Bees disappearing as mystery ailment sweeps U.S.

[sasha031]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070329/bees_ccd_070329/20070329?hub=CTVNewsAt11

Bees are vanishing across the United States, leaving empty colonies behind and putting honey production in jeopardy -- and nobody knows why.


California beekeeper David Bradshaw said he's trying not to dwell on the fact that half his bees are gone. "I'd be an emotional mess if I just kept thinking about the bees dying," he told CTV News. Experts gathered in Washington Thursday at a House Agriculture Subcommittee, describing the mysterious threat as "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD).

The remains of dead bees usually remain inside a hive, unless worker bees carry their bodies them out. But colonies affected by CCD show no signs of the ailment, aside from a notable absence of mature bees.It's possible the affected bees abandon the hive before dying, but scientists have yet to understand why or how. In the past six months, U.S. beekeepers estimate they have lost between 50 and 90 per cent of their honeybees. One colony can have 60,000 bees in the summer, and that number drops to about 20,000 in the winter.

[texpatriot2004]

1. kick it for the bees nm

[sasha031]

2. I know this has been going on

and to me this is very scary, if you conceder all the implications....

[AGKISTRODON]

14. Scary doesn't cover it

It is hard for most people to grasp just how much we depend on bees. This is a very big problem, folks!

[librechik]

19. wcs: it's a death sentence

it's impossible to overstimate the importance of bees to the survival of the environment.If it spreads world wide, other things dependent on bees start dying off. How long before humans are affected?

[Toots]

36. Awhile back there was a story about birds falling out of the sky also.

Everyone remembers about "The birds and the bees" It is the story of life and reproduction. I look upon this as a sign similar to "crop circles". An intelligence is telling us something.. Are we just too dumb to pay attention?

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. Bees are so important to agriculture.

This is serious business. :(

[sasha031]

6. YOU BET IT IS

I'm surprised this isn't getting much attention on DU.

[sarge43]

17. It is. Many crops will not reproduce or produce very little without bee pollination.

Almonds, apples, oranges, alfalfa, onions, carrot and celery seeds to name just a few.

The hell of it is no one seems to know the cause.

[sasha031]

4. Mysterious disorder killing off commercial bees now in Arizona

Mites, fungus, viruses, pesticides and even genetically modified crops have been mentioned as possible causes of the die-off.

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6302013

[baldguy]

21. It can't be GM crops! Corporations make too much profit off of them!

:sarcasm:

[Benhurst]

5. Recommended #1 This is serious news, indeed. The consequences

can hardly be exaggerated.

[sasha031]

9. it's been going on for awhile

Genetic Modified Foods is on the table as an explanation.

my hatred for corporations and their take over, I find it so hard to contain myself.


in the meantime, big bad Cuba :sarcasm: is flourishing with their organic crops.

I blame this on agent orange Monsanto

[Benhurst]

22. Yes, it has; but it seems to be getting much worse. You are right about Monsanto. NT

[Poll_Blind]

13. You got that right! K&R! n/t

PB

[Robbien]

7. In the sub-committee meeting

the Feds are so asleep on this. They are working to outline a plan to define what the problem is. The outline should be done by fall/winter. Then they plan to set up research groups whose goal will be to better define the problem.

Also the Feds have a five year study to watch the bees.

Congress was sitting there listening to this with their mouths open. The bees are disappearing today and the Feds will get back to us in a couple to five years.

Sounds like this is just another hi-jacked Fed department whose only goal now has been to promote GOPers.

[jean]

8. so this is happening only in the US - not in Europe?

[sasha031]

11. the European Union banned Monsonto

and the corporation actually had the nerve to take tehm to court, this is a few yrs back, I was living there, I don't know what the outcome was, I think europe won.

These *ucking bastards, they are doing this all over the world, they are in India, as farmers are committing suicide. I was reading a very scary article the other day. It's about population control.

[rman]

26. uhm... "EU Tells Greece to Lift Ban on Monsanto Maize Seeds"

:(

EU Tells Greece to Lift Ban on Monsanto Maize Seeds
BELGIUM: January 11, 2006
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/34421/story.htm

BRUSSELS - The European Commission has ordered Greece to lift its ban on planting genetically modified (GMO) maize seeds made by US biotech giant Monsanto Commission officials said on Tuesday.

