Bees

Monsanto’s Seedy Legacy (Video)

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YouTube Added: 26.06.2012 von RTAmerica

Description:

Agricultural giant Monsanto is best known for their production of pesticides and genetically modified foods, but they have a controversial history as a chemical company with a slew of toxic cover ups. In addition to their battle against small farmers, the
newest buzz about the corporation is the speculation that their GM seeds are linked to the die off of bees. Abby Martin of RT brings us more on their seedy practices and what they are up to now.

France Bans Syngenta Pesticide Linked To Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

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See also:

– Illinois Government Secretly Destroys Beekeeper’s Bees And 15 Years Of Research Proving Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Bees

– Study: EPA-Approved GMO Insecticide Responsible For Killing Off Bees, Contaminating Entire Food Chain

– BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows

Flashback: Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

– France bans Syngenta pesticide linked to bee decline (Farmers Weekly, June 8, 2012):

The French government has banned a pesticide linked to the decline of bees that is widely used to treat oilseed rape.

Cruiser OSR, which contains the neonicotinoid insecticide thiamethoxam, was banned for use on oilseed rape by the French Ministry of Agriculture.

Made by the Swiss agrichemical company Syngenta, Cruiser OSR is a seed treatment, which is coated onto the rape seeds.

The decision to ban Cruiser follows two studies earlier this year, in the UK and France, which found evidence that neonicotinoids contain chemicals that disorientate bees and prevent them from finding their way back to hives, causing colony collapse disorder.

Read moreFrance Bans Syngenta Pesticide Linked To Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Illinois Government Secretly Destroys Beekeeper’s Bees And 15 Years Of Research Proving Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Bees

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Flashback: Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

– Illinois Department of Agriculture secretly destroys beekeeper’s bees and 15 years of research proving Monsanto’s Roundup kills bees (Natural News, May 20, 2012):

An Illinois beekeeper with more than a decade’s worth of expertise about how to successfully raise organic, chemical-free bees is the latest victim of flagrant government tyranny. According to the Prairie Advocate, Terrence “Terry” Ingram of Apple River, Ill., owner of Apple Creek Apiaries, recently had his bees and beehives stolen from him by the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDofA), as well as more than 15 years’ worth of research proving Monsanto’s Roundup to be the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) destroyed.

It began last summer when Ingram, who teaches children about natural beekeeping, gave a sample of his honeycomb to IDofA inspector Susan Kivikko (http://www.agr.state.il.us/programs/bees/inspectors.html) at a beekeeper’s picnic. Ingram explained that his bees would not touch the comb, and asked Kivikko if it could be tested for chemical contamination.

Read moreIllinois Government Secretly Destroys Beekeeper’s Bees And 15 Years Of Research Proving Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Bees

Study: EPA-Approved GMO Insecticide Responsible For Killing Off Bees, Contaminating Entire Food Chain

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Commentary:

The elitists want to collapse the entire financial system:

– No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente: The Entire Financial System Is Collapsing! – This Is FASCISM! (Video, March 26, 2012 )

Within 24 hours all supermarkets will be empty …

Flashback:

– USDA: No strategic grain reserves … they sold them!

– 20 Signs That A Horrific Global Food Crisis Is Coming

– Global Food Supply Chain Stretched to The Limit

– ‘The World Is Only One Poor Harvest Away From Chaos’

Our government is destroying the family farms:

– Obama Regime Seizes Control Over All Food, Farms, Livestock, Farm Equipment, Fertilizer And Food Production Across America Per Executive Order

– Total Insanity: Michigan Government Announces Plan To Destroy Ranch Livestock Based On Hair Color And Arrest Hundreds Of Ranchers As Felons (Video)

Around the time of the great depression some 30% of the American people were involved in agriculture. Now it is under 1%, thanks to technology etc. (Oh, the 1% again.)

Most Americans are completely unprepared and have food supplies for 3 days, 14 days at the most. That will be not enough to survive.

