Update on Honeybee Germans Emergency Suspension

[lovuian]

Got this info from a bee enthusiast like myself



Heres the Link

Unexplained Mass Die-Off Hits German Hives
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,552556,00.html


May 15, 2008 the German Federal Agency Orders Emergency Suspension of Pesticide Seed Dressings due to Honey Bee Collapse. This decision was made after a thorough examination of the current facts in light of the damage to honey bees in the south-western regions of Germany. For the BVL it was necessary to examine whether a relationship exists between the reported poisoning of bees and the planting of seeds treated with plant protection products. This is a very courageous act of Germany.

Germany has been loosing Bees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLZVJRaoQAk

It must have gotten worse

I know Britain has major losses and calling for emergency measures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUYgi1ePU2o

Hopefully its not too late I wonder what America will do???

[Mojorabbit]

1. This really worries me

and Germany has taken a good step. We need the bees.
On edit I found this article from the 12th.

German Beehives Hit by Mass Die-Off

Beekeepers are pointing the finger at a Bayer CropScience pesticide marketed under the name Poncho, but government tests aren't conclusive

by Andrew Curry


In Germany's bucolic Baden-Württemburg region, there is a curious silence this week. All up and down the Rhine river, farm fields usually buzzing with bees are quiet. Beginning late last week, helpless beekeepers could only watch as their hives were hit by an unprecedented die-off. Many say one of Germany's biggest chemical companies is to blame.

In some parts of the region, hundreds of bees per hive have been dying each day. "It's an absolute bee emergency," Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeeper's Association, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Fifty to 60 percent of the bees have died on average, and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."

The crisis hit its peak last weekend. Beekeepers from Germany's Baden-Württemburg reported hives full of thousands of dead bees. The worst-hit region, according to state officials, was along the upper Rhine river between the towns of Rastatt and Lorrach. The Rhine valley is one of Germany's prime agricultural regions.
more at link
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2008/gb20080512_795081.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories

[lovuian]

6. Does Monsanto Geo food have this pesticide in its DNA???

or is this all BAYER???

They are now saying the memory loss of the Bees can be hinting on why the increase in Autism and Altsheimers

and then soon a breakdown in our own immune systems

A bunch of us saw this coming and now that the Emergency is here so sad

[orleans]

10. i hate monsanto so much--i can't believe they are not helping to fuck things up. n/t

[anitar1]

2. I doubt america will do anything. Might upset Monsanto. n/t

[lovuian]

3. She sent me the article and link

here it is

Unexplained Mass Die-Off Hits German Hives
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,552556,00.html


By Andrew Curry

Bees in the German state of Baden-Württemburg are dying by the hundreds of thousands. In some places more than half of hives have perished. Government officials say the causes are unclear -- but beekeepers are blaming new pesticides.


AP
Bees in southern Germany have been dying off in their hundreds of thousands.
In Germany's bucolic Baden-Württemburg region, there is a curious silence this week. All up and down the Rhine river, farm fields usually buzzing with bees are quiet. Beginning late last week, helpless beekeepers could only watch as their hives were hit by an unprecedented die-off. Many say one of Germany's biggest chemical companies is to blame.
In some parts of the region, hundreds of bees per hive have been dying each day. "It's an absolute bee emergency," Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeeper's Association, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Fifty to 60 percent of the bees have died on average, and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."

The crisis hit its peak last weekend. Beekeepers from Germany's Baden-Württemburg reported hives full of thousands of dead bees. The worst-hit region, according to state officials, was along the upper Rhine river between the towns of Rastatt and Lorrach. The Rhine valley is one of Germany's prime agricultural regions.

Regional officials spent the week testing bees, pollen, honey and plant materials to look for the die-off's causes. The Julius Kühn Institute in Braunschweig, a federal research institute dealing with agricultural issues, set up a special hotline for beekeepers to send in dead bees for analysis.

Blaming the Pesticides

But on Friday, Baden-Württemburg Agriculture Minister Peter Hauk said scientists still weren't sure what was behind the disaster. "As long as the causes are still unclear, we must consider all the possible ways we can reduce the risks for the bees," Hauk said. Hauk encouraged beekeepers to move their hives outside the affected area to prevent further damage.

more...
Bayer is their own company talk about Karma

if its over 60% as this says
the Honeybee will go extinct in two years

they are totally screwed

[bluebellbaby]

4. "they are totally screwed"...is not quite correct...We All Are Totally Screwed

Talk about food shortages now...without bee pollination...we will starve...most of us will...including animals...

