Beekeepers call for pesticide ban

[flashl]

ROME, April 10 (UPI) -- Environmentalists have joined Italian beekeepers in calling for a ban on the use of neonicotinoids after more than 40,000 bees died in recent months.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported 200 protesters rallied Tuesday outside the agriculture ministry, waving banners that highlighted their concern about the relationship between the nicotine-based seed treatments and bee colony die-offs.

The National Union of Italian Beekeepers said some studies have suggested the insecticide leads bees to stop feeding larvae and hurts their navigational abilities. It is estimated about 200,000 beehives disappeared in Italy last year, ANSA said.

The agricultural union Coldiretti said a third of all farm produce depends on insect pollination, mostly carried out by bees.

UPI

[texpatriot2004]

1. K & R for the bees nm

[kestrel91316]

2. This is only common sense. How one can spray all sorts of pesticides

on one's crops and then wring one's hands about how all the bees are dying is beyond me.

[truedelphi]

3. On a hike in my neighborhood yesterday, I saw this man spraying

The perimeter of what I thought was his fencing. A neighbor's dog stood only four or five feet away.

Then it turned out this guy had "snuck" into the other person's yard, sprayed there, and the dog that was getting sprayed was his own!!

I don't know which is worse - that someone would spray the neighbor's dog - or that someone would spray their own dog!

THe movie "Idiocracy" pretty much sums it all up. More Brawndo now! More I say! It feeds the crops with its electrolytes!

[mimitabby]

4. gee, i hope the US figures this out

without bees, no crops. No crops, no food. Simple folks.

[1776Forever]

5. Thank you for this important information - Here is more.....Is Modern Agriculture Killing Bees?

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Is Modern Agriculture Killing Bees?

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2007/04/is-modern-agriculture-killing-bees.html

(snip)

North America is the bread basket of the world, and bees are the only known source of pollination of one third of our crops. (Estimated at $14 Billion annually in fruits, nuts and vegetables). Varroa destructor is an external parasitic mite that attacks honey bees. Varroa can only replicate in a honey bee colony. A significant mite infestation will lead to the death of a honey bee colony. Varroa mites were accidentally introduced into the United States in the mid 1980s. Before this time, honey bees were found coast to coast across the United States.

Varroa have led to the virtual elimination of feral bee colonies in many areas and is a major problem for kept bees in apiaries. Now only an estimated 2% of the feral honey bee population remains, and even this derives annually from honey bee swarms from beekeeping operations....

As if the virtual extinction of feral bees was not bad enough and the fact that Queen bees are only living about half as long as they once did....domesticated or apiarie bees are now disappearing at an alarming rate. Since last October, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. The ferroa mite may be a contributing factor to what is being called Colony Collapse Disorder, which is threatening hives throughout North America and Europe.

Without explanation and virtually overnight... 30% to 90% of the populations in North American bee husbandry hives have disappeared. East coast colonies are down 70%, west coast are down 60%. In the past unexplained disappearance disorders have been localized events, and it would be bad enough if this was just a localized phenomenon... however...
The CCD phenomenon (with similar mortality rates), has since spread to Europe. Wiping out bee populations in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece and has been reported in the UK. Since most of the world's crops depend on bees for cross-pollination, CCD could have a huge impact on global food supplies.

Various theories for the disappearances have been bandied about such as varroa mites, mobile phone electro magnetic radiation, pesticides, mercury contamination, global warming and the farming of GM (genetically modified) crops....Much in the same way that prolonged exposure to ACE inhibitors causes immuno deficiency, anemia and nutritional malabsorption in humans.

[Kurovski]

6. K&R, (nt)

[Tashca]

7. neonicotinoids

Here in the midwest....in just the last couple of years almost all seed corn is now coated with one form of neonicotinoid or another. This class of insecticide is known to be powerful. I was under the impression that they were only going to be used for underground applications.
I know Bayer has gotten a label for a new insecticide with a combination of a neonicotinoid and a pyrethroid. They are promoting it heavily here in the midwest for applications on soybeans.....they are trying to get the jump on Syngenta who is going to introduce something similar next year. I had a chill run down my back when I heard this.....It makes me wonder how soon this stuff will be being sprayed on food crops....they are usually next.

[truedelphi]

9. I was about to thank you for letting me know at it and then I realized

How depressing this information is. Makes it hard to feel gratitiude -even though I wish we all knew abt stuff like this.

