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Studies Link Pesticides To Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
T Murphy writes "Neonicotinoid pesticides, designed to attack insects such as beetles and aphids, have been shown to harm bees' ability to navigate back to the hive. While initially assumed safe in low enough, non-fatal doses for bees, two papers have shown that may not be the case. Although the studies don't directly study the Colony Collapse Disorder, the scientists believe these pesticides are likely a contributing factor."
...lest they get sued by "big insecticide".
"Although the studies don't directly study the Colony Collapse Disorder, the scientists believe these pesticides are likely a contributing factor."
We have a hypothesis so we want people to panic and give us funding so we can actually see if there is a direct relationship between Colony Collapse Disorder.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
everyone knows slashdot's got it!
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the Funny comment filter, but there's nothing funny in this.
I doubt this will change 'cause we're talking hugh chemical Compaines.
By time enough evidence is available, it'll be too late. This country should
err on the side of caution; not side with corporations.
Now if only they could come up with something like that for lawyers...
The food was modified by the owner (corporation) to produce the pesticide internally. Which kills the bugs, harms the bees, and gets ingested into your body where it causes intestinal bleeding (for young or old individuals).
Yummy. ;-)
Oh and family farmers that refuse to use this GMO food, and prefer to use natural seeds that are not impregnated with pesticide, are routinely accused of copyright or patent infringement by Monsanto and drug into court (where the lawyer fees bankrupt them).
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
Following France and Germany, last year the Italian Agriculture Ministry suspended the use of a class of pesticides, nicotine-based neonicotinoids, as a "precautionary measure." The compelling results - restored bee populations - prompted the government to uphold the ban. Yesterday, copies of the film 'Nicotine Bees' were delivered to the US Congress explaining the pesticide's connection to Colony Collapse Disorder. Despite the evidence, why does CCD remain a 'mystery' in the US?
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/nicotine-bees-population-restored-with-neonicotinoids-ban.html
If you knew anything about anything, you would have known that specific classes of pesticides, like the nicotinoids , have been linked to bee colony collapses for over a decade!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neonicotinoid
But I guess these systemic insecticides are just fine. Too bad they migrate *into* the plant and you end up eating them.
It looks like there are still more studies needed if we really want to understand what is going on here.
The treated bees were about two to three times more likely to die while away from their nests, and the researchers said this was probably because the pesticide interfered with the bees' homing systems, so they couldn't find their way home.
That seems like quite the leap in logic, but I don't have the actual study in front of me. That pesticide harms bees sounds like a REALLY obvious conclusion, I kinda like bees and what they do for us.
Considering the importance of bees to agriculture, I think the potential of any link between pesticides and colony collapses warrants both extreme concern and funding.
Well, I don't think you read the article. There's a complicated situation here. It's not that the toxin is killing the bees directly but:
“So far, they mostly require manufacturers to ensure that doses encountered on the field do not kill bees, but they basically ignore the consequences of doses that do not kill them but may cause behavioral difficulties,”
So we have this situation where we believe a non-lethal dosage of this pesticide ruins the bee's ability to navigate back home which is a very serious problem. The real issue is that there's no way to quantify this and study it prior to releasing or approving a pesticide. So you have this situation where these folks are saying "we want to use technology to better our productivity in agriculture" and then you are levying unfathomable responsibility on the corporate giants who are developing said technologies. It's not as black and white as you make it out to be. I mean, how do you know that the pesticide doesn't make the bee a murderous backstabber in the colony years down the road?
I'm hesitant to comment on anything like this anymore, it got pretty ugly last time I asked follow up questions.
My work here is dung.
Several studies in the last year have indicated the same thing.
The evidence is stacking up pretty heavily at this point.
Nobody has panicked - these studies have been ongoing for the last couple years since the hypothesis was formed.
But, yes, there is some urgency in nailing it down before it starts affecting crop output.
This is so insane. Pesticides are designed to kill insects among other pests. Bees are insects so why the hell do we need another study!!!
The food was modified by the owner (corporation) to produce the pesticide internally.
False. These are water soluble pesticides that are included in the watering of plants and are easily translocated into the plant tissue as it grows. Alternatively they are applied to the soil or doused on seeds.
This is not the same as "roundup ready plants" which are GM plants that are resistant to roundup. You sound confused and appear to be bent on spreading fear about harm to humans who consume these plants.
My work here is dung.
Before anything gets done about it, and I'm guessing it's nearly impossible to get that rubber stamp because someone will always cry "We Need more Proof!".
-- By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.
Duh, when you can't do science blame the pesticides every time. Did the 60's not teach us anything?
WAIT! I thought colony collapse disorder was caused by cell phone radiation...the science was settled. Everyone agreed. How can this be? (bee?)
Scott
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
...that insecticide would have bad side effects on bees? What does one thing have to do with the other?
Sadly, while soylent green is predominantly people, another key ingredient is honey.
How much funding is necessary to stop buying pesticides? Seems like anti-funding.
But in my heart place I want to see everyone of those fuckers die in agony
If we lose bees, we do not lose all our crops overnight.
What happens instead is that the number of humans we have to devote to food production increases dramatically. Without bees or a decent substitute for bees, we would have to pollinate crops by hand, which is a very labor-intensive process. While this will not result in human extinction overnight, we are talking about a very drastic change in the kinds of civilizations we are capable of having. The less of your population you have to devote to food production, the more advanced your civilization can be.
If we had to suddenly devote a lot more human labor to food production, there would be profound effects for all of us for generations to come. We're talking about pretty scary stuff, but nowhere near as extreme as the complete loss of agriculture overnight.
This is very serious stuff, and I think we should err on the side of caution and ban these pesticides, but suggesting the instant loss of regular plant-based agriculture is a bit Henny Penny.
Not sure what that guy drank, but I think it warrants further investigation as some of the users on this site may also be drinking it... :-)
That's a high enough bar to still call it a "study"? That may not be the case.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
. . . which means that even if you stop using the pesticides, the trees are going to get you. And if you are going to go after the trees out of self-defense, that also puts the bees in a tight spot which, then, could spiral out of control and lead to a . . . script for an M Night Shyamlan sequel. Either way we're screwed.