A Last (Chemical) Gasp for Bees?

saltwn · #1 (**permalink**) 05-26-2012, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Colony collapse disorder threatens food crops valued at $15 billion a year. New research says farm chemicals put our food system at risk.

ewly published scientific evidence is bolstering calls for greater regulation of some of the world’s most widely used pesticides and genetically modified crops.

Earlier this year, three independent studies linked agricultural insecticides to colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that leads honeybees to abandon their hives.

Beekeepers have reported alarming losses in their hives over the last six years. The USDA reports the loss in the United States was about 30 percent in the winter of 2010-2011.

Bees are crucial pollinators in the ecosystem. Their loss also impacts the estimated $15 billion worth of fruit and vegetable crops that are pollinated by bees in the United States.

fox watches hen house

Quote:

The studies, conducted in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, all pointed to neonicotinoids, a class of chemicals used widely in U.S. corn production, as likely contributors to colony collapse disorder. The findings challenged the EPA’s position - based on studies by Bayer CropScience, a major producer of the neonicotinoid clothianidin - that bees are only exposed to small, benign amounts of these insecticides.

The new studies found that bees are exposed to potentially lethal amounts of neonicotinoids in pollen and in dust churned up by farm equipment. They also found that exposure to neonicotinoids can reduce the number of queen bees and disorient worker bees.

An alliance of beekeepers and environmental groups filed a petition on March 21 asking the EPA to block the use of clothianidin in agricultural fields until the EPA conducts a sound scientific review of the chemicals.

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I feel like having a Lewis Black moment here and hollering, "F*ckers, f*ckers, F*CKERS!!!"

not like the muther flockers don't know depollenization will kill the whole planet.
So I think I will,
"F*ckers!!!"

faithful_servant · #2 (**permalink**) 05-26-2012, 05:22 PM

The last time I talked to my BIL, he had added 7 new hives in one year from collecting swarms. He's making the best honey in the state of Oregon (therefore the best honey in the world). According to my BIL, CCD is a localized and WAY over-reported condition that's ALWAYS occurred from time to time. Keep in mind that he's just an amatuer bee-keeper who's been doing this for about 10 years now and has always been successful at it, so I'm sure that he doesn't know a whole lot about bees. His opinion is that this nothing more than media hysteria, fueled by a bunch of beekeepers who are trying to jack up thier rates by making it sound like there's a crisis "because there aren't any other bees out there, so you better use my bees in your fields (at a small premium, since I'm now in such high demand)".

saltwn · #3 (**permalink**) 05-26-2012, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithful_servant

The last time I talked to my BIL, he had added 7 new hives in one year from collecting swarms. He's making the best honey in the state of Oregon (therefore the best honey in the world). According to my BIL, CCD is a localized and WAY over-reported condition that's ALWAYS occurred from time to time. Keep in mind that he's just an amatuer bee-keeper who's been doing this for about 10 years now and has always been successful at it, so I'm sure that he doesn't know a whole lot about bees. His opinion is that this nothing more than media hysteria, fueled by a bunch of beekeepers who are trying to jack up thier rates by making it sound like there's a crisis "because there aren't any other bees out there, so you better use my bees in your fields (at a small premium, since I'm now in such high demand)".

Are you seriously telling me you don't believe there is a bee shortage?
I haven't seen a bumble bee in awhile. I have friends who used to collect and keep bees also and whole varieties are either under populated or just gone. Many places the wasps and other bee varieties have kicked in to pollinate. There's a whole village in Asia somewhere we read awhile back goes out with long reeds or something and pollinates their crops because there are no bees there anymore.

faithful_servant · #4 (**permalink**) 05-26-2012, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltwn

Are you seriously telling me you don't believe there is a bee shortage?
I haven't seen a bumble bee in awhile. I have friends who used to collect and keep bees also and whole varieties are either under populated or just gone. Many places the wasps and other bee varieties have kicked in to pollinate. There's a whole village in Asia somewhere we read awhile back goes out with long reeds or something and pollinates their crops because there are no bees there anymore.

You see I work off oninput from experts, you work off cherry-picked stories you find on the internet. 3-4 years ago everyone was predicting the collapse o four agricultural system because of a bee shortage, yet that never happened. Do you want to know why?? Because the whole bee shortage story was a media fabrication.

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