Posted on 04/10/2021 5:14:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
A torrent of media stories from 2013-2014 presented frightening tales of “unprecedented” colony collapse disorder (CCD) among honeybees, conjuring up visions of a “bee-pocalypse” and “a world without bees,” a world in which flowers and agriculture would be decimated.
Many articles blamed neonicotinoid pesticides, while others added climate change and biotech (GMO) crops as likely culprits. Some mentionedVarroa destructor mites and various viruses and diseases as possible causes. Virtually none suggested that organic food industry chemicals could also be implicated in bee deaths. The overall tone was “deep concern,” bordering on hysteria. But it sold papers and air time.
Over the next few years, the number of US honey-producing bee colonies (hives) generally and gradually increased, though with bumps in the road. There were 100,000 more hives in 2014 than in 2013, and numbers went on a slight roller coaster in subsequent years, up and down in the same range as 1993-2012.
A recent US Department of Agriculture honey report could ignite new concerns, especially in conjunction with recent data that shows a 4 percent decline in US bee colony numbers: 2,812,000 in 2019 versus 2,706,000 in 2020. This time, though, the more likely cause is the Covid-driven 2020 economy
Indeed, honey production dropped 6% but honey prices rose slightly to offset some of the lower production and sales. Almond grove and other pollination revenue went down 18% and other revenues fell even more sharply. But it’s also interesting that that there were 1,000 fewer apiary workers in 2020 than the year before – and spending on Varroa and other bee disease control declined almost 30% (the same drop as expenditures on syrup and other bee food). That largely explains the lower hive numbers.
(Also interesting, four states – Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota – accounted for 38% of all US honeybee colonies in 2020, many of them reliant on canola flowers. Their honey averaged $1.60 per pound in 2020, versus $6.30 per pound for boutique honey from four states – Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey and Vermont – that collectively had just over 1% of all US hives.)
Even more fascinating and instructive is the trajectory ofUS honeybee colony numberso ver the past five decades, showing no connection to neonics, other pesticides or much of anything else.
The all-time-high for US honeybee hives was in 1977 (4,323,000 colonies), and it was 6% higher than in 1972. The total then plummeted 25% by 1986 – and hasn’t been above 3,000,000 since 1992. The all-time-low for US honeybee colonies was 2,342,000 in 2008 – five years before the bee-pocalypse!
It gets even harder to decipher recent bee problems when you realize thatVarroa mites didn’t arrive in the United States until 1987, and neonic use didn’t begin until the mid-1990s. But US honeybee colony numbers have been consistently in the 2.5-2.9 million range, with just a few dips to 2.4 million.
Varroamites are nasty threats largely because the American-European honeybee (unlike its Asian cousin) had no natural defenses against them. The mites bite into bees and bee larvae, feed on bee “blood,” and create pathways into bees for at least 19 viruses and diseases. Tracheal mites, Nosema intestinal fungi, parasitic phorid flies, the tobacco ring spot virus and other pests can also cause significant colony losses.
Beekeepers can accidentally kill entire hives, trying to address such problems, but professionals have become much better at getting treatments and doses right than have most hobbyist beekeepers.
As their name suggests, neonicotinoid pesticides are derived from synthetic nicotine.Some 90% are applied as seed coatings that dissolve and get absorbed into plant tissues as crops grow; they target and kill only pests that feed on the crops. Neonics also largely eliminate the need to spray with other insecticides that can easily harm bees and other beneficial insects.These innovative chemicals have nevertheless been targeted by anti-pesticide groups, and by organic food producers that themselves use various crop-protecting pesticides that are harmful or lethal to honeybees and wild bees.
Among those organic farm chemicals, pyrethrin pesticides are highly toxic to bees (in addition to being a likely human carcinogen. Nicotine sulfate can partially paralyze bee wings and legs, and can be poisonous to humans.Copper sulfate is highly toxic to bees, deadly to fish, and bio-accumulative in soil and water.
Changing agricultural and land-use practices, also play a role, including more houses, factories and highways replacing flowering trees and open fields of plants that provide pollen and nectar for bees.
