Widely Used Pesticide Is a Buzzkill for Honeybees

a reply to: stormcell

and I repeat...

There are many reasons for hive collapse including the varro virus. Hive collapses of this nature have been recorded in history BEFORE niconids were developed.

mentalfloss.com...

Well they've stopped spraying for mosquitoes here in BC Canada.
They're doing a non harmful way of just treating larvae to stop the hatching.

I'm being eaten alive! Mind you I will say I've not seen any bees 🐝 dropping dead on my deck this year. Usually they're just fumbling around trying to get going, then just die.

I definitely see a lot less bees than I used to. Actually I haven't seen any bees at all this year.

The question that now worries me, having established Neonics are indeed killing the bees, is these chemicals are in the food chain now.

So what are they doing to us?

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks

Honeybee hive collapse started in 2007.

Untrue. It started before that. There is a negative correlation between the pesticide and honey production. Not proof, but it is evidence.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Listen. This is pretty clear and easy. If there pesticide was toxic to be bees, the proof would be easy to gather. Instead, all we get are iffy studies and statistics.

We have been through this before.

Remember frogs and how there was "evidence" that pesticides were wiping them out. Turned out to be a natural fungus. But in the meantime, boy, was the population concerned. And how the money flowed into WWF and Greenpeace. and Organic Farmers made out like bandits as people shunned pesticides.

No proof, just marketing.

And here we are again. Montsanto funds a few iffy studies and statistics. Niconids stand accused of killing honeybees. NO proof, just "evidence". Monsanto backs a few environmental groups to scream for a ban on niconids and farmers are forced to switch from niconids to Rapid, the new pesticide in the pipeline. WWF and Greenpeace and organic farmers again, make out like bandits.


Remember the Ozone Layer and how use of CFCs was destroying it. Lots of money to be made on that one. Montreal Protocol and the developed world had to replace every refigerator and AC. Cost about a trillion dollars. China and India did not go with the program (lucky for them). Lucky there was a new and less toxic product in the pipeline, all ready to roll out to the marker.

20 years later...of yeah, the ozone layer was thinning every year since the 1970s when it was first observed. The hole was "healing" and then growing again. Turns out, it was related more to temperature then CFC.


Environmentalist should be able to see the pattern and understand that the environmental movement has been hijacked and is now a marketing tool

originally posted by: TiredofControlFreaks

Remember frogs and how there was "evidence" that pesticides were wiping them out. Turned out to be a natural fungus.

Funny, because it's a proven fact that pesticides kill frogs.

www.theguardian.com...

news.berkeley.edu...

www.dailymail.co.uk...

www.dailykos.com...

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

And that is the trouble..... iffy science

www.livescience.com...

Warming of the climate isn't directly causing the decline in frog populations in the Andes mountains. Instead, the frogs are falling victim to a killer fungus that is decimating amphibian species worldwide: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or chytrid fungus.

yes, some frogs fall victim to pesticides but it was not pesticides that caused the world-wide frog population to die. it was a fungus.

here is the current status of honey bee hives

www.epa.gov...

Colony Collapse Disorder is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen. Once thought to pose a major long term threat to bees, reported cases of CCD have declined substantially over the last five years. The number of hives that do not survive over the winter months – the overall indicator for bee health – has maintained an average of about 28.7 percent since 2006-2007 but dropped to 23.1 percent for the 2014-2015 winter. While winter losses remain somewhat high, the number of those losses attributed to CCD has dropped from roughly 60 percent of total hives lost in 2008 to 31.1 percent in 2013; in initial reports for 2014-2015 losses, CCD is not mentioned.

Yes pesticides kill some bees but are you going to try to explain to me why niconids are toxic one year but not the next.

Its not "science". Its not "statistics". I am not an expert. But with common sense, even the dumbest among us should be able to spot a marketing ploy and stop reacting to it.

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks

There is no iffy science. Pesticides do kill frogs.

SAVE THE BEES,,,,,,,, shoot the seals

a reply to: TiredofControlFreaks I can see your point ,, its hard to believe what anyone says anymore ,,,,, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

pesticides kill. that is what pesticides do! there will always be some kill of unintended targets but its localized and of little concern.

People forget that pesticides cost money and increase operating costs. Farmers have a strong motivation to use as little pesticide as necessary to get the job done.

Pesticides didn't cause the worldwide decline of the frog population. That was proven to be a naturally occurring fungus (they don't use much pesticides in the Andes). Notice how you don't hear about how frog deaths are "the canary in the coal mine and proof that we are all going to die soon" so much anymore.

Incidences of Colony Collapse Disorder have been recorded going back to 1909. That is almost 80 years before niconids were invented.

The honeybee hives have recovered since the 2008 incidence.

Using occam's razor philosophy, the simplest explanation is the one the fits all the known facts, it is not possible for niconids to be used for almost 20 years without an issue, kill the bees world wide in a fit of toxicity and then stop being toxic and allow the bees to recover. Niconids are NOT intelligent like that.

There are a variety of causes of Colony Collapse Disorder. It seems the varro virus and other pathogens were the main cause of this one.

a reply to: brushybill13

Thank you - I know I am not being nice about but I am so fustrated with paying for the pronouncents of iffy science used as a marketing ploy.

No one is ever held accountable and no one ever even apologises for the costs that have been imposed on the rest of us.

It is time to hold these people responsible and to stop letting politicians play with feel-good environmentalism.

originally posted by: nOraKat
I definitely see a lot less bees than I used to. Actually I haven't seen any bees at all this year.

I'm seeing some.....and waiting for one flowering shrub to come into full bloom....that will be telling as it is a bee magnet.

Ok a few myths one European honey bees which is what is used for pollination are NOT native to The Americas .
So just how do you think plants got pollinated before they were brought here ?

bugguide.net... Over 4000 types of bees that are here and even if the European bee was goin there are many other types that do the same .
Now we ( humans like these bees best NOT because they are the best at pollinating but because they make the most honey in the prosses .
So no plants will not all die off because this bee was goin . But it would cause years of famion until we could establish other types of bees as we mass plant and these bees are teh ones we use so no other type has as many bees .
Of corse saying pesticides kill bees is a oxymoron anyway . Ovesly wanting to kill so called pest ( of which there are 1000s of types means a poison taht can kill many types not just one and doing that chances are it will kill bees as well .
we are screwing our selfs by the way we farm but we have no choice but to do it .
we can gropw other bees but we cant grow enough food if half is lost to pest and we cant grow enough food if we dont use fertilizer both of which cause problems in our environment and in the end can easly end our lv of farming and cause much starvation .
so we are damed if we do damed if we dont .
we really need to devolip Yeast teck and get away from farming entirely .
then we can feed 8 billion and not need a single bee of a single acre of plowed land to do it .