Causes of Bee Deaths
by Patrick Sheehy
Hello, I read your article on the disapearance of worker bees and was just reading an article on wikipedia about different causes. Patrick, in many regards I do wholeheartedly agree with you. I have many articles on my website about the many causes and theories with regards to CCD, or Colony Collapse Disorder, different and possible causes of Bee Deaths. I too have read with great interest that Bayer are responsible for producing the types of pesticides believed to be responsible for the causes. Interestingly when I wrote to them, as I suspect many more did, they declined to even acknowledge me. Not really a surprise as they are hardly going to throw their hands in the air and admit "It is us, We kill the bees! I have provided you with some further information which you can read below and hopefully it will help a little more to explaining just why we cannot blame Bayer entirely although they certainly appear to be a major factor into the causes of some bee deaths. A study entitled The puzzle of honey bee losses published last summer by Italian scientists likewise comes to the conclusion that the impact of pesticides on global bee deaths is underestimated and that the scientists financed by the chemical industry frequently deliberately ignore the risks. You can read more here: Press Release, April 25, 2011 Coalition against Bayer Dangers (Germany) In early May 2008, between 330 and 500 million bees were killed in the Western part of Germany (Rheintal) by Bayer's clothianidin pesticide, which had been applied as a dressing to amize seed: CCD killed off about a third of US honeybees in 2007 and 2008. The team working on this research found 65 genes that were distinctly different in CCD bees. They also discovered unusual snippets of genetic material that are typical of infection with the RNA viruses known as picorna-like viruses. They found no evidence to suggest that pesticides or bacterial infection are the primary cause of CCD. Berenbaum thinks picorna-like viruses may be the root cause, making the bees highly vulnerable to other viruses, pesticides and bacteria. Please continue to read more in this article at: Honey Bee Deaths I have interviewed quite a few beekeepers, all of them experts, however, with differing opinions in some respects. Over at my Beekeeping Forum Phil Chandler strongly believes this: Like the rest of the natural world, bees have suffered from our insanely toxic agricultural system, which is based on a fundamentally flawed notion: that we can treat nature as merely a food factory without suffering any consequences..... Another expert Dr Sanford says in my interview with him: I point out that the current bee losses continue to be a complex of things that are different in many parts of the world. Pesticides are only a part of the equation and probably not the most important in many areas, although they get a lot of press. I still believe that the real culprit is the Varroa bee mite......... And the article I suspect you would most like to read is Written by Dr Reese Halter, you can read the whole article here: Honeybees-Bees-Neonictinoids An excerpt: Billions of bees died in France before the government banned these poisons. Since the ban, France’s bees have stopped dying by the billions, but bees are still dying from other factors like mites, viruses, and global warming. Neonictinoids are used widely throughout North America. One things is for sure, if all our bees become Missing Bees........Let’s hope we never go there! Warm Regards Janette
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