However, when they see lurid photos of dead bees, people should understand that bees have very short lives. Exactly how long depends on their species and sex, the climate where they live, food availability, overall bee health in the hive – and what time of year bees emerge from their cell.
Queen bees can live 2-3 years, even 4 years or more; they lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Male drone bees live several months during warm weather, but die after mating with a queen, because their reproductive organs are ripped from their bodies in the process! Female worker bees live only 4-6weeks, because foraging for food takes them miles every day and wears their bodies out quickly; they live up to 20 weeks in the winter, when their job is keeping the hive warm.
Average honeybee colonies hit peak population counts of 50,000-60,000 in June – but those numbers plummet rapidly in autumn, as flowers disappear and cold weather sets in. So dead bees in and around hives is normal (but excellent fodder for fear-mongering).
As to “colony collapse disorder” (sometimes called “disappearing disorder”), major bee die-offs were reported in Ireland as far back as950 AD! The first recorded US case of worker bees suddenly abandoning hives full of honey occurred in1869; researchers reported25 significant bee die-offs between that one and 2003. The causes are unknown, but die-offs are not unprecedented.
Of course studies have purported to demonstrate the toxicity of neonics. But many were conducted in laboratories, using doses and application methods that bear no relation to what farmers do or what bees experience in the real world, where they might encounter neonic levels in pollen and nectar measured in parts per billion or trillion: the equivalent of a few seconds in 32 or 32,000 years, respectively.
Multiple field studies– in actual farmers’ fields –have consistently shown no adverse effects on honeybees at the colony level from realistic exposures to neonics. In fact ,bees thrive in and around neonic-treated corn and canola crops in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere.
So it was highly surprising that a 2017 article in the respected journal Science claimed that two years of field studies in three countries showed exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides reduced the ability of honeybees and wild bees to survive winters and establish new populations and hives the following year. The article generated a fury of I-told-you-so declarations from the likes of Greenpeace and Pesticide Action Network. But it’s no longer available online.
Perhaps that’s because, as I explained in my own detailed assessment, the authors violated multiple guidelines for scientific integrity. Not only did their own data contradict their primary claim; they kept extensive data outo f their analysis and incorporated only what supported their conclusions. That’s fraud.
When all the missing and doctored data were examined, of the258separate honeybee statistical data analyses involved in the study, 238 found no effects on bees from neonics and 7 found beneficial effects from the pesticide! Only 9 (a mere 3 percent) found harmful impacts, while 4 had insufficient data.
It’s vital that we protect our honeybees, bumblebees and wild bees. But that means understanding history, science, modern agriculture and bee life expectancy – so that we are not so easily snookered by lurid tales of bee Armageddon, and we don’t do more harm than good, for the best of intentions.
My teacher told us, that whenever a bee stings you and leaves her stinger in your skin, the bee dies. From that time on I respected the bees and left them alone and I was never stung again.
Back in the 1960s and 70s, every time we had any food, especially sweet drinks, outside, there were bees around.
Now, none. There are bumblebees (not very many) and wasps but I rarely see honey bees.
There is a lot of that.
Bee colony collapse
Lemmings -- remember when they were considered suicidal? They're not.
Climate Change
DDT
COVID
I think people need to stop respecting science so much. This whole "settled science" and "follow the science" -- that is language of manipulation, not science.
And I'll just throw out my feeling that "Evolution" is, in my opinion, about as well understood as Climate Change. But anyone who questions Evolution -- anyone who questions man-made Climate Change -- is a "nut". Because we should never question Scientists. I mean, they're scientists, right?
I know where all the honeybees are- the 5 big holly bushes in my yard! You step outside and all you can hear is the hum.
Many of us do not realize the extent of the use of organic pesticides.
You need to spend some time reading and in the field
Your understanding of evolution is minimal
Queen bees can live 2-3 years, even 4 years or more; they lay up to 2,000 eggs per day. Male drone bees live several months during warm weather, but die after mating with a queen, because their reproductive organs are ripped from their bodies in the process! Female worker bees live only 4-6weeks, because foraging for food takes them miles every day and wears their bodies out quickly; they live up to 20 weeks in the winter, when their job is keeping the hive warm.
