7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits ...

[MindMover]

Bees and other pollinators are essential for two-thirds of our global food crops, from apples to watermelons.1 Bee pollination of crops has
been valued at $20 billion in the United States2 and $217 billion globally.3,4 Unfortunately, bees and other pollinators are in great peril, with
populations rapidly declining worldwide. A strong and growing body of evidence points to exposure to a class of neurotoxic pesticides
called neonicotinoids–the fastest-growing and most widely used class of synthetic pesticides–as a key contributing f actor to bee declines.5,6,7

Neonicotinoids (also called neonics) are used as seed treatments on more than 140 crops. Virtually all corn and a large percentage of soy, wheat and canola seeds planted in the U.S. are pretreated with neonics, despite research finding that this practice usually doesn’t increase crop yields or benefit farmers.8
Neonics are systemic pesticides that are taken up through roots and leaves and distributed throughout the entire plant, including pollen and nectar. They are persistent and accumulate over time in the environment.

Numerous studies reveal that neonicotinoids can kill bees outright by attacking their nervous systems, while low levels of exposure have been
shown to disrupt f oraging abilities,9 navigation, learning, communication, memory10 and suppress the immune systems of bees, making
them more vulnerable to disease and pests.11 While other factors have been identified as possible contributors to bee declines and
hive failure–such as pests,12 diseases, loss of forage and habitat13 and changing climate14--neonicotinoid pesticides are a core problem
that must be addressed. Science shows that exposure to neonics is a compounding factor that increases bee vulnerability and decreases
natural resilience to external stressors such as varroa mite pests and pathogens.15,16,17,18,19

http://libcloud.s3.amazonaws.com/93/f0/f/4656/FollowTheHoneyReport.pdf

[mike_c]

1. the document linked in the OP is alarmist, inaccurate, agenda driven anti-science polemic...

...that distorts and exaggerates its claims from the very beginning, where it doubles the actual proportion of insect pollinated crops from about 30% to "two-thirds." A far more objective report is referenced deep within this document-- the EPA and USDA Report on the National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health-- but its findings are distorted to change these comments:

There are multiple factors playing a role in pollinator declines, including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure.

Parasites and Disease Present Risks to Honey Bees:

The parasitic Varroa mite is recognized as the major factor underlying colony loss in the U.S. and other countries. There is widespread resistance to the chemicals beekeepers use to control mites within the hive. New virus species have been found in bees in the U.S. and several of these have been associated with CCD. The Varroa mite is the primary factor known to increase levels of some bee viruses.

Increased Genetic Diversity is Needed:

U.S. honeybee colonies need increased genetic diversity. Genetic variation improves bee thermoregulation (the ability to keep body temperature steady even the surrounding environment is different), disease resistance and worker productivity.

Poor Nutrition Among Honey Bee Colonies:

Nutrition has a major impact on individual bee and colony longevity. Poor nutrition can make bees more susceptible to harm from disease and parasites. Bees need better forage and a variety of plants to support colony health.

Additional Research is Needed to Determine Risks Presented by Pesticides:

Acute and sublethal effects of pesticides on honey bees have been increasingly documented, and are a concern but it is not clear, based on current research, whether a pesticide exposure is a major factor associated with U.S. honey bee health declines. The most pressing research questions relate to determining actual pesticide exposures bees receive in the field.

into this:

In May 2013, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a joint Report on the National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health – concluding, among other things, that “Pesticide exposure to pollinators continues to be an area of research and concern, particularly the systemic pesticides such as neonicotinoids.

Thereby making the current least well supported causative agent for bee population decline into the only one worth mentioning. This is not good science. It attempts to use anti-science to influence public policy.

In many ways honeybees are the lynchpins of modern big ag, not the bucolic pastoral busy little organic farmers the anti-science crowd would like us to believe in. They are invasive, non-native bees whose dominance of the managed pollination industry largely depends upon trucking stressed out, poorly fed hives around the country through monodominant cropping and orchard systems that are utterly devoid of habitat or forage for native pollinators. Their introduction to the United States was primarily for honey production, a luxury sweetener during colonial times, rather than for pollination, which was adequately handled by wind or by native pollinators previously.