"It has been adopted (by the Commission), an order to lift the ban," one official told Reuters.

In September 2004, the EU authorised 17 different seed strains of Monsanto maize from a parent crop known as MON 810 for planting and sale across EU territory, flying in the face of widespread consumer resistance to GMO crops and foods.

...

EU law provides for countries to decide whether to allow such seeds on national territory - although a ban must be approved by EU member states to be legal. Greece used this provision in early 2005, notifying the Commission of its ban on the 17 maize seed types for the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons.

...

[mike_c]

15. yes, it is happening in Europe too....

eom

[rman]

27. Are GM Crops Killing Bees? (Germany)

Der Spiegel
COLLAPSING COLONIES
Are GM Crops Killing Bees?
By Gunther Latsch
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473166,00.html

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

...

[IDemo]

10. An earlier thread on this topic here ->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=536605&mesg_id=536605

[sasha031]

12. thank you for the link

i want to cry:cry:

I love Bee's, hummingbirds, beautiful natural flowers all of nature.

By the time these monsters get through with the planet, it will be like the moon.

I think about the young, what are they inheriting.

it is time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmejHPOGGtU

[catgirl]

16. pesticides?

K/R

[sarge43]

18. Could be or combined with other problems

The trouble is the bees just disappear so they can't be biop'ed.

[librechik]

20. I suspect climate change

bees are incredibly temperature sensitive. And many animal species in general are moving north in hopes of finding cooler comditions. How do you speculate when the arctic ocean is disppearing?

Strange times...

[sarge43]

23. Probably weather extremes are more the problem.

Here in New England, many colonies were wiped out thanks to a long cold wet spring - little or no honey flow at the beginning of the season. Then, a hot dry summer, followed by some vicious cold snaps. That's what nailed our four hives.

[thecrow]

24. Same thing's happening in Canada

From the article:

"Recently, we have reports out of Canada that they have the exact same symptoms and collapses ongoing there," said Diana Cox-Foster, a professor of entomology with the Pennsylvania State University.

[smoogatz]

25. It's affecting us here in the midwest, too--

some die-offs as much as 80%, apparently. It's quite bizarre, but I'd guess that GM crops that are designed to resist insects are a likely culprit. Wasn't there a story awhile back about GM crops in South America killing monarch butterflies?

On edit: the monarch die-off appears to have been caused by freak storms/cold in Mexico. http://www.usatoday.com/news/science/2003-02-20-mexico-butterflies_x.htm

[bagrman]

28. Einstien knew, if the honey bee died off so would the rest of us. Paraphrased.

[lebkuchen]

29. It that happened in Germany, the wine crop would be toast

not to mention fruit industry.

[emmadoggy]

30. K & R

No words, just :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry: :scared: :cry:

[tom_paine]

31. Their have been blights and die-offs since the beginning of history

The question is: Is this related to GM crops or another man-made occurrance?

Is it related to climate change or the importation of some foreign species (bee, microbe, or otherwise) not yet detected?

Science doesn't know yet, and we have to give it time to find out in order tobe able to take intelligent action to counter it.

Is it ominous? Given the acceleration of climate change and given the acceleration in species extinction/year (greater than any other time since 65 millions yrs ago, dinosaurs going extinct) it is VERY ominous.

[bagrman]

38. With most die offs, the Hives are over ran and the honey eaten, This time the

hives and honey is being left alone. Most of the European articles lean towards GMOs. And if you want to go with the parasites and other knowns, then the warmer winters are giving them a better chance of survival and to come back more virialant the followning year. And with the natural die offs the bees return to the hive to die, this time they leave and don't come back.

Latr

[lonestarnot]

32. Let's import our honey from China!

[sarge43]

37. We already do.

Most of the stuff in the supermarkets is either from China or Argentina.

[Th1onein]

33. A crazy thought, but could this have anything to do with

the genetically engineered crops?

Duh! Guess it's not so crazy, is it?

[Subdivisions]

34. I saw a segment on CNN about this (yes, I was surprised)

and they noted that 250,000 species of plants, that's 250 THOUSAND, plant species require bees in order to reproduce.

That's gonna hurt.

[Irishonly]

35. It's worse than frightening

:kick: