Pesticides killing bees

treesparrow

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
To: Bees
From: Scientists
RE: Pesticides that are killing you.
April 7, 2010 at 10:30PM by Kim Flottum


The most recent research report studying declines in honey bee populations studied the amounts of agricultural pesticides found in hundreds of samples of pollen, wax , royal jelly, honey and bees taken from hundreds of beehives – some were from sick colonies, others weren't sick. The results are pretty scary.

Importantly, the results also show the amounts and kinds of beekeeper applied pesticides found in those hundreds of samples taken from these same beehives. These results may be even scarier. That beekeepers have made matters worse trying to make matters better is a conundrum we'll explore next time, but for now, know that they have.

The hundreds of colonies sampled were in a variety of locations, and were in included in a variety of ongoing studies. Some samples were taken from apiaries that had no symptoms of colony collapse disorder. Some were declining from or already dead from colony collapse disorder. Others were taken from a study of a migratory operation moving on the east coast during a series of pollination jobs on several crops, while others were taken from a particular apple orchard pollination study. Some samples were taken from beeswax foundation sheets... those used by beekeepers to guide their bees in comb-building, and are purchased from suppliers and put in new or rebuilt frames. This is a whole different disaster, but it comes from the same set of villains and heroes.

You just know that honey bees and pesticides can't do well when mixed, right? Honey bees forage in the real world looking for food. That's what they do. They rummage around agricultural crops while they are being sprayed, right after they are sprayed, and long after systemic pesticides were added and have soaked into the pollen and nectar rewards the bees seek. They didn't get the SPRAY TODAY memo I guess. They cruise over lawns looking for clover and other blooming weeds and while they're there they check out your backyard garden, that small orchard next door and just about everywhere there's a flower to visit.

Bees are like tiny dust mops. They gather in all the things they encounter and bring them back home. Pollen is the obvious dust-like material they collect. Pollen is the protein they feed to their young... the future of the colony. Feeding poison to your children is a crime almost everywhere. Except here.

All the foraging bees in a colony land on millions and millions of flowers seeking nectar during the flowering season. And anything on those flower petals or leaves sticks to their feet and gets brought back home. They are always looking for water, too, and sometimes puddles are not what they seem around farms and golf courses and homeowner's lawns, and that gets brought home too... and this toxic cocktail is their staple... their day to day diet... now made from poisonous parts per million.

So bees are encountering agricultural and landscape pesticides almost wherever they go. Now think about this: You go just about everywhere bees go. Walk on a treated lawn... pesticides go home with you. Walk through an apple orchard... pesticides on the ground, on the leaves, on the apples. What about your garden? Or the golf course you visit routinely? Do they spray for mosquitoes where you are? What about those tree boring beetles recently introduced into the U.S.? They're treating those trees with sprays and drenches and injections and it all goes to the leaves and flowers this spring. Got ants or termites at home? No more when the newest bait gets going and everybody forgets where they live.

Got Weeds? Not anymore. Herbicides took care of that problem wherever weeds shouldn't be. Not a dandelion to be seen anywhere... in lawns, center strips on city streets... and those herbicides land on leaves that bees land on too. And home they go, another ingredient in the diet of death.

We live in the same pesticide-laden soup our bees do, and now we can prove it's a killing field. This study is the classic "you won't find it if you don't look, but now we've looked."

What we found is killing our bees. How long do we have?

_http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/pesticides-honey-bees?src=rss

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here's the link to the research mentioned -

_http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009754

Extract -

Conclusions/Significance

The 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in mixtures up to 214 ppm in bee pollen alone represents a remarkably high level for toxicants in the brood and adult food of this primary pollinator. This represents over half of the maximum individual pesticide incidences ever reported for apiaries. While exposure to many of these neurotoxicants elicits acute and sublethal reductions in honey bee fitness, the effects of these materials in combinations and their direct association with CCD or declining bee health remains to be determined.
 
Thanks treesparrow,

Our societal marriage to herbicides and pesticides was a long process of conditioning by the Chemical industrial complex. One goes back to the masters of this I.G. Farbin. And now our stores are choked full of 2-4D’s (mixed in with about 1,500 different herbicides) of which mecoprop and dicamba make the base , this of course is commercially applied to most fields and or variations of 2-4d. Glyphosate (Roundup) is next as an enzyme inhibitor and covers our productive fields too. Both these are sold on a massive consumer scale; domestically, mom’s and pop’s also use it like it’s just a neat little bio-selective trick. It builds up in soil and washes into the ground water by the ton. Dimethoate is particularly nasty as a organophosphate insecticide and it is an anticholinesterase , inhibiting Biological cholinesterase of insects or our and animal central nervous system’s. Don’t think hardly an orchard is not without this compound mix.
All very sad this business. One of our local honey producers who operates near the railway complained to Transport Canada who governs this because twice a year in the heat, the days when his bees are most active (need heat for chemical applications), the railway sprays both sides of the tracks.; as you can imagine this is thousands of kilometres. In the heat the chemicals evaporate and rise like clouds, drifting to and fro. To my knowledge he has no resolve. :(

