Common crop pesticides kill honeybee larvae in the hive

Science Daily/Penn State ^ | 27 JAN 2014 | Sara LaJeunesse/Penn State materials

[onedoug]

Four pesticides commonly used on crops to kill insects and fungi also kill honeybee larvae within their hives, according to new research. Scientists also found that N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone -- an inert, or inactive, chemical commonly used as a pesticide additive -- is highly toxic to honeybee larvae.

[onedoug]

Potentially serious. Since aerial Malathion spraying over LA about 20 some years ago, we stopped seeing butterflies and honeybees for about 10-15 years, and ever now sightings are relatively rare. I suspect and fear big trouble for plant pollination unless their numbers rebound.

[fwdude]

Not to mention the wholesale napalming of entire cities for mosquitoes when West Nile Virus scares crop up. I have never seen such knee jerking in all my life. And I chalk it up to the suffocating culture of political correctness.

[sickoflibs]

When my tree blooms in Spring the bees go nuts over it, but they are wild bees ..

Wasps too.

[null and void]

Great. I was just about to buy some PRS-100 which is mostly N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone.

[Vigilanteman]

We didn't have this problem with DDT. My father both kept bees and sprayed DDT liberally.

No, the DDT wasn't sprayed on the hives. But it was sprayed on the cows when they came into the barn for milking or eating. It was part of the routine to stand by door, open it just far enough for the cows to file in single file, aim and spray it at their backside as they passed.

Our hives were no more than 100 yards from the barn on the other side of the cow pasture Our barn cats lived fat healthy lives on rodents which attempted to get at our grain supply and milk that we boys "accidentally" squirted at them while we were milking.

We also had barn swallows in each end of the barn every year. They produced healthy babies every year despite the concentration of DDT which must have been in that barn.

[muskah]

There are two errors in the first sentence of this article. Two of the 4 chemicals are NOT used on crops, but are placed in the hives by beekeepers to control mites that parasitize the bees. Mites are NOT insects, they are arachnids (related to ticks).

[rarestia]

The more I hear about DDT, the more I wonder why we aren’t using it anymore. I recall there was a big hub bub about it back in the 70s and 80s, but I was a wee lad at the time.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

You are right. But not all beekeepers use these harsh chemicals to control mites. Husband and I are hobbyist beekeepers and we avoid using these for mite control. Of course, we lose a lot of bees each year, but are willing to do that in order to have honey that is chemical free.

[Faith65]

20-25 years ago I would come home from work in the summer and see my butterfly garden full of butterflies- maybe 25- 30 of them. They would be on the butterfly bush or on the cone flowers, etc. Nowadays, I feel lucky to see 1 a week, maybe a dozen in total during the summer. And bees, lots of bees around our house....but they are nasty yellow jackets. I rarely see lightening bugs anymore either. As a kid, I remember seeing hundreds every night during the summer. Not anymore.....at least not in my area.

[Vigilanteman]

Nixon's new EPA chief banned DDT with the fillipant comment of “What's the use of being given power if you don't use it.” Dad stocked up on DDT sufficiently that we were still using it into the 1980s.

We had the healthiest cattle, bees, cats and barn swallows for miles around. Go figure.

As an added bonus, Mom and Dad raised six kids and not a single one of us grew up to be a bed wetting libtard. A pretty notable accomplishment when you realize all six of us got four year degrees, five of us earned graduate degrees and two of the five earned PhDs. Not bad for a father who grew up on a reservation.

[DJ MacWoW]

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

[Mase]

Whenever mass die offs are experienced (whether it's in plants, animals, or bees as in this case) the culprit will normally be a virus of some sort. In the case of bee colony collapse, it is mostly likely being caused by the tobacco ringspot virus or TRSV. They have found this virus present throughout the tissues of infected bees. This virus is probably being spread by mites. Making matter worse, the virus is a host shifting virus that can replicate itself in the body of the bee and then move from one species to another. I believe that host shifting is where most new infectious diseases come from.

Anyway, the pesticide theory of bee colony collapse may provide an easier explanation, but I don't think it will be determined as the cause once that determination is made. That fact will deeply sadden the anti-GMO Luddites.

[Resolute Conservative]

There is a rise in malaria in places like Panama after they banned DDT.

[crazycatlady]

Thanks for catching that.

[PowderMonkey]

When I was a boy, living in Central America, my father would come into my room each evening as I lay in bed, and fill the air with DDT from a manual pump sprayer. That controlled the malaria carrying mosquitoes. Then, he would fill the saucers placed under each leg of my bed with DDT to keep the scorpions and slugs at bay. Sometimes the sprayer trucks would pass by the house, and all the kids would chase it, playing in the clouds of DDT spray. Smelled great, and never hurt us.

[Black Agnes]

http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20140127/ddt-exposure-may-raise-alzheimers-risk-study

[Carriage Hill]

Some background:

http://spectator.org/articles/48925/ddt-fraud-and-tragedy

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/15583-ddt-breeds-death

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-truth-about-ddt-and-silent-spring

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

No, the DDT wasn't sprayed on the hives. But it was sprayed on the cows when they came into the barn for milking or eating.

We used to run behind the DDT spray truck in New Mexico back in 1956. It was cool on a hot day.

[Rebelbase]

I camped a few days this past summer in a remote national forest far from any agricultural areas and the honey bees were thick as flies.

[Rebelbase]

“We used to run behind the DDT spray truck in New Mexico back in 1956.”

Next to the the ice cream man the mosquito fogger trucks where I grew up had the same pied piper effect on the neighborhood kids.