When the greatest financial collapse happens, the only thing most Americans will have is GUNS and AMMO.

Good luck!

Flashback:

– BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

Mike Adams (Natural News):

The chemical industry is destroying our planet. A population collapse of honeybee pollinators will almost immediately lead to a food supply collapse ending in mass starvation.

This scenario has already begun to unfold, and new science reveals that pesticide chemicals may be the root cause of the mass die-off of honeybees around the world:

– Study: EPA-approved GMO insecticide responsible for killing off bees, contaminating entire food chain (Natural News, April 09, 2012)

Early last year, leaked documents obtained by a Colorado beekeeper exposed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‘s (EPA) illegitimate approval of clothianidin, a highly-toxic pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience that the regulatory agency knew was capable of killing off bees (http://www.naturalnews.com/030921_EPA_pesticides.html). Now, a new study out of Purdue University in Indiana has not only confirmed, once again, that clothianidin is killing off bees, but also that clothianidin’s toxicity is systemic throughout the entire food chain, which could one day lead to the catastrophic destruction of the food supply.

The study, which was published in the online journal PLoS ONE, investigated the various methods and routes by which a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, which includes clothianidin, are harming honey bees. They discovered that both clothianidin and thiamethoxam, another component of neonicotinoid insecticides, persist in “extremely high levels” in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of crops treated with these insecticides, which runs contrary to industry claims that the chemicals biodegrade and are not a threat.

Read moreStudy: EPA-Approved GMO Insecticide Responsible For Killing Off Bees, Contaminating Entire Food Chain

Poland To Ban Monsanto’s GM Maize

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– Poland to ban Monsanto’s GM maize (AFP, April 4, 2012):

WARSAW — Poland will impose a complete ban on growing the MON810 genetically modified strain of maize made by US company Monsanto on its territory, Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki said Wednesday.

“The decree is in the works. It introduces a complete ban on the MON810 strain of maize in Poland,” Sawicki told reporters, adding that pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees.

On March 9, seven European countries — Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland and Slovakia — blocked a proposal by the Danish EU presidency to allow the cultivation of genetically-modified plants on the continent.

Seven days after that, France imposed a temporary ban on the MON810 strain.

Talks on allowing the growing of genetically-modified plants on EU soil are now deadlocked as no majority has emerged among the 27 member states.

Millions of Honey Bees Mysteriously Die in Florida

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Flashback:

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

– Millions of Bees Mysteriously Die in Florida (CBS Tampa, Sep. 30, 2011):

MICCO, Fla. (CBS Tampa/AP) – Florida officials are abuzz as to how millions of honey bees were killed in Brevard County.

Several beekeepers in the county have reported lost colonies this week. Charles Smith of Smith Family Honey Company told Stuart News Thursday he lost 400 beehives. He says the bees appeared to have been poisoned.

“I’ll never get completely compensated for this unless someone handed me 400 beehives,” Smith told Stuart News. “I lost the bees, the ability to make honey and the ability to sell the bees.”

Smith told Florida Today that he lost $150,000 from the incident.

Read moreMillions of Honey Bees Mysteriously Die in Florida

Healthy Beehives Thrive In Cities

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Flashback:

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

– Amid bee die-off, healthy hives thrive in cities (AP, July 29, 2011):

CHICAGO (AP) — Among the wildflowers and native grasses in the garden atop Chicago’s City Hall stand two beehives where more than 100,000 bees come and go in patterns more graceful, but just as busy, as the traffic on the street 11 stories below.

The bees are storing honey that will sustain them through the bitter winter and be sold in a gift shop just blocks away.

“Already this season, one hive has produced 200 pounds of surplus honey, which is really a huge amount of honey,” said beekeeper Michael Thompson after checking the hives one July morning. “The state average is 40 pounds of surplus honey per hive.”

The Chicago bees’ success could be due to the city’s abundant and mostly pesticide-free flowers. Many bee experts believe city bees have a leg up on country bees these days because of a longer nectar flow, with people planting flowers that bloom from spring to fall, and organic gardening practices. Not to mention the urban residents who are building hives at a brisk pace.