Here is a little piece on 24-d from the good propaganda stewards of this chemical.

http://www.24d.org/

Very few substances have been subjected to the extensive examination and review that 2,4-D has withstood, and as a result, more is known about 2,4-D than almost any other chemical on the planet. Just as it has for more than 60 years, 2,4-D continues to be one of the most important herbicides for homeowners, land manages and farmers across the globe.
The Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D Research Data was formed to work closely with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Health Canada Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PRMA) to fund new research and provide information to each agency as required by their respective pesticide re-registration and re-evaluation programs.
The 2,4-D Task Force is made up of those companies owning the technical registrations on the active ingredient in 2,4-D herbicides. They are Dow AgroSciences (USA), Nufarm, Ltd. (Australia) and Agro-Gor Corporation (USA & Argentina). The Task Force does not conduct the research required by EPA and PRMA, it simply funds the scientific research needed to meet all agency requirements and keep 2,4-D registrations in the United States and Canada constantly up to date. All research funded by the Task Force is conducted under stringent Good Laboratory (GLP) Practice guidelines.
 
Hey treesparrow, thanks! I have been following this "fad theme" about disappearing bees that
is typified here:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/honey-bees-disappearing-still-a-problem.html
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/einstein/bees.asp

How is the story posted here related? I don't recall ever having seen through the prattle of this
three-year-old internet epigram that the culprit might be agri-chems. Hmmm.

EDIT: Here are the related threads I could find here:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5515.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5613.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5861.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5865.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=5886.0
http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=6027.0
 
Living near the Canadian Shield, blueberrys have always been a readily available treat. The past few years there have been many flowers but no fruit. I had always thought that because of the area not being used for agriculture, the fruits would be organic. It seems the chemical intrusion is having a direct effect on the wild bee population, even in the wilderness.

I have been using local honey(no rhododanderons in Manitoba), cinnamon, juice of 1 lemmon, 1/2 oz rum and hot water as a flue buster. Thanks for the heads up.
 
One of my Hubby's older friends has a few hives he harvests honey from each year. He's had no die offs at all, because he uses no pesticides on his small farm, and there are no large fields near him either. He said people have asked him for hives for their orchards and he refused, stating that pesticides would kill his bees and he wanted no part of that. Ever since the colony collapse disorder started being hyped, he's told us its crap....that the pesticides make the bees so weak they die of any little thing.

Its not proof or a study, but I've learned to listen to people who have practical experience doing something. ;)
 
Gimpy said:
Its not proof or a study, but I've learned to listen to people who have practical experience doing something. ;)

Exactly said Gimpy! :)

Keepers known to me move multiple colonies into varying monoculture's and natural ecosystems; they see the results, day in and out, the quality, the colony health and die-off, diseases and parasites. They know the farmers and what they do to their particular fields and orchards - they watch and learn and make adjustments - extensive practical experience says much indeed.
 
In my experience and very generally speaking, most farms converting to Organic production would leave an orchard or vineyard for at least 3 seasons free of pesticides before introducing hives, or lady birds. The residues in the soil would normally be a good indicator to determine how safe it would be for the insects to be introduced, and the time frames would vary in different countries and regions within those countries, as the degradation of the residues would vary depending on the type of soil - al
 
Anything from prisonplanet I take carefully. My friend sent me this one:

(Canada already learned: DON'T mess with Bayer)

_http://www.prisonplanet.com/leaked-document-epa-knowingly-approved-bee-killing-pesticide.html

Leaked document: EPA knowingly approved bee-killing pesticide
Ethan A. Huff
Natural News
Jan 5, 2011
A Colorado beekeeper recently obtained a leaked document revealing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows a popular crop pesticide is killing off honey bees, but has allowed its continued approval anyway. Despite opposition from its own scientists, EPA officials first gave the a-okay to Bayer CropScience’s toxic pesticide clothianidin in 1993 based on the company’s own flawed safety studies. But now it has been revealed that the EPA knew all along about the dangers of clothianidin and decided to just ignore them.
By now, most people know that honeybees are dying off at an incredibly disturbing rate. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), a condition where bees stray from the hive and never find their way back, is nixing millions of nature’s pollinators every year. Previous studies have pinpointed various environmental toxins as the primary culprits, including toxic pesticides like clothianidin (_http://www.naturalnews.com/028429_colony_collapse_disorder_chemicals.html).

