Hey! Who’s Troubling You Honey?
Oct 2nd, 2009 | 4 responses
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…
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4 Responses to “Hey! Who’s Troubling You Honey?”
Big problem my ag friends and I have noticed for years now. A scant few have come back in certain years only to die off again and nothing the next.. Some small flies and bumblebees try to make up for the lack but nothing dives into a calyx quite as deep as honey bees seem to. Ergo the better pollinators they are…
I've said it before that of all the woes mankind faces today, ignoring problems in agriculture would be the most devastating ultimately..
.Thanks to the non-cooperating anti-environmental Conservatives, there is no leadership from the United States for the world to admire. Rather the world is taking their own lead and see the U.S. more or less as a pariah. Well the Universe doesn’t care if we kill ourselves. No tears will be shed. No God will save us from our greedy leaders.
My own honeybees flew the coop sometime between last fall and early this spring. No more of the best honey I've (along with friends and family) ever had… at least for awhile. I'm a hobbyist, it isn't my living, but of course it's still alarming. I did see a lot of honeybees this summer on my white clover, so I suspect some of them may have swarmed last summer and established a feral colony in the nearby woods… a woods that is full of hollow trees thanks to the emerald ash borer. Yup, all the pollinating in the US used to be done by other creatures, not honeybees. The irresponsible use of pesticides (for so many decades) has reduced the number of our native pollinators terribly. Just to dovetail with FT's comment, I've never understood why matters of the environment should have become politicized the way they have. We're all in this boat together, regardless of ideology – that should be a no brainer. Taking the long view is to everyone's advantage, not just democrats or republicans.
Bayer again. . .
I confess i am biased when it comes to Bayer but have kept up with them for many years. . .when i first came to this city worked five years for Bayer as a Chemical Technologist as i was acquiring a MA degree. . . .i worked on a project doing chemical analysis from the toxic pits that where underneath the company's production buildings. . .Bayer began the production of pesticides as a result of the German sister company that developed poisonous gasses for the Nazi concentration camps. . . .When Bayer first began their manufacturing of chemicals it was legal to dump your waste on your own property, but in the seventies legislation required that all dumping in the past had to be cleaned up, but Bayer had grown and had built many production plants on top of the pits. Even though Bayer location is bordered by two rivers and EPA was consistently getting high toxicity readings their total concern was not environment but how could they avoid the expense of clean-up which they have continued to do to this day. . .
In the process of working with the highly toxic samples i became quite ill. . .ended up spending six months in the hospital with weight loss to 86 lbs from the over-exposure. . .while i was in the hospital an Industrial Hygienist brought me a folder that documented that Bayer knew the hood system was broken before i ever began the project and they had taken samples that showed i was over-exposed 43 times the TLV but had not wanted to fix the hood because it would of been a 84,000 capital expenditure. . . .This over-exposure left me with the inability to have children and a lot wiser about greed and the dynamics of the misuse of Corporate power. . .I fought this company for years because i had really solid documentation based on the soil samples with the hope that Bayer would have to clean their site up. . . . Alas i have accepted when it comes to Bayer that i am a mere Tsi Tsi fly on a Rhinoceros's rump. . . after 25 years Bayer has won through slow red-tape death. . . Know this is more than anyone might care to know about Bayer and my own saga but Tsi Tsi still buzzes at the mention of Bayer. . .
When i heard that Bayer was the likely culprit
Bayer is the one that manufactured tainted HIV serum into the large number of people with Hemophilia in the beginning years of the AID epidemic. . .once they realized that they had infected the U.S. instead of destroying the supplies the tainted drugs where released in foreign countries. . .and thousands where infected. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg-52mHIjhs
to one of the more recent dealings of Bayer since the awareness of the bees is: “Bayer Facing A Billion Dollars in Lawsuits After Polluting Thousands of Rice Fields with Genetically Engineered Rice”
and too many to count in between:
Bayer Chemical giant paid students to drink pesticide
Lois Rogers, Medical Correspondent. . . . .
“Bayer CropScience, of Mannheim, Germany, paid the students, mostly from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, £450 each to consume the pesticide.