Beekeeping is thriving in cities across the nation, driven by young hobbyists and green entrepreneurs. Honey from city hives makes its way into swanky restaurant kitchens and behind the bar, where it’s mixed into cocktails or stars as an ingredient in honey wine.

Membership in beekeeping clubs is skewing younger and growing. The White House garden has beehives. The city of Chicago’s hives — nine in all, on rooftops and other government property — are just part of the boom.

“I’ve seen hives set up on balconies and in very, very small backyards,” said Russell Bates, a TV commercial director and co-founder of Backwards Beekeepers, a 3-year-old group that draws up to 100 mostly newcomers to its monthly meetings in Los Angeles.

The group is “backwards” because its members rely on natural, non-chemical beekeeping practices. All their hives are populated by local bees they’ve captured — or “rescued” as the group’s members like to say — from places they’re not wanted.

Read moreHealthy Beehives Thrive In Cities

Study Finds Cell Phones May Have Caused Mysterious Worldwide Bee Deaths

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Cellphone transmissions may be responsible for a mysterious, worldwide die off in bees that has mystified scientists.

Dr. Daniel Favre, a former biologist with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, carefully placed a mobile phone underneath a beehive and then monitored the reaction of the workers.

According to a story in The Daily Mail, the bees were able to tell when the handsets were making and receiving calls. They responded by making the high pitched squeaks that usually signal the start of swarming.

“This study shows that the presence of an active mobile phone disturbs bees — and has a dramatic effect,” Favre told the Daily Mail.

Favre believes this to be evidence of something other scientists have suggested: Signals from mobile phones are contributing to the decline of honeybees. Favre thinks more research could help confirm the link between cell signals and “colony collapse disorder” — the sudden disappearance of entire colonies over winter — which has halved the bee population, according to some estimates.

Read moreStudy Finds Cell Phones May Have Caused Mysterious Worldwide Bee Deaths

Scientists: Honeybees ‘Entomb’ Hives To Protect Themselves Against Pesticides

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Related info:

– U.N.: Decline of Honey Bees Now A Global Phenomenon

– Study: Pesticides Are ‘Killing Honeybee Population Worldwide’

– BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’ (!)

– Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!!!)

– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!!!)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.

Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.

By sealing up cells full of contaminated pollen, bees appear to be attempting to protect the rest of the hive


‘Entombed’ pollen is identified as having sunken, wax-covered cells amid ‘normal’, uncapped cells. Photograph: Journal of Invertebrate Pathology

Honeybees are taking emergency measures to protect their hives from pesticides, in an extraordinary example of the natural world adapting swiftly to our depredations, according to a prominent bee expert.

Scientists have found numerous examples of a new phenomenon – bees “entombing” or sealing up hive cells full of pollen to put them out of use, and protect the rest of the hive from their contents. The pollen stored in the sealed-up cells has been found to contain dramatically higher levels of pesticides and other potentially harmful chemicals than the pollen stored in neighbouring cells, which is used to feed growing young bees.

Read moreScientists: Honeybees ‘Entomb’ Hives To Protect Themselves Against Pesticides

U.N.: Decline of Honey Bees Now A Global Phenomenon

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Related information:

– Study: Pesticides Are ‘Killing Honeybee Population Worldwide’

– BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’ (!)

– Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!)

– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.

Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.


Bee colony collapse, once limited to Europe and America, is now being seen in Asia and Africa

The mysterious collapse of honey-bee colonies is becoming a global phenomenon, scientists working for the United Nations have revealed.

Declines in managed bee colonies, seen increasingly in Europe and the US in the past decade, are also now being observed in China and Japan and there are the first signs of African collapses from Egypt, according to the report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The authors, who include some of the world’s leading honey-bee experts, issue a stark warning about the disappearance of bees, which are increasingly important as crop pollinators around the globe. Without profound changes to the way human beings manage the planet, they say, declines in pollinators needed to feed a growing global population are likely to continue.