—
Sounds like the Great Reset society planned by Leftists.
When someone says follow the science they are counting on you really don’t know any science but agree to what ever they said for fear of looking stupid.
‘But anyone who questions Evolution — anyone who questions man-made Climate Change — is a “nut”.’
plenty of people have questions about macroevolution; what plenty of people don’t do is reject its concepts just because they have questions...
Canola??? Canola crops??? I see canola and canola crops mentioned twice.
Since when does a canola plant even exist?
I looked up canola oil about 10 years ago, people were telling me it’s the best oil to use, yada yada, as if it were the best thing since peanut butter.
Naturally I was suspicious, absolutely nothing advertised by corporate America in the past 50 years as being he greatest thing yet has been oriented toward our better health or in our better interest.
So I found out canola oil was pressed from the seeds of the rapeseed plant, which was originally used as an industrial lubricant and an insecticide, being poisonous. And there was no such thing as a canola plant. That was specifically mentioned in most of the articles I read, there is no such plant.
It was named canola because it was developed in Canada, (can) and their word for oil is “ola”, (ola), put it together and you get canola. An invented name for an invented oil.
Rapeseed was genetically modified to reduce the amount of poisonous compounds, and genetically modified again later by Monsanto to make it resistant to Roundup. It’s also then hydrogenated, making it just as bad as any other hydrogenated oil you might use.
Now I find out there is actually such a thing as a canola plant, sometime in the past 10 - 15 years or so they have decided to split it off and make it a plant of its own, not even calling it rapeseed any more, now they call it a relative of rapeseed, not telling you it’s a genetically invented plant.
Insane...I’ve refused to touch canola oil since I looked it up years ago, anything derived from a poisonous plant then genetically modified is not a good idea. I use olive and sunflower oils, beginning to use coconut oil in some cases, it seems to be better than most commercially processed cooking oils too.
Varroa is a massive problem. Colony counts reflected in the article are net, but colonies losses are averaging 40-50% each year due to the mites and the related viruses. There’s a hellova lot of work and expense to maintain the net counts.
My mom told us the same thing but more succinctly;
"Don't bother them and they won't bother you."
I use olive oil exclusively. Except when deep frying...which is about once per year. Then I use corn oil.
Aren’t honeybees an invasive species?
I was alarmed by the so-called bee colony collapse a few years ago - there was a huge display and “expert” at the local county fair who was pretty good at fear mongering.
After that, I planted a bee garden in the far corner of my back yard, with specific bee-friendly flowering plants.
It’s flowering now and I’m getting a few bees - but nothing like when my citrus trees flower, they are covered with bees, but the grand champion is when my eucalyptus trees flower, which is not every year - the branches quake from so many bees. I also get a lot of bees in my angel trumpet’s flowers - which are very poisonous - and wonder if those bees are making honey with the pollen?
Doing my part to make sure there are a lot of bees.
Exactly.
The introduction of foreign bees brought the Varroa mite to the US. Our bees carry Nosema Ceranae but have built up a natural defense. When their systems have to fight off both, it overwhelms their natural defenses and results in stunted, deformed bees. CCD occurs shortly thereafter.
Also, taking almost all of their honey and replacing it with HFCS from genetically modified corn has not helped. It does not contain the same nutritive value for growing bees.
You can only mess with God’s creations for so long before things go astray.
The rapeseed plant is not poisonous. It is widely eaten throughout Asia. The call it “Choi Sum” the king of vegetables. It is also known as one of the plants known as Chinese broccoli.
I live in the woods. Bees aplenty! Can bees get COVID? Asking for a friend. /s
I use olive oil a lot, look into sunflower oil. It’s pretty good too, might be better than olive, and can handle higher temperatures. Coconut oil seems to be good too, but IHaven’t done a lot of looking, need to do that. A quick search turned up some intresting info, coconut oil can be used for anything that calls for butter, but I dont think it can handle the temps sunflower oil can. Sunflower oil works well, I’ve used it for the past 5 years or so, the only time I use olive oil now is for pizza and italian recipes.
