Hey! Who’s Troubling You Honey?

On my way back from a trip abroad, I generally try to pick up the best honey for my close relations. During the past decade I have been hearing that the supply of honey may become scarce with the bees vanishing at an alarming rate.

It’s a question that has baffled the worlds of agriculture and science – what is it that has caused the mysterious deaths of honey bees all over the world in the last five years? A new film may have the answer, says The Independent.

Vanishing of the Bees, which will be released in Britain next month, claims the cause is the use of a new generation of pesticides that weakens the bees and makes them more susceptible to other diseases.

“The problem first appeared in America in the winter of 2004, when many beekeepers across the country found that their bees had suddenly vanished, leaving behind empty hives. Since then scientists have failed to find a single cause for it.

“The film goes on to suggest that neonicotinoid pesticides, some of them made by Bayer, one of the world’s biggest chemical companies, may be behind the disappearances.

“The pesticides include the widely-used imidacloprid (marketed under the trade name Gaucho), which has been banned in France following pressure from beekeepers. It is still in use in Britain, the US and elsewhere.” More here…

Also see here about “(Bee) Colony collapse disorder”…

Honey Bees pollinate 90% of our orchards, no bees means no pollination, which means no apples. But of course it does not stop there either. The effect on agriculture would be catastrophic. No less a person than Albert Einstein noted that without bees mankind could not survive for more than 4 years!

In the USA Honey Bees pollinate one third of the food grown. It is estimated that 30% – 90% of the Honey Bees have disappeared in some areas of America. Honeybees are not native to America (they arrived with the early settlers) but the native Bumble Bees are also disappearing. Once a common insect, and responsible for pollinating 15% of the crops in the United States, they are now rarely seen.

So what is happening? More here…

Various ingredients of honey have helped it to become not only a
sweet liquid but also a natural product with high nutritional and
medicinal value. See here…