The project, the fine detail of which is secret, has been condemned in the United States as unscientific and unethical. Experts are worried that cash-strapped students are vulnerable targets for researchers. Lawyers point out that the Nuremberg Code, formulated after the Nazis’ wartime experiments, bans the use of humans for testing poisonous substances where the risk exceeds the benefit to humanity.
Ironically, Bayer is the daughter company of IG Farben, the manufacturer of Zyklon B, a gas used in Nazi extermination camps.
Ironically, Bayer is the daughter company of IG Farben, the manufacturer of Zyklon B, a gas used in Nazi extermination camps.
“BayerGate” a short list i came up with over a year ago and since that time
Corruption case after ten years not investigated
Philippines: Bayer pesticides in capsized vessel
Pesticides banned in Germany: => Approval of Bayer´s pesticides Poncho and Chinook suspended=> The Guardian: Germany bans chemicals linked to bee devastation=> Greenpeace study: Bayer pesticides most damaging
Aspirin Price Fixing:=> Bayer fined 10.34 million euros by German Cartel Office=> Bayer, Zeon: Commission fines rubber producers € 34.2 million=> Press Release: ”Those responsible should be behind bars”
Trasylol Recall=> Heart drug's higher death risk detailed in study=> Interview: Massive side effects known for a long time=> 60 Minutes: 22,000 said died amid delayed Bayer drug recall
DuPont, Nissan, ADM, Bayer: Top US Air Polluters Named
Carbon monoxide pipeline: 80,000 protest signatures
Bayer US: Bhopal “sister plant” still home to MIC stockpile
Countermotions to Bayer´s Stockholders´ Meeting
Press Release Baycol: BAYER convicted for the first time
Antwerp, Krefeld: Coal-fired power plants on Bayer´s sites criticized
Chemical spill: Bayer's odor alert called 'abysmal' / Problems continue
Higher risk of death: Bayer pulls Trasylol from US market
GM Contamination Scandal in Germany / “Bayer must take responsibility”
Open Letter to UN Environmental Programme: Stop Partnering with Bayer / Please participate
Press Release: Campaign success against HCB imports from Australia!
Bayer´s Imidacloprid: Possible Culprit identified in Decline of Honeybees
see YouTube video “I Think Bayer Corporation is a Very Bad Company”
Coalition against Bayer Dangers introduces countermotions to Bayer´s Annual Stockholders´ Meeting
Turkey: Roche, Bayer, Pfizer sued for “Organized Crime”
Deadly Side Effects: Bayer ends 3 Trasylol clinical studies
BAYER honours war criminal Fritz ter Meer
Another GE rice from Bayer contaminates EU food supplies
“Risks of Death and Stroke”: Bayer failed to report risks of drug
Explosion in Baytown / Coalition urges Bayer to produce TDI plastics without phosgene
Open Letter to European Food Security Authority: EU urged not to approve Bayer´s GM Rice
Bayer urged to pull Dangerous Pesticides from Indian Market
Bayer´s Levitra: Impotence drug push falls flat
Open Letter to WWF Thailand: “Stop cooperation with Bayer!” / Answer from WWF
BAYER charged with cartel offences: ”Those responsible should be behind bars”
see video: Bayer sold Aids infected blood medications
Monsanto, Bayer: Australian Govt urged to outlaw commercial cotton crops
US: Bayer, CropLife Plotted Bush Human Testing Policy
Bayer/Lanxess: Addyston cancer rate 'troubling'
Bitter Pill for Bayer´s One-A-Day vitamins
After criticism of the Coalition against Bayer Dangers: Bayer cuts ties to speed eating
April 19: Open Letter / Bayer`s Disinformation on Climate Protection
Coalition against BAYER dangers introduces countermotions to Bayer´s stockholders` meeting
Feb 13: Biopirates in Africa – Bayer earns $379m from diabetes drug
Feb 8: FDA reviewing safety of Bayer heart-surgery drug / US Lawyers Assessing Trasylol Claims
Bayer`s Azinphos-methyl and Methamidophos: Ministers must stop u-turn on high concern pesticides
Say No to Bayer´s GM Rice LL62!
DECEMBER 21: EU fines Bayer, Chemtura for cartel activities
Bayer, Monsanto and Syngenta perpetuate child labour in India by low prices and flawed inspections