[Tashca]

11. Sorry about that

My concern is that IF this is the culprit....we are going to really increase the problem very quickly.
The new product is called Leverage and produced and marketed by Bayer. One of the active ingredients is Imidacloprid which is the neonicotinoid that is in question. I just looked at the label and see potatoes and cotton also mentioned as the major crops and many secondary crops. The reason for using this new chemistry is because the effectiveness of pyrethroids alone are coming into question. As I said earlier. This is the first instance I was aware of of spraying this product on a growing crop...versus putting it on the seed. It translocates through the plant and lasts in the environment longer that the pyrethroids. It appears there is a rush on by at least two chemical companies to bring these into major markets. I can't speak for the other crops, but know this will be applied to soybeans during flowering.....I think you see why there should be concern.

[truedelphi]

14. Can this stuff be bought and used by the home gardener??

You mention looking on the label.

What class of pesticide is this considered?

Any more info would be considered depressing but still appreciated
;-)

[Tashca]

15. Restricted use only

I am doubtful this product would ever be approved for home use.
Class 3 (pyrethroid) and class 4A (neonicotinoid)....honestly I don't know about these classes.
They are both synthetic insecticides.

When I posted it wasn't my intention for causing anyone to panic from personal threat from this product. There are worse things out there......much worse.
My intention was to point out the rapidly increase use of neonicotinoids. IF this is the culprit...to the bees situation or a contributor...It really worries me.

This link tells alittle more about the product:
http://www.seedquest.com/News/releases/2008/april/22290.htm

[truedelphi]

16. Thank you greatly.

Ihave been researching the Big Agro Chemicals for some eleven years now.

I lost my skin pigment after being aerially sprayed in 1981-82 with malathion in Santa Clara County. No laboratory tests ever indicted malathion for causing pigmentation decrease (Called vitaligo)

But then lab rats don't up their caffeine intake when a substance makes them drowsy. And they also don't start using anti-histamine useage in order to offset the headaches.

Over the years, I have found out that RoundUp contains glyphosate, polyoxyethalenamine, which converts to a carcinogen known as Dioxane, and water. It also contains Formaldehyde, which is toxic enough that RoundUp would never be allowed for sale to the home consumer - so Monsanto conveniently "forgot" to mention that to the EPA when they went in to get the product license from the EPA. Without that they could have never sold to the public.

The tidbit about the Formaldehyde I got from someone who was a forensic witness offering expert testimony when helping plaintiffs win against Monsanto. The tidbit was supposed to never be revealed to anyone, but for whatever reason, this man revealed it to me.

[Tashca]

17. Good information

I understand why you asked your questions now. Malathion is an organophosphate. When I said there are worse things out there....I was referring to that class of insecticide. These new classes do seem safer to mammals, but now all these other side effects are showing up.

Thank you for the information on glyphosate.....I am starting to hear more and more of these type of things. I'll admit I didn't question anything about the safety of that product when the use started ramping up.....I trusted my government (safety standards)....and I trusted Monsanto when they said this is the safest herbicide on the market. I bought it hook line and sinker.....never again.

[truedelphi]

18. My first doubts abt product safety came when I had

A very minor <thank god> reaction to the swine flu vaccine. I lost a bit of mobility in the arm where I received the shot - I realize it was a mild case of Guilluime Barre and luckily it cleared up on its own within eighteen months.

Then when the State of California began spraying the malathion, they put up a "hotline" for the public to report any bad side effects. When I would call, and detail my flu like reactions, they would announce on TV and in the news that not a single person had ever called the hotline to report any adverse effects!

I get MS reactions to formaldehyde - spring is often my worst season on account of the RoundUp spraying, with homeowners, parks, schools, etc doing massive spraying. Until this forensic witness told me abt the formaldehyde being necesary in order for RoundUp to be a liquid, I could never understand why I had this reaction.

[progressoid]

8. Sooo...that means I get to keep my cell phone?

[truedelphi]

10. Here in the USA -- Big Pharma, Big Pesticide will jsut have spokespeople

Say it ain't the pesticides.

And problem is, often it isn't directly the pesticide. They don't die from a lethaal dose of the pesticide - they die because they are weakened and then indirectly the bees die from some pathogen.

[Summer93]

12. Air pollution

I also saw on tv that the reason is air pollution. The scents of the flowers has been damaged by air pollution and therefore the bees are unable to find the flowers to pollinate. Makes sense by highways with truck traffic and power plants.

Isn't smoke used to keep the bees calmed down.

[Shoelace]

13. also, there's a new bacterial infection killing bees in Washington state

to add insult to injury. I just heard this over the tv news 2 days ago.

Organic beekeepers aren't having the same problems as are the commercial beekeepers.
I'm planting a little field of clover just for bees this year.
Pesticides, herbicides, all these chemicals should be banned. There are natural pesticides like Rotenone that do not harm bees.