To other Kossacks have been sharing this material and I would like to pass it on!
Bugsby--Save the Bees
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And Northsylvania
Petition Against NeoNicotinoids--Deadline Today:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
There have already been several movements here in the states to ban NeoNicotinoids and with good cause.
It appears that at this point in time, this is the main, threat to Bee Health. Not just honey bees but also bumble bees and other indigenous bees, because NeoNicotinoids suppress the immune system of the bees making them vulnerable to a variety of pathogens.
Think-Chemically induced-Bee-Aids.
Some people argue vehemently that there is inadequate research to support this.
But 18 years mass bee deaths, and ruined migratory bee keeping businesses, as well as a steep decline in pollinators in general, are strongly indicating that NeoNicotinoids are the impetus that starts the chain reaction.
So you have a choice.
You can wait and see, while we reach a critical level of lost genetic diversity in our global bee population, both domestic and wild.
Or you can help us do what we can to mitigate this one factor, so that we can move on to the other threats.
You can visit the global petition here:
http://www.avaaz.org/...
There is new research being released, that keeps going back to NeoNicotinoids.
There are 2 kinds of exposure:
Lethal
and
Sublethal
The lethal exposure often happens when corn seed is treated with neonicotinoid, and then dipped in talc, because the pesticide makes the corn seed sticky. The talc keeps it from sticking to the farm machinery during planting. The problem is, that the farm machinery broadcasts a cloud of neonicotinoid infused talc all over the fields, where bees are active, and this stuff travels easily on the wind making a massive toxic cloud.
Bees exposed in this manner usually do not make it back to the hive. This is in part why there is a cluster of conspicuous bee-disappearances, right around the spring and fall planting times. Those bees are often dead in the fields.
The other route of exposure --sublethal, meaning that it doesn't "Kill" the bee [quickly]. Because NeoNicotinoids are systemic pesticides--meaning that they are taken up into the plant, and expressed in the pollen, nectar and guttation. So the bees are eating this mixed with their food from their earliest days as a larva, til the very end. In this manner, the minute amounts of pesticide, suppress their immune systems.
“Researchers found that bees deliberately exposed to minute amounts of the pesticide were, on average, three times as likely to become infected when exposed to a parasite called nosema as those that had not. The findings, which have taken more than three years to be published, add weight to concern that a new group of insecticides called neonicotinoids are behind a worldwide decline in honey bees, along with habitat and food loss, by making them more susceptible to disease.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/...
This report addresses both kinds of exposure:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/...
Bee Keepers all over the world, are taking action. But they need all the help they can get.
"Commercial Bee Keepers and environmental organizations filed a petition Wednesday, asking federal regulators to suspend use of a pesticide they say harms honey bees...Over 1.25 million people also submitted comments in partnership with the organizations, calling on the EPA to take action. Huffpo-O3/21/12"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
That seems like a lot of people, but given the corporatist climate of today, will it really be enough?
"The disorder continues to decimate hives in the U.S. and overseas. Since it was recognized in 2006, the disease has destroyed colonies at a rate of about 30 percent a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Before that losses were about 15 percent a year, from a variety of pests and diseases IBID."
In actuality, the fight began back in 1995:
"In the United States, a group of Bee Keepers from North Dakota, is taking the company to court after loosing thousands of honey bee colonies in 1995, during a period when oilseed rape in the area was treated with imidacloprid. A third of honey bees were killed by what has since been dubbed colony collapse disorder. http://www.guardian.co.uk/... "
So this goes back way before 2006. 2006 was when this peaked. When the new product had reached market saturation here in the states.
If you want to read more, just go below the squiggle.
A new book is being published:
A new book entitled The Systemic Insecticide: A Disaster in the Making by Dutch toxicologist Dr Henk Tennekes sheds light onto a family of highly toxic chemicals -- neonictinoids -- which are implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder and the deaths of tens of billions of honeybees around the globe. Modern monoculture farming has begun to distance itself from spraying insecticides. Instead, it has opted to genetically modify seeds. Neonictinoids are inserted into the seed enabling the insecticide, which is water-soluble, to move throughout its system where ultimately the toxicity is transferred to the nectar and pollen.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The whole story is very interesting, I would check it out.
Bees exposed to neonictinoids exhibit symptoms mimicking Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. In fact, the French referred to the effect as "mad bee disease" and in 1999 were the first to ban the use of these chemicals. Germany, Italy and Slovenia have recently followed suit. The German agriculture institute concluded that the poisoning of the bees was a result of a "rub-off" of the neonictinoid clothianidin from corn seeds.
Recently, the EPA has suspended the sale of Spirotetramat another neonictinoid under its trade names of Movento and Ultor. There are, however, other widespread neonictinoids available in the U.S. Currently there are no injunctions in place against neonictinoids in Canada or Mexico IBID.
and it's not just honey bees. It's beetles, earthworms as well. And I am certain, since it is aimed at butterflies and moths, that it is doing a number on other beneficial, non-target insects as well.
And because of this, bird populations are crashing due to a lack of food.
No insects, no birds.
No flowers, no fruit and vegies.
No earthworms or soil fauna, no soil fertility. That is what makes compost.
If you are interested, I have a timeline available. I have to make a part two, to show all the material that has since been released on the Colony Collapse Disorder manner alone.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I would add, that given all the products that Bayer and BASF produces, I really do not see why they would want to hold on so tightly to something that is so incredibly harmful. We already buy so many things that these companies produce or manufacture. It isn't as if NeoNicotinoids are their only golden goose to provide revenue.
It isn't as if they are going out of business or will because of this one family of pesticides.