And the leaked document, which was written by the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, explains clearly that “clothianidin’s major risk concern is to nontarget insects (honey bees)” and that “acute toxicity studies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis.” The letter was in response to a request from Bayer to have clothianidin approval expanded for use on cotton and mustard in addition to its other approved uses.

So if clothianidin poses a significant threat against honey bees, and the EPA has known about this all along, why was it ever approved in the first place? And if Bayer’s original safety studies have been shown to be contradictory to actual science, why has the EPA failed to go after Bayer for falsifying safety data? Apparently those who make the final decisions at the EPA have no actual interest in the truth and would rather cater to corporate interests at the expense of public health.Several European nations have outlawed the use of clothianidin, including Germany, Francy, Italy and Slovenia. U.S. growers of conventional crops, however, continue to use the dangerous chemical thanks to corrupt EPA officials. And when all the honey bees die and there are no pollinators left to grow food, these same EPA officials will be responsible for the mass murder of millions of people

EDIT: Just found this related post from two years ago: http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=8281.msg68941#msg68941

EDIT: For those into irony, "Cipro" is a truncated anagram of "CropScience"
 
[quote author=Potamus]

(Canada already learned: DON'T mess with Bayer)[/quote]

Yup, they and others seem to be driving the bus.


Leaked document: EPA knowingly approved bee-killing pesticide

Ethan A. Huff
Natural News
Jan 5, 2011
A Colorado beekeeper recently obtained a leaked document revealing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows a popular crop pesticide is killing off honey bees, but has allowed its continued approval anyway. Despite opposition from its own scientists, EPA officials first gave the a-okay to Bayer CropScience’s toxic pesticide clothianidin in 1993 based on the company’s own flawed safety studies. But now it has been revealed that the EPA knew all along about the dangers of clothianidin and decided to just ignore them. [...]

EDIT: For those into irony, "Cipro" is a truncated anagram of "CropScience"

Hi Potamus, received the same article someone sent me, too, and had to think about it a little, and not sure if these thoughts are correct, but the curious thing is that we are talking about pesticides, as well as herbicide impacts and EPA accepted studies. So if you think about what the aim is of a pesticide, in this case clothianidin or in others like dimethoate, there is no difference, each contains neurotoxin inhibitors and other traits with the former a neonicotiniod vs. the later an organophosphorus, and both are designed to indiscriminately kill insects without being targeted, although they may think or tell people they can do this.

In the case of clothianidin, aka a neonicotiniod chemical compound, there has always been reliable knowledge that this is harmful, fatal in fact to honey bees, as almost all of them are. So not sure about the “Leaked Document” aspect. This would be knowable across a large spectrum of scientists and even bee keepers. The EPA, like Canada's own Health departments have accepted the dubious and controversial test results from the chemical giants always, and like pesticides, herbicides, too, are accepted by the EPA like glyphosates, dicambas et al. and these are just the same; they all have bee killing chemical compounds as well as food-chain toxins to humans.

The EPA approves a staggering amount of chemicals, especially with Bio-tech influences, like clothianidin, which is used probably to work with the kernels, seeds and possibly embedded gmo complexes.

One of the interesting things in the article, as was stated, is the reference to ‘Leaked’, as if it’s some kind of Wikileak – dunno, why would the article say that when these things are well known?
 
Then there is this sort of unholy alliance with the chemical companies :(

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Beekeepers fume at association's endorsement of fatal insecticides


Britain's beekeepers are at war over their association's endorsement for money of four insecticides, all of them fatal to bees, made by major chemical companies.

The British Beekeepers' Association has been selling its logo to four European pesticide producers and is believed to have received about £175,000 in return.

The active ingredient chemicals in the four pesticides the beekeepers endorsed are synthetic pyrethroids, which are among the most powerful of modern insect-killers

The deal was struck in secret by the beekeepers' association executive without the knowledge of the overwhelming majority of its members.

After news of the deal emerged, some members expressed outrage and others resigned.

The beekeepers have now said they will end their pesticide endorsements – but have left the door open to future deals with agrochemical companies.

The battling beekeepers will have a showdown this weekend at the National Beekeeping Centre at Stoneleigh in Warwickshire.

An open letter signed by prominent figures in the world of the environment and agriculture condemns the British Beekeepers' Association for its commercial relationship with the German chemicals giants Bayer and BASF, the Swiss-based Syngenta and the Belgian firm Belchim – and demands that it permanently sever commercial links with agrochemical companies.

