Mass Honeybee Die-off — Colony Collapse Disorder — Caused by Insecticides
For years, authorities have been dumbfounded (or were they?) by the mass die-off of millions of bees. What could be causing this?
And now the results are in: Insecticides have been linked to colony collapse disorder. Specifically it’s the Neonicotinoid Insecticides that are used on corn. The seeds are sprayed with these insecticides before being planted.
This information is from a study titled “Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds” and has been published by the American Chemical Society.
OK, so now that we have this information, what are we going to do? Which will be the higher priority: Saving the ecosystems and food supplies that are dependent on honeybees? Or making sure that Big Ag doesn’t have to suffer any inconvenience?
Perhaps Big Ag — via their prostitutes in Congress — will demand further study before making any rash decisions. Some new corporate front groups might start orchestrating huge spontaneous demonstrations on behalf of the “family farm.”
There could be a massive smear campaign against bee-huggers and those nefarious socialists who want to take over America’s agriculture.
Or maybe our leaders will do the right thing. (Riiight.)
In any case, we have the information now. What will we do with it?
Labels: colony collapse disorder, corn insecticides, honeybee die-off, neonicotinoid insecticides
posted by Tom Harper @ 12:38 PM
14 Comments:
Give it a quick funeral and bury it deep.
Better do something with it. No bees, big, big problems.
This comment has been removed by the author.
via their prostitutes in Congress
I guess you mean Pelosi too. Can't have insects ruining her 25 million dollar vineyard
Lisa do you ever, and I mean EVER, consider how STUPID something you post is going to sound before you submit it?
The other components of a hell of a lot of wines depend on bee pollination. Wineries all over the country are TRYING to create habitats for bees. If you weren't such a waste of oxygen, you'd know that. But nothing that Hannity doesn't fart ever lands between your ears, does it?
Right, like a collection of Nirvana B-sides killed off a bunch of bees.
Jerry: That's probably what will happen to this information. We can't upset the corn-growing industry.
JR: Yup, definitely big problems.
That's good to know about wineries. Then again, I used to live in California's "wine country" and the large grape growers were just as reckless and destructive as any other Big Ag operation. Maybe they're changing; I left the area 8 years ago.
Randal: The mysteries of science.
What will be done with the information?
Sadly, the choice will be whatever costs Big Ag the least amount of money. People who run that part of the corporatocracy could care less about things like bees, bats, frogs, birds, polluted water, bad air, safe food, a healthy ecosystem and public health in general. And they have lots of politicians in their pockets.
Big Ag doesn't care about Tom, JollyRoger, Lisa, Randal, Jerry or me or any of the rest of us, nor do they care about our children or our children's children. They care only about dollars, plain and simple. So they will cut corners, ignore information, and complain loudly as they help out those talkers who would blame all of this kind of stuff on the pinko, whacko, tree-hugging, environmentalist etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah, so as to convince the public to think in line with them...
And sadly, I can't see the president doing anything about it until after he gets re-elected, because I think he will need some of Big Ag's support in his re-election campaign.
Jolly Roger says it best. "No bees, big, big problems."
I agree with Snave. All Big Ag cares about is selling us it's fertilizer, it's insecticide, it's feed and it's genetically altered seeds that have to be bought and grown every year. You can get a heavy fine if you use last year's seed.
Trivia Note: I count 17 States including Utah that have the Honeybee as it's official Insect and Utah is the Behive State.
Would you expect their coalitions to do the right thing?
Erik
And yes Tom big Wine are bullies in the terms on how they treat their neighbors, use chemicals, and use their influence to sometimes even abuse the environment.
But they also need the Bees
Erik
Snave: I'm afraid you're right. Big Ag will instruct their congressional prostitutes to either squelch the information and/or keep delaying any changes with further "studies."
Erik: During the summer of 2001, Sonoma County was under the constant threat of being sprayed if the grape growers found another glassy-wing sharpshooter. They never did find another one so they never sprayed, but they were all set to spray entire residential neighborhoods and organic farms, which would lose their "Organic" certification because of being sprayed.
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors are completely in the pockets of vineyard owners. Nobody else counts.
One thing to remember is that the European honeybee -- and *ALL* crops which rely on the European honeybee for pollination -- is an immigrant to the Americas. The Americas had no honeybees, and no crops that required honeybees for pollination, when the first Europeans stepped ashore here.
Note that corn is one of those plants native to the Americas, and does not require honeybees for pollination. Wheat, like most grasses, also doesn't require honeybees for pollination. Nor do soybeans. That there is the Big Three of U.S. agricultural crops, none of which require bees for pollination. Hmm, you *really* wonder whether Big Ag cares about the bees? That little fact should give you pause...
- Badtux the History Penguin
Of course Big Ag doesn't care about the bees. They also don't care about the collateral damage that would be caused to all the other crops that are dependent on cross-pollination.
Why save bees?
Why save bees?
It is not only Big Ag, but Big Business in general. They don't care about collateral damage at all. The environment? Workers? All just expenses that need to be minimized, if not eliminated.
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