Massive Bee Deaths Solved? (GM Corn Is The Culprit)

An insecticide used as a seed treatment on genetically modified corn and other crops has been found to be highly toxic to honey bees, according to a study published recently in the journal PLoS ONE.

The study may be a key to solving the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder that has decimated bee populations over the last five years, causing losses of 30% and more of honey bee colonies every year since 2006, according to the US

there are suspected other causes though, i want to refer you guys to this thread.

thread was issued by Frogs.

Massive Bee Die Of Solved

it concluded that.

Dr. Bromenshenk’s team at the University of Montana and Montana State University in Bozeman, working with the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center northeast of Baltimore, said in their jointly written paper that the virus-fungus one-two punch was found in every killed colony the group studied. Neither agent alone seems able to devastate; together, the research suggests, they are 100 percent fatal.

“It’s chicken and egg in a sense — we don’t know which came first,” Dr. Bromenshenk said of the virus-fungus combo — nor is it clear, he added, whether one malady weakens the bees enough to be finished off by the second, or whether they somehow compound the other’s destructive power.

but let's get back to my article wich lays the blame on GM crops and insectides/pesticides.

Found at levels 700,000 times a bee's lethal dosage

Scientists at Purdue University documented major adverse impacts from the insecticide clothianidin (product name "Poncho") on honey bee health. The study found that bees are exposed to clothianidin and other pesticides throughout the foraging period. Researchers found extremely high levels of clothianidin-as high as 700,000 times a bee's lethal dosage-in seed planter exhaust material. It was found in foraging areas long after treated seed had been planted and in dead bees near hives in Indiana. It was also found in pollen collected by bees and stored in the hive. The study raises questions about the long-term survival of this major pollinator.

"This research should nail the coffin lid shut on clothianidin," says Laurel Hopwood, Sierra Club's chairwoman of the Genetic Engineering Action Team. "Despite numerous attempts by the beekeeping industry and conservation organizations to persuade the EPA to ban clothianidin, the EPA has failed to protect the food supply for the American people."

there's been a request to get clothianidin banned for years.
EPA always refused.

Clothianidin, which is manufactured by German agricultural company Bayer Crop Science

ah lovely Germany's Bayer.

lothianidin has been widely used as a seed treatment on many of the country’s major crops, particularly GM corn, since 2003. Back then, the Environmental Protection Agency granted it a “conditional registration,” while EPA waited for Bayer to conduct a field study assessing the insecticide’s threat to bee colony health.

Bayer submitted its study to the EPA in 2007, two years after it was due. A memo written by EPA scientists and leaked in 2010 said that Bayer’s study was flawed, stating that “deficiencies were identified that render the study supplemental.”

The memo was found by Tom Theobald, a founding member of the Boulder County Beekeeper’s Association. “The document reveals that the agency has been allowing the widespread use of this bee-toxic pesticide, against evidence that it’s highly toxic to bees. Clothianidin has failed to meet the requirements for registration. Its continued use is in violation of the law,” Theobald says.

lovely.

see what do you think?

imho it's further proof we need to get rid of frankenfood.

stop monsanto, bayer and every other goddamned crop-eugenics master.



source



Edit to add:

also let us not forget the importance of the bee to our own survival.

Einstein is often quoted saying:

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live."

wether he actually said that or not is often a higly debated topic.

but that doesn't make the bee's any less important too us.

reply to post by kn0wh0w


Thank you for posting this information. Not much left to say, so I'm just giving this a bump.

Concerning the Einstein quote, does anyone know how he came up with his conclusion? I'm interested in seeing his formula and what variables he used to figure that humans would be gone four years after honey bees died off.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can provide more details.

Edit to Add: Nevermind. After doing some of my own digging, Snopes says that there has never been any concrete evidence proving that Einstein even stated that about people soon following the bees' extinction. They think someone used his grand reputation so people would believe it. Even if Einstein didn't determine this, it still makes sense and we should try everything we can to ensure that bees are healthy and happy.
www.snopes.com...

That would explain why the area where i live we never had a bee die off

I live in the Mojave desert of Calif and there is no GM corn being grown out here and no bee die off.
I have a hive in a tree in my front yard that has been doing fine for years,

I know of no GM corn within 100 miles of where i live.

reply to post by kn0wh0w


Very interesting, all of those people that were trying to point to the fact of 2012 and the end of the world type scenario in relation to this as usual are starting to beshown to be wrong. I always thought that there was a logical explanation for these die off's.

Of course they will tell us it has nothing to do with any gm crops or products because they are all really good for us and will not do us the slightest bit of harm. I think it is time that we put an end to the likes of monsanto and their ilk. There are plenty of new ways of growing crops from the naturl seeds that have been here forever, it has always been about money like every other crap thing in this world. When are we going to wake up and realise that corporations and some scientists do not have our best interests at heart?.

reply to post by brommas

Very interesting, all of those people that were trying to point to the fact of 2012 and the end of the world type scenario in relation to this as usual are starting to beshown to be wrong. I always thought that there was a logical explanation for these die off's.

I never heard that 2012 coming closer could be a reason that bees started to die off in masses.

I'll go with the GM-crop theory like you said.

reply to post by kn0wh0w


SO does GM corn need bee polination(I don't grow corn so I don't know)?
If the apiary owners refuse to release their bees near Monstanto crops will the crop fail? Could be a good thing if it did.

Your source would not be considered the most unbiased. I see no indication in your source that GM corn is "the culprit".

Clothianidin is a widely used pesticide. Since it is a pesticide, it's not really surprising that bees have a problem with it.

