Posted on 03/16/2012 7:27:42 AM PDT by nuconvert
What was killing all those honeybees in recent years? New research shows a link between an increase in the death of bees and insecticides, specifically the chemicals used to coat corn seeds.
The study, titled "Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds," was published in the American Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology journal, and provides insight into colony collapse disorder.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It does sound like something from the X-files. I miss that show.
Farm insecticides has been killing bees since they started using insecticides. Back in the 80s if you put your bees on a farm the state would pay you if the bees go poisoned. Don’t know if they still do. Farming needs bees. But farming also kills bees.
I was talking to a bee keeper the other day and he said almond growers in California are bidding on bee keepers to bring their bees to their groves. So, there must be a shortage.
No natural mystery is ever considered truly solved until a solution that blames man is identified.
One of the other theories was that it was the Chinese-made hives and replacement parts, that is, the “wrong” plastic, as in toxic-to-bees was used.
At first, the news was that scientists suspected a virus, then a parasite, so what you’re saying does not surprise me. What *does* surprise me is this news about an insecticide. The next logical question being....
Now that is true, some people cannot get it in their little heads that your body does not break down food on the DNA level. If it did you would start mooing from drinking cows milk and if you eat a lot of fish you could grow gills. LOL
Monsanto is a scourge on global agriculture. It was only reasonable to assume that the problem would be located with them.
All I know is what I read a few years back. My brother has bee hives, we use the same produce for cattle, so I told him to put some in a little sugar water now and then. Since he is still giving me honey , I guess the little things are making it.
Actually, honey bees and carpenter bees are quite mild. They have to feel threatened before they’ll sting. Generally, they’ll just go about their business. It’s the yellowjacket wasps you have to watch out for. It seems like they’re spoiling for a fight.
This conclusion has zero to do with the scientific finding of this body of work. Coating of seeds as no relationship on whether the seeds are genetically modified or not. Genetic modification is a fair subject for discussion as I am sure it has in previous FR posts but the commercial use of these seed types predates the Obama years by a decade or two. I used the word “radical” solely to distinguish it from the natural selection for desirable traits that farmers have been doing since they planted the first seeds umpteen thousands of years ago (ex. using the healthiest/best yielding plants as seed corn for the next years crop).
, would be the same as vaccinating a person against an illness.
For me the carpenter bees are the really dangerous ones, because they drive me right up the ladder. (Armed with a syringe of DE and a bad attitude!)
There are multiple threats to honey bees. They’ve just recently discovered another one. A tiny fly lays its eggs inside a bees abdomen. The larva grows there until multiple flys emerge alien like killing it’s host.
I just lost the my 3rd of 3 hives last week. Mine showed signs of starvation though. I thought I had left them enough honey last fall and had even suplemented them a couple weeks ago. But I found a dead hive. Nothing more discouraging than a hive full of dead bees. Now i get to start from square one next month.
I hope so! I wish you, your brother, and his bees well. :-)
Carpenter bees have a different society from honey bees. The male carpenter bees have no stingers, even though it’s their job to protect the females. The males *look* very menacing and fly in all kinds of zig zag ways, or they’ll hover like little helicopters and stare you down. They will not hurt you. The females have stingers, and really have to be bothered for them to sting. One generation will live for only one year.
I try to learn about different creatures so I can deal with them in appropriate ways. The carpenter bees I’ve just left alone.
Is it possible for you to investigate as to the cause of death? This is so sad.
“One of the other theories was that it was the Chinese-made hives and replacement parts, that is, the “wrong” plastic, as in toxic-to-bees was used”
That wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
Except if they eat my upstairs porch out from under me, or I fall off the ladder while trying to kill them. More than one member of my family has taken their final ride on a stepladder.
While you are correct that GE corn’s use predates Obama, it is a well-known fact that Monsanto has close ties to this White House, and that the Administration is paving the way for the widespread approval other GE crops.
While the insecticide has much to do with the kill-off of the bee population, it’s also logical to conclude that crops that self-terminate such as GE corn also wreak havoc on the population of insects such as bees.
You sound as if you see nothing wrong with GMO crops. I suggest you do some more research.
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