Colony Collapse Disorder – The Cause Is Known
I’m sure you’ve read by now all about how the bees are “mysteriously” disappearing and not returning to their hives. It’s called Colony Collapse Disorder. Well, there seems to be a real answer instead of all of this false speculation to lead us off the trail of the true culprit – pesticides.
A group of German beekeepers noticed that two-thirds of their bees died following an application of this pesticide called clothianidin. In Germany, they find this to be an emergency situation and have suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn. Fifty to sixty percent of the bees have died and some beekeepers have lost all of their hives.
The tests performed on the dead bees showed that ninety nine percent of the bees had a build up of clothianidin in their body which is a systemic chemical that works its way through a plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect it comes into contact with. The US Environmental Protection Agency also considers this pesticide to be highly toxic to honeybees.
Bayer, one of the world’s leading pesticide manufacturers (as well as pharmaceutical manufacturers) makes this pesticide and imidacloprid, sold under the name Gaucho in France. Imidacloprid has been banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers in that country since 1999, after a third of French honeybees died following its use. Five years later it was also banned as a sweetcorn treatment in France. Recently, the company’s application for clothianidin was rejected by France. Clothianidin and imidacloprid are both members of a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids. They are well known as insect neurotoxins, especially with regard to bees.
In the U.S., beekeepers in North Dakota are taking Bayer to court after losing thousands of honeybee colonies in 1995 when rapeseed in the area was treated with imidacloprid. A third of honeybees were killed at that time and the term “colony collapse disorder” began.
Representatives for Bayer say that their pesticides are safe for bees if applied correctly. This involves using a glue that keeps the pesticides stuck to the seeds on which they’re used.
Agricultural corporations are known to evade anything that costs them money. All the glue, the personnel to apply it correctly and the equipment used requires extra money. Obviously, they are not applying these popular neurotoxins correctly because now we have an epidemic of dead bees on our hands.
Colony Collapse Disorder is a name given to mislead the public from finding out the real, simple truth that toxic pesticides are to blame. If we knew this fact right off the bat instead of being directed to look for a bacteria or parasite or environmental stress on the bees that could possibly be causing the die-offs we would have been cutting into the enormous profits that these manufacturers gain. Bees are necessary for our food supply and therefore, human survival and are being allowed to be killed off just for pure greed and profit. It’s sick, really.
This is just another reason to go organic – whether you grow an organic garden, buy only organic foods from the supermarket or buy direct from organic farmers through a CSA or a farmer’s market. Pesticides are just toxic to all of life period. In the end, they affect us all and are not safe, no matter what the greedy chemical companies say.
flickr photo: natr_illustration
July 23 2008 06:23 pm | Health and animal rights and gardening and nature and news and organics and society
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
[...] You are sagem viewing this from. wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt I’m sure you’ve read by now all about how the bees are “mysteriously” disappearing and not returning to their hives. It’s called Colony Collapse Disorder. Well, there seems to be a real answer instead of all of this false speculation to lead us off the trail of the true culprit – pesticides. A group of German beekeepers noticed that two-thirds of their bees died following an application of this pesticide called clothianidin. In Germany, they find this to be an emergency situation and have su [...]
July 25th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Colony Collapse Disorder scares the crud out of me.
Allies last blog post..A/V Fridays – DHLoveLife Hemp
August 1st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
WOW! Interesting find. I’ve heard about the “missing bees” but wasn’t sure what was up with all of that. Thanks for the information.
and on a different note….
You Won a DVD: Life After People
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/08/winners-in-bloggy-giveaways-are.html
Please respond to the email I sent you.
Thanks!
Laura Williams
August 4th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Thanks for the info.
I really liked this article. It explains the disorder process really well.