The scientists warn that a number of factors may now be coming together to hit bee colonies around the world, ranging from declines in flowering plants and the use of damaging insecticides, to the worldwide spread of pests and air pollution.

Read moreU.N.: Decline of Honey Bees Now A Global Phenomenon

20,000 Bees Die Within 48 Hours In Canadian Museum

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Ottawa – A Canadian museum launched an investigation on Friday into the sudden death of 20 000 bees on display in a glass encased hive.

“All 20 000 bees died within 48 hours,” Amanda Fruci, publicist for the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, told AFP.

“The cause is being investigated but we know for sure that it wasn’t colony collapse syndrome because that involves bees leaving a hive and never coming back, and in this case they all died in the hive.”

In normal times, bee communities naturally lose around five percent of their numbers.

But with the syndrome known as colony collapse disorder (CDD), a third, half – sometimes even 90% or all – of the insects can be wiped out.

Read more20,000 Bees Die Within 48 Hours In Canadian Museum

Study: Pesticides Are ‘Killing Honeybee Population Worldwide’

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Related information:

– BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’ (!)

– Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!)

– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.

Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.


Dying? Honeybees are being wiped out by new pesticides that have left them far more vulnerable to disease, the top U.S. bee expert has warned

A new generation of pesticides could be are to blame for Britain’s vanishing honeybees, a study has shown.

The chemicals, which are routinely used on farms and garden centres, attack the central systems of insects and make bee colonies more vulnerable to disease and pests, researchers say.

The claims, which appear in an unpublished study carried out at the US Department of Agriculture’s Bee Research Laboratory, add to the evidence that pesticides are partly responsible for the mysterious decline of one of the world’s best loved insects.

Wildlife campaigners today called for urgent research into the links between the chemicals and the collapse of bee colonies around the world.

Scientists are baffled by Britain’s disappearing honeybees. Since the 1980s numbers have fallen by half.

The new study, led by Dr Jeffrey Pettis, one of the U.S.’s top bee experts, found that exposure to a class of pesticides called neo-nicotinoids makes bees more susceptible to infection – even at doses too low to be detected in the creature’s bodies.

Read moreStudy: Pesticides Are ‘Killing Honeybee Population Worldwide’

BBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’

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Related information:

– Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!)

– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.

Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.

The saga of the British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) and its long-term pesticide endorsements is quite extraordinary. For 10 years, the BBKA has been giving its official blessing to four insecticides as “bee-friendly” or “bee-safe” – for example, the May 2001 newsletter BBKA News referred to “the BBKA’s endorsement of Fury as a bee-safe product”, while another piece in August 2005 said “the products we endorse are bee-friendly when used properly”.

Yet the active ingredients of these products, as shown above, are among the most deadly substances for bees existing on the planet.

Most rational people, with no axe to grind one way or another about bees or pesticides or anything else, would surely find this counter-intuitive as best; at worst, simply bonkers. Good old bee-safe Fury, eh, which contains cypermethrin, the second most toxic insecticide to honey bees out of 100 tested. No wonder it has produced fury among some beekeepers. What has been going on?

The more one goes into it, the more it becomes clear that there is a very comfortable relationship – the old word used to be “cosy” – between the fairly small group of senior beekeeping figures who run the BBKA as a self-perpetuating oligarchy, and the pesticide lobby, or as they would prefer to call it, the crop protection industry.

This is something which may skew judgement. One of the claims in the open letter sent to the association by independent beekeepers is that “the BBKA appears never to have issued any public statement that is critical of any pesticides or pesticide manufacturer”. That’s a sweeping statement, but it’s certainly the case, if you leaf through BBKA News, that pesticides are not viewed as a major problem.

This matters, because in the great decline of bees we have witnessed in recent years, culminating in the mysterious colony collapse disorder, a new generation of pesticides, the neonicotinoids, may be implicated, some claim. Yet some senior British beekeepers and scientists insist the matter is down to mites like varroa, or viruses like nosema, and say pesticides have nothing to do with it.

Read moreBBKA Betrayed Bee Keepers To Pesticide Lobby, Endorsed The Most Deadly Substances For Bees Existing On The Planet As ‘Bee-Friendly’ Or ‘Bee-Safe’

Bumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

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Related information on honeybees:

– EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows (!)

– Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) (!)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide (or maybe GM plants) must be responsible for CCD.

Also living on refined white sugar and high-fructose corn syrup in winter certainly can kill any advanced life-form.

Disease and low genetic diversity might have caused US bumblebee decline over the past few decades, say scientists


Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and crops around the world. Photograph: RSPB/PA

The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades, according to the most comprehensive national census of the insects. Scientists said the alarming decline, which could have devastating implications for the pollination of both wild and farmed plants, was likely to be a result of disease and low genetic diversity in bee populations.

Bumblebees are important pollinators of wild plants and agricultural crops around the world including tomatoes and berries thanks to their large body size, long tongues, and high-frequency buzzing, which helps release pollen from flowers.

Bees in general pollinate some 90% of the world’s commercial plants, including most fruits, vegetables and nuts. Coffee, soya beans and cotton are all dependent on pollination by bees to increase yields. It is the start of a food chain that also sustains wild birds and animals.

Read moreBumblebees in Freefall, Study Shows 96 Percent Decline

‘Science Can Be Fun’: British 8-Year-Olds Publish Study In Top Science Journal

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Related information:

– British eight-year-olds publish study in top science journal (AFP)

– Kids’ bee study published in science journal (CBC News)

– Children’s bee study makes it to Royal Society journal (BBC News)


A bumblebee collecting pollen of a cherry blossom. A group of British children aged between eight and 10 had their school project on bees published by the prestigious Royal Society in a world scientific first, the society said Wednesday.

A group of British children aged between eight and 10 had their school project on bees published by the prestigious Royal Society in a world scientific first, the society said Wednesday.

The pupils from Blackawton primary school in the southwestern English county of Devon investigated how bumblebees see colours and patterns using a series of experiments in a local churchyard.

The findings by the 25 children, drawn up with a scientist who lives in the area, have been published in Biology Letters, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Royal Society.

“The field of insect colour and pattern vision is generally poorly understood and the findings reported by the school children represent a genuine advance in the field,” the Royal Society said in a statement.

The headmaster of the school, Dave Strudwick, said his pupils “devised, conducted and wrote up an experiment which resulted in genuinely novel findings, so they deserve to be published.”

The children used patterns drawn with coloured pencil to see whether the insects would go for sugar water and avoid salt water.

“We discovered that bumblebees can use a combination of colour and spatial relationships in deciding which colour of flower to forage from. We also discovered that science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before,” they concluded in the paper.

editor Brian Charlesworth said their paper was a “world first in high quality scientific publishing.”

The study can be read at http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056.abstract

December 22, 2010

Source: Physorg.com (Watch the 17min. video!)

EPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows

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And those government traitors also approved a pesticide that is used to induce cancer in lab animals:

– California Approves One Of The World’s Most Dangerous Cancer Chemicals As Pesticide

And your government finishes off local and organic farming and you won’t be allowed to save your seeds:

– And Now: Democrats Pull Fast One With S. 510 Food Safety Bill

Recommended reading:

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

Yes, organic bees survive CCD, which almost proves that a pesticide must be responsible for CCD.

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined–electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.

The document, which was leaked to a Colorado beekeeper, shows that the EPA has ignored warnings about the use of clothianidin, a pesticide produced by Bayer that mainly is used to pre-treat corn seeds. The pesticide scooped up $262 million in sales in 2009 by farmers, who also use the substance on canola, soy, sugar beets, sunflowers, and wheat, according to Grist.