[lovuian]

5. Oh Sh*T more info about the Emergency

Below a quick and translation of the order German Federal order to suspend the pesticide approvals:
http://www.bvl.bund.de/nn_1004662/DE/08__PresseInfothek/01__InfosFuerPresse/01__PI__und__HGI/PSM/2008/PIZulassungRuhen.html

Federal consumer protection and food safety agency
Director of the Press Office:
Press Office • Mauerstraße 39-42 • 10117 Berlin Jochen Heimberg (ViSdP)
Phone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected] • www.BVL.Bund.de

PRESS
BVL orders the suspension of the approval for seed treatment products

The Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety yesterday,
May 15th 2008, due to the fact that recent calculations within the
approval procedure have provided new insights, ordered the suspension of
of the approval with immediate enforcement pursuant to Section 80
Paragraph 2, sentence 1 No. 4 VwGO for the following seed treatment
products:

-- Antarc, BVL registration number 4674-00
-- Chinook, BVL registration number 4672-00
-- Cruiser 350 FS, BVL registration number 4914-00
-- Cruiser OSR, BVL registration number 4922-00
-- Elado, BVL registration number 5849-00
-- Faibel, BVL registration number 4704-00
-- Mesurol liquid, BVL registration number 3599-00
-- Poncho, BVL registration number 5272-00

This decision was made after a thorough examination of the current facts
in light of the damage to honey bees in the south-western regions of
Germany. For the BVL it was necessary to examine whether a relationship
exists between the reported poisoning of bees and the planting of seeds
treated with plant protection products.

This examination revealed, that the distribution of insecticide-treated
seed with pneumatic drilling equipment constructed in a certain way
resulted in a higher exposure of bees, then the approval process
originally assumed.

New risk assessments, initiated because of the damage to bees and which
take this increased exposure into account, make it appear likely, that
it can not be ruled out, that the impact of this exposure will lead to
unacceptable effects on bees. In this context, the safety of the user in
the seeding process will be reviewed as well.

Because of these new findings, in order to avoid further damage to the
bees and to definitively clarify the relationship and possible further
impact on the environment we order for precautionary reasons until
further notice a suspension of registration.

Also the regional agencies responsible for advising on the use of plant
protection products have been informed immediately to inform the users
accordingly.

Background information on the suspension of authorisation

With the suspension of the licences no imports, no marketing and no
continued application of the plant protection products is permitted.

The same applies to Section 16e para 2 PflSchG also for plant protection
products for which a transport certificate with reference to any of the

Holy Moly this is going to get seriously interesting

[HCE SuiGeneris]

8. You are correct. We ALL are in this together. Very, very bad news

that is affecting the whole world. Damn scary. Monsanto, and the Frankenstein-like genetic manipulation needs to end now.

[mike_c]

7. there is very little support for this sort of thing among entomologists....

Here's some recent traffic from an entomological listserv:

CCD has been known to occur in organic bee operations as well as
in regions of the USA where neonicotinoid insecticides are not
commonly used as a seed treatment. Example: in western Montana
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/mussen/MarApr2008.pdf

Bee researchers such as Dr. Eric Mussen at UC Davis
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/facpage.cfm?id=mussen
who specialize in the effects of pesticides on bees havn't
noticed any link between neonicotinoid insecticide usage and CCD.
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/mussen/MarApr2008.pdf
Mussen wrote:

"Of all the things that may be involved in driving
colonies toward colony collapse, the best one that would fit this
"disorder spread" criteria would be a pathogen causing an
epidemic. Pesticides, malnutrition, toxic food, etc. are not likely
to affect the colonies in a "sweeping" or "rolling" fashion. That
sounds like a contagion moving through the colonies by drifting
bees. Remember, also, that when losses start occurring, that
is not when the contagion is sweeping through. That happened
weeks earlier, when all the bees looked healthy."

The general public,however, has been continually exposed to
articles that implicate pesticides as a cause of CCD or
wild honeybee declines.

It would be surprising to find that the neonic's uses as seed treatments
could find their way in sufficient concentration to poison a bee. The AIs
used are simply not that "hot," and it is concentration available to the bee
that is important here. A normal human may die from consuming a quart of
ethanol, but a single beer may not even get them tipsy. There are a number
of studies already completed on the subject of neonicotinoids and bees, for
example, see http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16407664. Also,
bee toxicity is tested up front rather extensively, and although bees
contacting foliar sprays when wet could have some effect, how does the tiny
amount of AI on seeds dispersed in a field get to bees in high enough
concentration to cause mortality/morbidity? Studies have shown that
recovery of insects after intoxication by neonicotinoids (the "Lazarus
effect") is reasonably common even with relatively high amounts of AI
present (e.g. imidicloprid fly baits directly consumed contain 0.5% AI, yet
some flies recover even after feeding to intoxication); and the small amount
on a seed begins degrading and diluting in the field after application.
Bees specifically "licking" treated seeds buried in ag soils seems pretty
unlikely; so truly seeing mortality as high as is purported in CCD caused by
seed treatments seems on the face of it to be far fetched.

The most recent issue of Agricultural Research (May-June 2008) has an
article called "Colony Collapse Disorder: A Complex Buzz" (page 8), says
France banned neocitinoids in 2005 but still has had honey bee problems:

"Some people believe that pesticides, especially a relatively new class
called neonicotinoids, are responsible for CCD, though there is no
conclusive data on this yet. France banned the neonicotinoid imidacloprid in
2005, when some field studies indicated some possible harm to bees, though
other studies showed no such effects. And there has been no across-the-board
recovery in honey bee populations in France since the ban.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires that companies provide
data on a pesticide's possible impact on nontarget organisms before a
pesticide can be registered for use, and honey bees are usually one of the
nontarget insects tested. The neonicotinoids, which are based on nicotine,
did not harm bees at the levels to which they are likely to be exposed."

