Nicotine-Based Pesticide
May Explain Bee Colony Collapse!!
France have banned the use of a class of pesticides known as
     neonicotinoids.
France, Italy, Germany and Slovenia found that the nicotine-
      based substance impaired the bees' navigational and foraging
       abilities.

 

 

The insecticide is sold under the name of Poncho, Gaucho and Cruiser, made by Bayer and Syngenta, and put on the seeds prior to planting.  The pesticide then moves through a plant’s vascular system.  Bees pick up the pollen from the plants and the theory is that the pesticide affects their immune system and behavior.

Kimberly Stoner, an entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven has a grant proposal out to study pesticide residues, but her $786,000 grant proposal has not been funded by the USDA.  And no such research was funded in the federal farm bill’s $28 million in “specialty crop” grants, despite assurances from members of Congress that funding was forthcoming.

Hackenberg says a report from Minnesota this week found corn syrup fed to honeybees contained eight parts per billion of neonicotinoids. 

Beekeepers have appeared on YouTube talking about their suspicions about neonicotinoids.  

In Europe, they practice the precautionary principle, where a suspicion of harm sparks action, not reaction to the harm.

Stoner tells the Palm Beach Post, “it puts the burden of proof more on people who market pesticides to show that the claim is unfounded. Here you have to show proof of harm.”

Globally, pathogens, parasites, genetically modified foods, cell phones, and environmental stresses which include pesticides have all been considered. 

According to USDA statistics, during the winter of 2007-2008, U.S. beekeepers reported a total loss of 36 percent of the honey bee colonies.    

Other bee keepers report 50 to 90 percent of their colonies are gone.