I have been saying this since I first joined ATS, Pesticide causes CCD and the government has already awkknowleged it!


as you'll find OP, people want to hear GMOs cause Cancer, not Pesticide. (and they really dont want to hear that farming is actually ruining the worlds Ecological System)


Government Source

Notice how they word it, as if there is any doubt that PESTICIDE CAUSES CCD.

Second Government Source

They know what pesticide does. They know all right.

Originally posted by Phage
Your source would not be considered the most unbiased. I see no indication in your source that GM corn is "the culprit".

Clothianidin is a widely used pesticide. Since it is a pesticide, it's not really surprising that bees have a problem with it.

edit on 2/15/2012 by Phage because: (no reason given)

Admitted GM Corn on itself isn't the culprit.
It's a pesticide that has been illegaly been in use for several years.

And again true it's no surprise this pesticide kills bee's.

But it shouldn't be able to keep killing bee's long after crops are gone.

It was found in foraging areas long after treated seed had been planted and in dead bees near hives in Indiana. It was also found in pollen collected by bees and stored in the hive.

reply to post by truthinfact

as you'll find OP, people want to hear GMOs cause Cancer, not Pesticide. (and they really dont want to hear that farming is actually ruining the worlds Ecological System)

And the taste of the food is so different.

My uncle has pretty great patch of land, subsequently he grows a lot of his own food.

The natural way.

The taste of his food is so different, so much more vibrant.

reply to post by VforVendettea
Pollination is required for the corn to make kernels of corn (the actual food part of it). The pollen blows onto the silks (or bees carry it there) and it fertilizes the cobs, and each kernel that produces is a seed. The difference? In GMO corn, the kernels (seeds) are sterile by design simply to force farmers to have to keep buying Monsanto seeds season after season; "free" corn only requires that you keep some of the harvested kernels for re-planting, giving you FREE seeds season after season (assuming you can keep YOUR corn away from THEIRS so it doesn't POLLUTE yours). Anyway, bees aren't required to pollinate your corn harvest, but they sure make it easier. A lot of farmers who don't have bees around do pollination by hand, pretending they're bees; otherwise their crops wouldn't do much producing. So we can still survive without bees, but we'd sure miss 'em.

reply to post by Thought Provoker

So we can still survive without bees, but we'd sure miss 'em.

Kind of like men, huh?

I just don't know about this whole brave new world BS.
I get a chill up my spine just thinking about it.

reply to post by VforVendettea


I keep a colony of bees in my yard. My understanding is that bees do not pollinate corn, but they do gather pollen from corn. Pollen is the bees source of protein.

Good post! I love bees and most of our insect friends. I am also an amateur Permaculturist, trying to find that balance where you don't need pesticides, and knowing which plant benefits which animal/insect.

I have been against agribusiness for a long time now, and not only are GMO and pesticides the problem, but the type of farming that is being done itself. HUGE commercial overproduction of a single crop is a disaster, it is one cause of the pests: it creates the condition for huge amounts of invasive birds and insects to arise. Variety in crops and working with natural species helps retain this balance I think.

I've watched the entire BBC Life of Plants series (helps you understand the nature of plants and grasses) and highly recommend it. Also I recommend "King Corn" as well as anything by Bill Mollison if anyone is interested in a natural, heirloom way of food production.

Healthy eating my friends!

I always thought that the idea of GM crops, was so that they didnt have to use pestecides. Or one of the reasons. It wouldnt surprise me, if it is their handy work. There was a thread the other day concerning organic growers taking montsanto to court. So I hope this helps them and their case. So that monsanto, or who ever else stops trying to play god. Messing with our foods.

Hmmm- I wonder if clothianidin is used at all around blueberries or cotton?

Let me explain why I wonder. Where I hunt there seem to be 3 main cash crops - in order of size/acerage and importance. 1. Planted Pine (indeed the area I hunt is leased from a timber company) - literally most everywhere is planted in them. 2. Blueberries (which depend on bees for pollination). 3. Cotton (I admit I'll have to research if bees are needed for pollination here).

But, cotton ranks a distant 3rd. Probably 70% of the land where I hunt is pines, 10% swamp, 10% blueberry, 5% cotton and 5% homes / towns / roads. But people do keep bees because of the blueberries. I'm sure there are some people that grow a little corn - but I've never seen it as a commercial crop there.

This is bringing me to back to pines and blueberries. Some people keep bees at the edge of the planted pine forests. In walking by one stand of bee hives this fall I noticed one thing - there were as many dead and dying bees on the ground as there seemed to be buzzing around the hive.

Thanks for the credit above from my earlier post on this. I just posted what I'd found. I'm going to try if I can dig up if this stuff is used on blueberries at all.

Originally posted by illuminnaughty
I always thought that the idea of GM crops, was so that they didnt have to use pestecides.

I think that's what they tell us, but in actuality it's like this: They make a genetically modified plant that is resistant to a certain hardcore pesticide, then they spray that pesticide which kills every single thing except that GMO plant. Look up Roundup Corn, Soy and Alfalfa and see the problems.

I think mainly it's very hard to genetically modify a plant to be poisonous to insects and not also be poisonous to humans. This GMO push is all about saving business $$$ IMO.

If it kills creatures of nature, what do you think it's going to do to anything else that eats it...like humans? Tinkering with genetically modifed anything is a bad idea.

read this article abclocal.go.com.../ag_watch&id=8489625

bees turned into zombies by parasites...;Found by accident, absent-mind scientist captured some bees and forgot to feed them to the praying mantis. he came back later and found these mites also in the jar.