The leaked document (PDF) was put out in response to Bayer’s request to approve use of the pesticide on cotton and mustard. The document invalidates a prior Bayer study that justified the registration of clothianidin on the basis of its safety to honeybees:

Clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (that is, honey bees). Clothianidin is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is both persistent and systemic. Acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis. Although EFED does not conduct RQ based risk assessments on non-target insects, information from standard tests and field studies, as well as incident reports involving other neonicotinoids insecticides (e.g., imidacloprid) suggest the potential for long-term toxic risk to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

The entire 101-page memo is damning (and worth a read). But the opinion of EPA scientists apparently isn’t enough for the agency, which is allowing clothianidin to keep its registration.

Read moreEPA Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees, Leaked Document Shows

Billons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

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Recommended reading:

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

bees-billions-of-colonies-die-worldwide
Catastrophic collapse: More than three million colonies in America and billions of bees worldwide have died since 2006

The world faces a future with little meat and no cotton because of a catastrophic collapse in bee colonies, experts have warned.

Many vital crops are dependent on pollination by honeybees, but latest figures show a third failed to survive the winter in the U.S.

More than three million colonies in America and billions of bees worldwide have died since 2006.

Pesticides are believed to be a key cause of a crisis known as Colony Collapse  Disorder (CDD), damaging bee health and making them more susceptible to disease.

But scientists do not know for certain and are at a loss how to prevent the disaster. Other potential factors include bloodsucking parasites and infections.

Some experts believe bees are heading for extinction.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the U.S. fell by 34 per cent last  winter, according to a survey by the country’s Agricultural Research Service,  and some commercial beekeepers have reported losses of more than 60 per cent over a year.

Read moreBillons Of Bee Colonies Die Worldwide

US: 34% Of Bee Colonies Did Not Survive The Winter; World May Be On The Brink Of Biological Disaster

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Recommended reading:

– Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

– Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

– Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe

honey-bee-collecting-pollen

Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.

The decline of the country’s estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.

Read moreUS: 34% Of Bee Colonies Did Not Survive The Winter; World May Be On The Brink Of Biological Disaster

Heavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

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What kills the bees will kill you too. Pesticides and all the other toxic chemicals that poison the food supply have been proven to cause Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and cancer in animals.

This is one of many reasons why I eat organic food.

Flashback: Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

New Study Shows Honeybees’ Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides.

Food and Farm Disappearing Bees
In this photo taken Monday, March 22, 2010, Workers, from left, Johan Du Preez, Susan Dupreez and Rouxle Crafford clear honey from dead bee hives at a bee farm east of Merced, Calif. The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees’ pollen and hives laden with pesticides. Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides already in use.
(AP)

MERCED, Calif. – The mysterious 4-year-old crisis of disappearing honeybees is deepening. A quick federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-off this winter, while a new study shows honeybees’ pollen and hives laden with pesticides.

Two federal agencies along with regulators in California and Canada are scrambling to figure out what is behind this relatively recent threat, ordering new research on pesticides used in fields and orchards. Federal courts are even weighing in this month, ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market.

And on Thursday, chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will tackle the issue of chemicals and dwindling bees in response to the new study.

Scientists are concerned because of the vital role bees play in our food supply. About one-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from apples to zucchini.

Read moreHeavy Honeybee Die-Off Continues; New Study Shows Pollen And Hives Laden With Pesticides

Bee pollen superfood boosts immune system function

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Bee collecting pollen

(NaturalNews) There are many superfoods that boost immune function, but few do it with as much potency as bee pollen. Through its unique combination of minerals, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes, bee pollen offers one of the most revitalizing natural superfoods in the world (especially when collected from local bees who are in tune with your local environment).

We’ve put together a collection of research for you here, describing the health benefits of bee pollen. NaturalNews reminds everyone to be mindful when consuming bee products due to the very high stresses already placed on honeybees in North America and Europe. Make sure your source practices organic bee farming and does not expose honeybees to high-fructose corn syrup or other chemicals that may be harmful to bee populations.