Despite the alarmist reporting about threats to the food supply and such, which are dramatically overblown because sensational stories sell more media than the truth, even in those areas where winter bee mortality has been higher than average, hives have been easily replaced and populations have not been affected long term. All of last year's huge managed pollination events, like the California almond pollination, went off without a hitch and with more than enough honeybees, for example.

I'm a professional entomologist and ecologist. I have never received any research or other support from Monsanto, Bayer, Syngenta, or any other agribusiness corporation. Every dime of support my lab has ever received has come from the U.S. Forest Service or from various non-profit conservation foundations. I do not support or condone the business models of most big agribusiness corporations, including those named in this response and in the OP. However, agenda driven polemic is no more palatable to academic scientists than is corporate propaganda. The OP is an example of the former.

[MindMover]

2. I would suggest you take up your opinions with ...

"Any errors or omissions in this report are the responsibility of Friends of the Earth." www.FoE.org

My first impression of your outrage is Suspicion ... Why would you take offense to the truth ...

There are multiple reasons for bee colony collapse, however, one of the most prominent reasons is pesticides ..

and your denial of that fact is just that, DENIAL ... and I ask for what reason do you deny ... ?

[mike_c]

4. because I'm an actual scientist with some expertise in insect ecology...

...and Friends of the Earth are making broad statements largely unsupported by the folks who do real research in the field. Read the EPA/USDA joint report and then you'll understand why this document is pushing an agenda no less extreme than the profit motive of the agribusiness corporations it cites. You helped pay for it, why not read it?

on edit-- oddly the original link doesn't work. This one does: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/epabees/index.htm. Scroll to the bottom and click the link to the full report.

I'm also dismayed by the scaremongering that passes for reporting on this issue in much of the popular press.

[MohRokTah]

6. .

[MindMover]

8. Your link probably like your science is in error ...

[MohRokTah]

12. No, the agenda piece you posted is not scientific.

It has little of science and much of misinformation in it.

[MindMover]

18. LOL, 129 references to various professional & scientific journals ...

ludicrous ...

""

[MohRokTah]

21. and it misquotes and half quotes them. eom.

[mike_c]

13. no idea why-- it works for me, but I replaced it with another....

It's the USDA's web site, not mine.

[DreamGypsy]

11. Your link to the document is broken...

...since it has a '.' appended as part of the url.

Here's a correct link:

http://www.usda.gov/documents/ReportHoneyBeeHealth.pdf

[mike_c]

14. ah, thanks....

The period at the end of the sentence.

[Hekate]

15. TY for sharing your expertise with us, mike_c. Your voice is appreciated. nt

[MohRokTah]

5. When the opening sentence doubles the actual amount of bee pollenated crops...

the entirety of the piece must be suspect.

[MindMover]

7. Your statement is Ridiculous ... and there are scientists in other countries who know the truth ...

and have not been bought .

""

[MohRokTah]

10. One-third of our food is pollinated by honey bees.

Not two thirds.

I cannot take anything said after that as anything more credible than the first sentence of the piece.

[mike_c]

17. who do you think has "bought" me...?

That's why I specifically included the disclaimer that I'm a solely academic scientist with no connections whatsoever to agribusiness. Who do you think buys us when our support comes mostly from non-profit conservation foundations and the Dept of the Interior?

[MindMover]

19. Are you becoming defensive for a reason ... ?

Did I say mike c is bought by pesticide companies .... NO, I did not .... however, I will ask you again, why are you denying the obvious .. ?

[mike_c]

22. because it is not, in fact, nearly as "obvious" as you suggest....

All your little posters make it clear that you are not interested in hearing opposing perspectives, so let's not waste our time further.

