To Bee Or Not To Bee Part Deux
In Aug 05, prior to the epidemic, we indentified what we believe to be the cause for what would later become known as CCD or Colony Collapse Disorder.
"The DNA of bacteria and yeast taken from bees' guts contained the same modified genes as those added to the plants whose pollen the bees had fed on.
In April 07, we discussed the CCD epidemic which threatens 33% of world food production at length in To Bee Or Not To Bee.
An update on the situation and some validation for our position that GM crops are at the root of the cause.
In France, Colony Collapse Disorder has been linked to a pesticide, though there has been no definitive conclusion.
The number of hives in France has plummeted to one million in 2003, from 1.45 million in 1996.
Between 1995 and 2001, the average production of honey went from 75 kg/hive down to 30 kg/hive.
The AFFSA (equivalent of the US FDA) indicate the national production went down from 40,000 tons to 25,000 tons per year.
Penn State University (PSU) recently issued a preliminary report to two outlets:
the Environmental Protection Agency (which some beekeepers refer to as the Environmental Polluting Agency) and Bayer Chemical Company.
Bayer, the German pharmaceutical and chemical company makes way more than chewable aspirin for children.
They have a crop science division that manufactures and sells pesticides. Their most popular product is Imidacloprid.
In 2006, sales of imidacloprid pesticides were somewhere near $756 million. That’s about 10 percent of the company’s $7.5 billion in total sales.
Imidacloprid (IMD) substances belong in a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids, “systemic” pesticides which when applied to seeds, are absorbed into and through the entire plant.
So when a bee feeds on the pollen or nectar it can get a dose of a neurotoxin that can effect the bees nervous and immune system.
Disoriented, they buzz around in a chemical fog and cannot make it back home. If a bee is away from the hive for about a day it will eventually die.
This pesticide was banned in France in 1999 for just this reason. Beekeepers suspected it was the culprit behind a 10 year die off of over 90 Billion bees.
All along Bayer refuted the alligators, citing and conducting various studies. Funny thing...
Bayer and BASF settled with the French beekeepers out of court over IMD (used on corn and sunflowers) and its substitute Fipronil.
Bayer then suddenly agreed that the insecticide may cause disorientation of bees at levels above 20 parts per billion of the active ingredient.
Recent studies by researchers at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) suggest that bee behaviour is affected at levels between 3-16 ppb or possibly even as low as 0.5 ppb.
Another problem with commercial operations is in pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites and antibiotics that are fed to the bees to prevent disease.
Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops,
which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs (genetically modified organics).
GMOs, chemicals and pesticides are also cited as possible causes in a University of Florida study.
One of the researchers, Jamie Ellis, points out that chemical use in bee hives, chemical toxins present in the environment and GMOs,
that can actually pass in their pollen and nectar the chemicals from the insecticide bath given to seeds prior to planting,
could produce a combined effect that stresses the immune systems of the bees making them more susceptible to parasitic infections.
Worse yet, IMD is far more common than realized and is sold as ‘Advantage’ and applied directly to the skin of dogs and cats to kill fleas.
Lets see now, a nicotine modeled substance to wipe on dogs and cats (to kill fleas) in households with children.
Isn't that special? Well at least the bees don't hang around the cats or dogs. At any rate...
we still maintain that the bees intestinal flora and bacteria has been altered by ingestion of the genetically modified pollens and toxins.
Causing digestive problems, immune supression and ultimately leading to a higher incidence of infection by parasite or virus.
And according to an insider, the PSU report states...
that they found pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in the pollen in high enough amounts to cause alarm. This may indicate that the food crop itself may be toxic.
This would not surprise The Nattering One, given that Bayer sells farmers the pesticide and proabably has a pharmaceutical to help humans with the symptoms of exposure.
The Nattering One muses... just like with Viagra & Avodart, they got ya comin and goin...
"The DNA of bacteria and yeast taken from bees' guts contained the same modified genes as those added to the plants whose pollen the bees had fed on.
In April 07, we discussed the CCD epidemic which threatens 33% of world food production at length in To Bee Or Not To Bee.
An update on the situation and some validation for our position that GM crops are at the root of the cause.
In France, Colony Collapse Disorder has been linked to a pesticide, though there has been no definitive conclusion.
The number of hives in France has plummeted to one million in 2003, from 1.45 million in 1996.
Between 1995 and 2001, the average production of honey went from 75 kg/hive down to 30 kg/hive.
The AFFSA (equivalent of the US FDA) indicate the national production went down from 40,000 tons to 25,000 tons per year.
Penn State University (PSU) recently issued a preliminary report to two outlets:
the Environmental Protection Agency (which some beekeepers refer to as the Environmental Polluting Agency) and Bayer Chemical Company.
Bayer, the German pharmaceutical and chemical company makes way more than chewable aspirin for children.
They have a crop science division that manufactures and sells pesticides. Their most popular product is Imidacloprid.
In 2006, sales of imidacloprid pesticides were somewhere near $756 million. That’s about 10 percent of the company’s $7.5 billion in total sales.
Imidacloprid (IMD) substances belong in a class of chemicals called neonicotinoids, “systemic” pesticides which when applied to seeds, are absorbed into and through the entire plant.
So when a bee feeds on the pollen or nectar it can get a dose of a neurotoxin that can effect the bees nervous and immune system.
Disoriented, they buzz around in a chemical fog and cannot make it back home. If a bee is away from the hive for about a day it will eventually die.
This pesticide was banned in France in 1999 for just this reason. Beekeepers suspected it was the culprit behind a 10 year die off of over 90 Billion bees.
All along Bayer refuted the alligators, citing and conducting various studies. Funny thing...
Bayer and BASF settled with the French beekeepers out of court over IMD (used on corn and sunflowers) and its substitute Fipronil.
Bayer then suddenly agreed that the insecticide may cause disorientation of bees at levels above 20 parts per billion of the active ingredient.
Recent studies by researchers at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) suggest that bee behaviour is affected at levels between 3-16 ppb or possibly even as low as 0.5 ppb.
Another problem with commercial operations is in pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites and antibiotics that are fed to the bees to prevent disease.
Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops,
which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs (genetically modified organics).
GMOs, chemicals and pesticides are also cited as possible causes in a University of Florida study.
One of the researchers, Jamie Ellis, points out that chemical use in bee hives, chemical toxins present in the environment and GMOs,
that can actually pass in their pollen and nectar the chemicals from the insecticide bath given to seeds prior to planting,
could produce a combined effect that stresses the immune systems of the bees making them more susceptible to parasitic infections.
Worse yet, IMD is far more common than realized and is sold as ‘Advantage’ and applied directly to the skin of dogs and cats to kill fleas.
Lets see now, a nicotine modeled substance to wipe on dogs and cats (to kill fleas) in households with children.
Isn't that special? Well at least the bees don't hang around the cats or dogs. At any rate...
we still maintain that the bees intestinal flora and bacteria has been altered by ingestion of the genetically modified pollens and toxins.
Causing digestive problems, immune supression and ultimately leading to a higher incidence of infection by parasite or virus.
And according to an insider, the PSU report states...
that they found pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in the pollen in high enough amounts to cause alarm. This may indicate that the food crop itself may be toxic.
This would not surprise The Nattering One, given that Bayer sells farmers the pesticide and proabably has a pharmaceutical to help humans with the symptoms of exposure.
The Nattering One muses... just like with Viagra & Avodart, they got ya comin and goin...
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