Bee pollen and your immune system

Bee pollen has been used throughout history as a superfood to restore energy and recuperative powers to the ailing individual. Bee pollen improves allergies in many individuals, and hence may have a regulating effect on the immune system by helping to dampen unnecessary autoimmune attacks which saves immune warriors for the real cancer battle. There is no toxicity to bee pollen. Other bee products with extraordinary healing properties include royal bee jelly and propolis, which is the antibiotic compound used by bees to disinfect their hives before occupation.
– Beating Cancer with Nutrition, book with CD by Patrick Quillin, PhD,RD,CNS

While the effects are not so dramatic for everyone with arthritis, bee pollen is used by natural healthcare practitioners around the world to help alleviate arthritis symptoms. Energy Boost: Bee pollen is a popular supplement among many athletes, who report that it helps them train hard and recover quickly. Many athletes report that it helps increase stamina. Immune Support: Bee pollen is reported to help strengthen the immune system. People susceptible to reoccurring colds and respiratory tract infections may be helped.
– The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies: Proven Medical Remedies That Medical Doctors Don’t Know About by Mark Stengler, N.D.

Bee pollen has more amino acids and vitamins than other amino-acid-containing products like beef, eggs, or cheese. Bee pollen is one of the few vegetable sources of vitamin B12 (Scheer 1992). A tablespoonful of bee pollen contains about 45 calories and is 15% lecithin (which is required for normal fat metabolism) by weight (Kamen 1991).
– PDR for Herbal Medicines, 4th Edition by Thomson Healthcare, Inc.

Read moreBee pollen superfood boosts immune system function

Study: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

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There are multiple reasons for the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Here is another one from Germany:

Honey Bees starve to death in the middle of summer.

“The bees in Germany suffer of food deprivation in the middle of summer and would die of hunger, if they would not be kept alive with sugared water. Food scarcity in nature is dramatic,” …

German article:

Honigbienen verhungern mitten im Sommer

“Die Honigbienen in Deutschland leiden mitten im Sommer an Futtermangel und würden verhungern, wenn sie nicht vom Imker mit Zuckerwasser am Leben erhalten würden.  „Der Futtermangel in der Natur ist dramatisch“  erklärt Imkermeister Günter Friedmann, Sprecher der biodynamischen Demeter Imker und Träger des Förderpreises ökologischer Landbau. Beobachtungen an seinen eigenen Bienenvölkern und beunruhigende Meldungen von Imkerkollegen aus ganz Deutschland, veranlassen ihn, jetzt einen Alarmruf zu starten..„ Wenn nicht rasch ein Umdenken  und ein neues Handeln in der Landwirtschaft erfolgt, werden wir stumme Sommer erleben – und sehen, dass die Bienen für die Bestäubung und damit auch für die Ernten unersetzlich sind“.

“Friedmann ist seit 30 Jahren Berufsimker, aber „ mit einer solchen Situation wurde ich noch nie konfrontiert“ betont er,“ obwohl sich diese Entwicklung eigentlich seit mehreren Jahren anbahnt und auch zu den Bienenverlusten der letzten Jahre beigetragen hat“ Nach der Rapsblüte, Mitte bis Ende Mai, beginnt für die Bienen in vielen Regionen Deutschlands eine Zeit des Mangels und oft auch des Hungerns. Gerade in den Jahren, in denen es aus dem Wald keinen Honig zu gewinnen gibt, wird deutlich, dass auf den Feldern und Wiesen mittlerweile zu wenig blüht, um den Insekten ausreichend Nahrung zu bieten.”

Full article: Naturkost

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A new study shows that heat can produce a potentially toxic substance in high-fructose corn syrup that can kill honeybees and may also threaten human health.

Researchers have established the conditions that foster formation of potentially dangerous levels of a toxic substance in the high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) often fed to honey bees. Their study, which appears in ACS’ bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, could also help keep the substance out of soft drinks and dozens of other human foods that contain HFCS. The substance, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), forms mainly from heating fructose.