[MindMover]

26. you might also not like climate science ... but it is true that we are getting warmer .... nt

[MohRokTah]

3. Add poor management to the list.

Modern massive migratory beekeeping management adds to the stress factors contributing to CCD. The one thing everybody agrees on is there is no single cause, but compounding stresses related to the problem.

And no organization is capable of properly managing tens of thousands of hives that are constantly on the move without massive losses.

Properly managed hives with good genetic background are capable of surviving and reproducing queens in specific locales with no chemical treatments for varroa or tracheal mites. when you add one stress upon another upon another the hive succumbs. There are dozens of species of mites that live in a hive, and only a couple that can be harmful when populations get too high. When you use one insecticide on an insect in hopes of killing another pest you kill many pests and stress the host insect.

I would say the pesticides to kill varroa and tracheal mites are more responsible than a final straw pesticide in neonicitinoids. Had the original pesticides not stressed the hive, they could probably survive the neonicitinoids without problems.

[MohRokTah]

9. Why isn't the article condemning miticides?

miticides are the initial point of insecticide introduction to the hive, and it's done on purpose by commercial operations in order to control the Varroa destructor mite.

And make no mistake. IT's called a miticide but in reality it is an insecticide that is being applied to one arthropod to control another arthropod with a result of killing many arthropods living in the hive in a symbiotic relationship, thus destroying the biological balance of the hive.

And then those poisons get into the wax and affect everything.

Then the bees become susceptible to other mites, bacteria, and viruses, while other poisons in the environment serve to further weaken the hive.

Make no mistake. The first poisons in the hive are placed there by the beek.

[MindMover]

16. and of course nature wants to kill all the bees ... RIDICULOUS ...

""

[mike_c]

20. OK, as long as your agenda is clear, I've said what I came to say....

Goodnight.

[MindMover]

25. and you have no agenda ... cmon, give me a break ... nt

[MohRokTah]

23. Neonicitinods become the final straw of stresses.

It's one stress piled on top of another piled on top of another.

It all starts with hive management and the fact that massive commercial operations must treat the bees for varroa because they are constantly on the move.

Neonicitinoids are only one in a long line of stresses on the hive. It's usually the last straw because of how weak the hives become by the time they are exposed to the neonicitinoids.

Don't get me wrong. I believe neonicitinoids should not be introduced into farming. They will only serve to breed insects that are resistant to neonicitinoids and that's not even the worst factor.

Instead we should be breeding (not engineering) plants that are more resistant to insects instead of killing off the "bad" insects with poisons that affect the "good" insects.

Also, please do not make the mistake of Monsanto being the culprit here. That issue is completely different and revolves around herbicides, not insecticides. Bayer is the corporation to associate with CCD.

[MohRokTah]

24. One last thing. Varroa destructor was never a factor in bee management until recently

Apis cerana, or the Asiatic Honeybee has lived with the Varroa Destructor mite for literally millenia. It's never been a factor in the life cycle of the species but just one of dozens of arthropods that will olive with its host without issue.

Apis Mellifera, however, was never exposed to varroa destructor and thus had no tolerance.

Somebody introduced varroa destructor infested apis cerana colonies in the US. This introduced varroa destructor to apis mellifera and the rest is beekeeping hsitory.

Since the only way for the commercial agribusiness based beekeeping operations with tens of thousands of colonies could "control" varroa destructor was with the introduction of insecticides to try to keep the populations under control, massive stresses were introduced to the hives.

If you start using one insecticide purposefully in a hive, other insecticides will ahve even more dramatic effects on that hive when introduced.

Oh, and the kicker? The beekeepers who use the "miticides" to control varroa destructor have actually been conducting a massive breeding program for varroa destructor that purposefully selects for individuals that are resistant to the poisons used to control varroa destructor, resulting in even worse populations of the mite killing off their hives.

This guy knows the real way to keep bees in the current environment:

Michael Bush

First step, treatment free beekeeping.

Second step, refuse to pollinate any crop treated with neonicitinoids of any kind.

It's the only way out.