US Beekeepers Fear For Livelihoods As Anti-Zika Toxin Kills 2.5M Bees (theguardian.com)

A new report suggests that an insecticide sprayed from airplanes to kill mosquitos carrying the Zika virus may in fact be killing bees, since the "fine mist" is "beaded with neurotoxin." Earlier this week, one beekeeper posted a video showing thousands of dead bees heaped around hives. Meanwhile, South Carolina hobbyist Andrew Mache wrote in another Facebook post that he had lost "thousands upon thousands of bees" and that the spraying had devastated his business. The Guardian reports: "The program head, Dr Mike Weyman, said that though South Carolina has strict rules about protecting pollinators, country officials were using the neurotoxin, Naled, under a clause exempting them in a 'clear and public health crisis.' South Carolina's protocol for Zika infections is to alert local officials of a carrier's residence, which they 'consider a ground zero,' Weman said. Local authorities then target the local mosquitos in a 200-yard radius, in this case with spray. Experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and independent universities say Naled is far safer than other chemicals. It breaks down rapidly and, in the very low doses at which it is prescribed, should not pose a risk to humans. 'In Louisiana, we use these products quite frequently to reduce mosquitos, but we don't see many non-target effects, because the doses are really small,' said Dr Kirsten Healy, a public health entomologist at Louisiana State University. 'A lot of people don't realize that we always have the environment in mind. We try to have products that have the lowest possible impact.'" The report adds that bees and other pollinators "contribute an estimated $29 billion to farm income" around the U.S.

Comments

Night vs Day

[Anonymous Coward]

Much of this fallout is because they sprayed during the day. If they had sprayed at night, a) they would have hit more mosquitoes since they're active then, and b) they would have affected fewer bees since they don't forage at night. Does anyone know why it was done during the daytime?

Re:Night vs Day

[sims 2]

Because that's when normal people work? I would assume most pilots wouldn't want to fly that low at night and those that would wouldn't be the lowest bidder.

Re:Night vs Day

[No Longer an AC]

well, the article does mention "aerial spraying".

There's also this quote "It’s aerial bombing without any sense of being able to lay the chemical down on the target,” but that comes from a lwayer and not a scientist.

My guess is they hit the targeted mosquitoes just fine, but they also hit the bees and who knows what else.

Re:Night vs Day

[arglebargle_xiv]

Dear Mosquitos,

See what we did to those bees? If you don't shape up, you're next.

Love,
South Carolina state government.

Re:Night vs Day

[elrous0]

In their defense, the illegals they hired are only available at Home Depot during the day.

This is serious business

[marmot7]

I am not sure everyone understands that we totally depend on viable bee populations for our own survival. We're abstracted from it but it's real. Plants --> Animals -->People eating. ^ System cut off at the knees by destabilizing bee population, a process that's already started so more pressued isn't the right input.

How many bees is your childs life worth?

[the_Bionic_lemming]

DDT could save millions of lives. We tossed that to the side because of shaky science. Now we have Zika and that fix is killing bees.

So do we go back to ddt? Or just suffer the effects of Zika?

Re:How many bees is your childs life worth?

[sjames]

Nothing shaky about it. The science was well done and replicated all over the world many times.

Re:How many bees is your childs life worth?

[El Puerco Loco]

That is thoroughly debunked right wing nonsense. DDT was never banned for vector control, not even in the U.S. It is still used in malaria endemic regions for indoor residual spraying, which, unlike aerial spraying with adulticides, is actually effective for mosquito control. Spraying Naled is theater.

Re:How many bees is your childs life worth?

[AK Marc]

Sure, did you tell yourself that about lead in gasoline and smoking cigarettes too? What else do you believe is "shaky science" that really isn't.

DDT is shakey science because indoor spraying in smaller concentrations has since been shown to have no ill effects on the environment. The initial science was wrong, overblown by the hippie movement, and poor application of DDT in mass outdoor spraying.

Maybe we should just keep our women indoors.

And wrapped in a burqa.

The U.S. legal system will fix this.

[SeaFox]

The beekeepers are saying they were never given any warning of this, so there will certainly be lawsuits in the pipeline and the spraying will stop.

No risk to humans so everything's fine.

[rnturn]

It breaks down rapidly and, in the very low doses at which it is prescribed, should not pose a risk to humans.

Uh... did they test it on other, you know, non-mosquito insects? Have they had their fingers in their ears for the past decade and didn't hear about declining bee populations?

This insecticide might not have a direct effect on humans. But the secondary effect of not having any damned food just might turn out to be rather important.

Vietnam

[stooo]

Agent Orange breaks down rapidly and, in the very low doses at which it is prescribed, should not pose a risk to humans. 'In Vietnam, we use these products quite frequently to reduce Crops, but we don't see many non-target effects, because the doses are really small,' said General A. Nonymous, a public health Military at Louisiana War Department. 'A lot of people don't realise that we always have the environment in mind. We try to have products that have the lowest possible impact.'"

mosquitoes CANNOT be controlled with biotoxins

[ihtoit]

they reproduce too damn fast, and with their rapid lifecycle comes the development of resistant strains.

Now, what we do know (I learned this in junior school!) is that mosquitoes breed in stagnant water.

How about a mechanical control method, that's been proven to work? DRAIN THE POOLS, PUDDLES, OPEN SEWERS, AND ANY OTHER BODY OF WATER WHICH DOESN'T FLOW! Problem SOLVED!

(Fuck Monsanto et al whose business depends on shifting ludicrous amounts of the nastiest chemicals known to exist).