they are found dead (colony collapse disorder) is not the actual culprit but they are merely opportunists growing out of control in bees with compromised immune systems. People have asked what is it that is suppressing the bee’s immune systems. Why do so many of the bees die in the fields and not even return to their hives. Some of us think the answer is Bayer’s number one selling insecticide, Imidacloprid. Imidacloprid is s neonicotinoid that lab tests have confirmed will interfere with nerve impulse transmissions in insects, including honeybees. Aha, this sounds like a drunken honeybee does it not?

Environmental groups and beekeeper organizations have been trying to ban neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to bee decline across the world. In a recent study, the toxicity of neonicotinoid insecticides to arthropods was shown to be reinforced by exposure time. The Dutch toxicologist Henk Tennekes demonstrates that the long-term risks associated with the insecticides imidacloprid and thiacloprid are far greater than previously thought. This could actually explain worldwide bee decline. The study was published in the journal Toxicology, July 23rd.

The acceptable limits for neonicotinoid insecticides are based mainly on short-term tests. If long-term studies were to be carried out, far lower concentrations may turn out to be hazardous. This explains why minute quantities of imidacloprid may induce bee decline in the long run.” Because of their high persistence significant quantities of neonicotinoids may remain in the soil for several years. Consequently, untreated plants growing on soil previously exposed to imidacloprid may take up the substance via their roots and become hazardous for bees.

In short imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids are bad news for the bees and probably bad news for other beneficial insects. Some countries such as France and Germany have bans on neonicotinoid use. Bayer has had multiple law-suites against their product imidacloprid, but in the USA we are still using it along with its closely related chemical relative called clothianidin (also made by Bayer)

WHAT CAN WE DO? I am sure none of you reading this blog use toxic chemicals in your gardens or on your farms. However, we need to talk to our neighbors and find out what they use. Educate them on the hazards of neonicotinoids. It will take all our efforts to save the honeybees.

Places you can learn more:

http://pollinatethis.org/beeblog/2009/05/24/us-honeybee-advisory-board-asks-epa-to-ban-imidacloprid/

http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/0022-0493-101.6.1743?journalCode=ecen

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_12469.cfm

http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1779&category=Environment

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/10/10-1