"A charity that claims to have the interests of bees and beekeeping at heart should never put itself in a position where it is under the influence of corporations whose purpose is to sell insecticides which are able to kill bees," said Philip Chandler, a Devon beekeeper and one of the organisers of the open letter, which has been signed by the botanist David Bellamy, the author and television wildlife presenter Chris Packham and Lord Melchett, policy director of the Soil Association, the organic farming body. "It is the equivalent of a cancer research charity being controlled by a tobacco company," Mr Chandler added.

The beekeepers' executive, which effectively controls all the association's affairs, has thus far fended off attempts by its membership at getting the policy reversed.

The beekeepers' association's deal with the chemical companies had been running since 2001, and it received £17,500 a year for endorsing four pesticides: Bayer's Decis, BASF's Contest (also known as Fastac), Syngenta's Hallmark and Belchim's Fury.

The British Beekeepers' Association referred to the pesticides on several occasions in the newsletter BBKA News as "bee friendly" or "bee safe". Yet a 2003 study in the Bulletin of Insectology on modelling the acute toxicity of pesticides to honey bees found that cypermethrin, the active ingredient of Fury and Contest, and deltamethrin, the active ingredient of Decis, were in the top four most toxic to bees of all the 100 substances evaluated. Cypermethrin was second most toxic, and deltamethrin was fourth. (The active ingredient of Hallmark, lambda-cyhalothrin, was not included in the test.) Other studies confirm these conclusions.

Protests have mounted as the revelations came out. Such has been the anger of grass-roots beekeepers that the executive announced a strategic review of its links with "the plant protection industry", which concluded that endorsement and "related product specific payments" would cease "as soon as practically possible".

Yesterday the British Beekeepers' Association president, Martin Smith, confirmed the pesticide endorsements had finished, although he said there might still be some pesticide packaging in circulation bearing the BBKA logo. "We would expect that to be withdrawn within three months," he said.

Mr Smith said that the deals had been originally done as a means of developing good practice in relation to bees with the pesticides when they had been introduced, but that this aim had been achieved – so they were no longer necessary.

His announcement left the door open to future deals by insisting that "the trustees do not preclude accepting funds in the future from either the crop protection industry... or individual companies". Some beekeepers feel this is insufficient and want all links to be broken.

At this weekend's meeting a motion put down by the Twickenham and Thames Valley Beekeeping Association stipulates that "the BBKA cease any commercial relationships with agrochemical or associated companies, including all endorsement of pesticides".

One of the drafters of the motion, Kate Canning, said last night: "They're leaving the door open for future agro-chemical relationships. Our bees deserve better than this. It's time for a clean, green break."

The beekeepers executive is trying to head off the move by inserting its own motion ahead of the Twickenham and Thames Valley one, which asks delegates to support them in the way in which it "should manage its intellectual property". It goes on: "This includes the use of its logo and maximises the benefits which can be gained from these assets and its reputation."

Mr Smith said the logo would not be used on pesticides in the future.

_http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/beekeepers-fume-at-associations-endorsement-of-fatal-insecticides-2182243.html
 
Hey Parallax & treesparrow; thanks for the thoughts.

Does this whole thing resemble thimerosal, in that each chemical's damage level is assessed by vendor, independently?
Does it mean that since the FDA washes its hands of responsibility when it comes to a crop receiving multiple pesticides
just as it does with babies receiving thimerosal from multiple innoculations (oops vendor overlap)?

Is each food additive, agri-chem, vaccine evaluated completely in the blind on a per-vendor basis, with no respect for the
fact we are always receiving multiple chems, food additives, and vaccines?
 
[quote author=Potamus ]
Is each food additive, agri-chem, vaccine evaluated completely in the blind on a per-vendor basis, with no respect for the
fact we are always receiving multiple chems, food additives, and vaccines?
[/quote]

Somewhere recall a statistic about how many chemicals are assessed in comparison to what is not and of course there is that again by compounding these things together; it's very disproportional and scary - me thinks we lost control a long time ago, if we ever were. :(
 
I have come across this open letter to the British bee Keepers Association which clearly states that the BBKA has been recieving funds from the European Pesticide manufacturers like Bayer, Syngenta, BASF and Belchim for endorsing several insecticides as "Bee- Friendly".

It is shameful on these manufacturers and BBKA to produce and promote such life taking pesticides. Looks like yet another strategy by the European pesticide manufacturers to promote their patented products.

http://www.biobees.com/british_beekeeping/
 
But it is high time that such manufacturers are exposed to the world. If not done, extinction of honey bees won't be far. Most importantly, extinction of honey bees means extinction of human species in near future.
 
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