In the new study, Blaise LeBlanc and Gillian Eggleston and colleagues note HFCS’s ubiquitous usage as a sweetener in beverages and processed foods. Some commercial beekeepers also feed it to bees to increase reproduction and honey production. When exposed to warm temperatures, HFCS can form HMF and kill honeybees. Some researchers believe that HMF may be a factor in Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease that has killed at least one-third of the honeybee population in the United States.

The scientists measured levels of HMF in HFCS products from different manufacturers over a period of 35 days at different temperatures. As temperatures rose, levels of HMF increased steadily. Levels jumped dramatically at about 120 degrees Fahrenheit. “The data are important for commercial beekeepers, for manufacturers of HFCS, and for purposes of food storage. Because HFCS is incorporated as a sweetener in many processed foods, the data from this study are important for human health as well,” the report states. It adds that studies have linked HMF to DNA damage in humans. In addition, HMF breaks down in the body to other substances potentially more harmful than HMF.

Read moreStudy: ‘High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Its Toxicity to the Honey Bee’

China honey might be contaminated with dangerous, extremely toxic, banned antibiotic

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Honey is the latest Chinese food import to raise safety worries in the United States, reports the San Francisco Gate. According to the report, the United States has imported the majority of its honey from China for years, despite concerns that it might be contaminated with a dangerous antibiotic.

Read moreChina honey might be contaminated with dangerous, extremely toxic, banned antibiotic

Summer has been one of Alaska’s coldest

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High temperatures this season were 3rd lowest on record

Summer is officially over in Alaska, and if you got out in the sun to enjoy both days of it you were lucky.

Those were the two July days the temperature at the offices of the National Weather Service in Anchorage hit 70 degrees or better.

Read moreSummer has been one of Alaska’s coldest

Beans may be off the menu due to fewer bumblebees

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Richard Lees inspects his crop of broad beans which are not showing any signs of developing pods.

A LACK of bees may be blamed for the failure of bean crops in Selkirk gardens, writes Sally Gillespie. Although gardener Richard Lees of The Loan has not yet given up on his broad beans, he says the signs are not good.

“All the plants are fine – they couldn’t be better, the flowers are fine, but there are no beans. It’s too early to say it’s a failure yet, but I don’t like the look of it,” he told The Wee Paper this week.

Read moreBeans may be off the menu due to fewer bumblebees

Organic Bees Surviving Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)

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I know this won’t come as a surprise to many of our readers, nor to the many organic beekeepers that have been commenting on our posts, but there have been several reports of organic bee colonies surviving where the ‘industrial’ bee colonies are collapsing. Here is the latest to come to my attention:

Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic beekeeper from Prince Edward Island…. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:

I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies.

Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site, where Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world right on the top page:

Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I’m happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won’t hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.

This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I’ve gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren’t aware, and I wasn’t for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I’ve measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.

Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support? Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?

These are important questions to ask. It is not an uncommonly held opinion that, although this new pattern of bee colony collapse seems to have struck from out of the blue (which suggests a triggering agent), it is likely that some biological limit in the bees has been crossed. There is no shortage of evidence that we have been fast approaching this limit for some time.

We’ve been pushing them too hard, Dr. Peter Kevan, an associate professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario, told the CBC. And we’re starving them out by feeding them artificially and moving them great distances. Given the stress commercial bees are under, Kevan suggests CCD might be caused by parasitic mites, or long cold winters, or long wet springs, or pesticides, or genetically modified crops. Maybe it’s all of the above… – InformationLiberation

That’s funny – that’s just what I said…

Let’s hear it for the natural/organic beekeepers out there! I hope this CCD incident will reinforce that natural systems respond far better to imitation and cooperation than reductionist arbitrary control. Work within the system, observe and learn. There’s a lot more to nature than meets the eye, or the microscope.

You Tube has removed the VIDEO

Further Reading:

May 15, 2007

Source: Celsias