Full article at:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may08/colony0508.htm

Nice suggestion, but is there justification for pursuing "testing of pesticide" research in the case of the Colony Collapse Disorder problem in honeybees? Today on [email protected] James Fischer pointed out "the data on CCD points us AWAY from pesticides and towards pathogens."

James Fischer also said:

"symptoms of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure, even low-level exposure from which the hives can recover, include cases of "the shakes", something never seen in CCD colonies."

"no one has found even a vague correlation between it and CCD. If they would have, headlines would have resulted. Big headlines.

"no one in the "research community" has pointed any accusing fingers in Bayer's direction"

"Pesticides can't be an explanation for why organic beekeepers are losing their colonies." (Dr. May Berenbaum in "Science", May 18 2007)

"People can drone on and on about "lowered immune response" until they are blue in the face, but they must first address the fact that honey bees don't have much of an "immune system" to weaken. The honey bee genome project revealed that bees have fewer known immune system genes than the much simpler fruit fly or malaria mosquito do."

"much as we'd like to find an easy answer related to pesticides, we can't find more than trace levels, and inconsistent sets of trace levels, providing no correlation with incidence of CCD."

"CCD seems to be caused by a mix of exotic invasive pathogens that came to our shores ."

[Mojorabbit]

9. Is it possible

that they might be especially sensitive to this pesticide despite the low levels?
I find it interesting that it is almost a worldwide problem now. There must be a common denominator.

I have one backyard hive and watch them like a hawk. I use no pesticides but my bees
cover a very large area in search of food.

[mike_c]

11. "low level" doesn't even begin to describe the vanishingly small...

...amount of neonicoticoid in plant tissues from treated seeds. I mean, imagine that your mother took an aspirin when you were a gastrula with a few thousand cells, then trying to detect the residue of that aspirin in your tissues at a year or two of age. That's the approximate orders of magnitude we're talking about.

Surface applications of neonicoticoids against herbivorous insects are much more likely to be a problem, but despite people having looked-- and they're still looking-- there is no evidence yet of neonicoticoid poisoning in any bees believed to be undergoing CCD. Of course, toxicity against honey bees is tested extensively when pesticides are licensed for ag use.

Pesticide exposure hasn't been ruled out, but there really isn't much evidence supporting it yet. Bureaucratic action is NOT scientific evidence!

[Delphinus]

13. Well this gets

curiouser and curiouser. If it's not pesticides ...

[mike_c]

17. my prediction is that there isn't an "it...."

I don't think CCD is a discrete phenomenon-- rather, it's a syndrome with multiple causes. There seems to be a strong link with colony stress, involving diet, multiple parasites, multiple pathogens, storage conditions, and maybe pesticide exposure-- and possibly some other, as yet unknown factors too. The honey bee is one of the most closely bred domestic animals on Earth, and with so little genetic variation it's not at all surprising to see thousands of colonies pushed over the same tipping point no matter how diverse the ways they were brought to the edge.

Hmmm-- note to self: has anyone looked for CCD in africanized colonies?

I do think a primary stressor or two will emerge from CCD research to provide some common links that run though many cases, but probably not all of them.

[lovuian]

14. Well that Germany has stopped it in Emergency does say

they are desperately trying to find out

60% deaths in bees is a awfully high number

they had to do SOMETHING

Bayer is a Big company in Germany that Germany issued these emergency suspensions means there has to be SOME LINK

they don't do this randomly

I know France has seen a connection

[mike_c]

16. I'm afraid they are in fact doing it more-or-less "randomly...."

They're certainly not doing it on the basis of any real data. And the french experience bears that out-- despite banning neonicotinoids in 2005 they are still experiencing CCD in France. Like Germany, France did NOT see a connection-- they imagined one.

In fairness, I should note that the lack of data doesn't necessarily mean that imidacloprid et al aren't factors in CCD-- it only means that the bureaucrats are grasping at straws before we have any clear evidence of pesticide involvement in CCD. As a scientist, I find the argument that they MIGHT be involved no more compelling than the argument that fairies might be responsible.

[lovuian]

18. imidacloprids have been used in the 1990's and it is in the

soil from what I understand .....Germany putting a halt on it must have found something suspicious

Believe me its a super serious situation

60% loss is heading for Bee extinction thats why the drastic measures

[theHandpuppet]

12. It's going to be a tough battle

But we can all pitch in by eliminating the obsession with manicured, grass lawns. I've let mine revert to clover and planted a number of fruit trees which will never see even a hint of chemicals. The honeybees love both, as well as the flowering plants we've provided. We NEVER use anything but untreated seeds and we harvest the seeds from our own plants for the next year's garden.

Start giving the bees something other to feed on besides poisons! Screw grass lawns -- don't think this is just a problem to be addressed by the big ag businesses. Each and every one of us can pitch in. I'm sure others here would have some good suggestions, too.

[lovuian]

15. Yes we don't use chemicals on our plants and I saw

tons of bees on my holly bushes when they sprouted