Coconut also has other uses I knew nothing about. No chapstick? Coconut oil works well, and is being used in some of the lip balms now. Looks like it’s the only oil I’ve seen that is not only not detrimental, but might actually be good for you. Can be used as a sexual lubricant too, if one is needed. (I’ve had a couple of girlfriends who would have loved to know that. It’s not fun when she’s bone dry...)
Definitely look into both, sunflower and coconut, the info I’ve found indicates they might be the best two available. And olive oil is pretty good too. I won’t touch canola, worst crap you can ever use. I try to avoid soybean oil, it’s not great, and any hydrogenated oil is not a good idea. Hydrogenated vegetable oil is what actually causes heart disease, not cholesterol.
Hydrogenated vegetable oil was originally used as an ingeredient in paint, varnish and putty, because it hardens on exposure to oxygen, including the oxygen in your bloodstream. The companies that made it thught they needed to sell more but were too cheap to pay for the research, which is usually done on pigs, because their body physiology is close to ours.
Some enterprising salesman got the idea to sell it to the pig farmers, then just send out the researcher to check the pigs, rather than payng for the building, group of researchers, pigs, feed etc.
all was going well, the pigs were getting fat as hell and ready to take to the maret earlier, when they started dying from cancer and heart attacks. The researcher found it was the hydrogenated vegetable oil doing it. Ha later admmitted in court to accepting a bribe to change his paperwork and blame it on cholesterol. And now we have every doctor in the country squealing about cholesterol, which is actually not the problem.
When I first looed it up, my curiosity got to me, I found an article by a doctor who was previously ship’s doctor on the space shuttle. His regular twice a year checkup showed high cholesterol, his doctor put him on Lipitor, I think it was. A couple of weeks later he suddenly lost half a day of his memory, one of the undocum=ent3ed side afects of statins, and got off the lipitor.
Six months later his doctor did the same thing, and put him on haldf dosage. He lost his memory again and threw the stuff away, and started researching. His other job on the space shuttle was researching the long term afects of zero gravity on the huiman body, he knows how to do the research.
He said he was “appalled at how little my fellow doctors actually know about cholesterol”.
He found that cholesterol is not the problem, hydrogenated vegetable oil is. Cholesterol is required for the brain to function properly, foro the skin to transform sunlight into vitamin D, and for every cell in your body to form strong cell walls.
Required for the brain to function properly - I now wonder if anyone has even tought about plugging that into their research into Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons and dementia.
Low cholesterol - Institutional studies in jails, etc have found that low cholesterol is definitely related to things like depression, suicidal and violent tendencies, and a number of psychological and emotional disorders.
High cholesterol has been found to be related to - absolutely nothing. Not even heart diease or heart attacks. Several studies have shown that autopsies of 1000 people or more who died from heart attacks showed 60 to 65% had normal or low cholesterol levels, not high. If it causes heart attacs, I would expect to see 80% had high levels. Nope, it’s the opposite.
Not one study done since the 50’s has proven a definite link between heart attacks and cholesterol. Not one.
That’s what got me into checking out some of the oils used in cooking, digging into the cholesterol scam. Now it’s the 2nd greatest scam ever perpetrated on the American people, coronavirus just took 1st place.
Oh, one other note...years later, I can’t find half the articles I originally looked up. Seems many of them have been scrubbed of the web. Especially the story by the space shuttle doctor, I looked for it for a week...
They were also in the dining room wall of our house. They came back every year. For years, we tried to get somebody out here to get them out. Every May, the hive would get so big that it would split and half fly away and establish a new hive. You always knew when they were getting ready to swarm because you could hear them in our dining room! Finally, last year, a beekeeper came and got them and told us how to humanely prevent them from coming back into our house. So far, this year, we have not had a problem. We did our part to contribute to saving the bees!
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