The link between popular pesticides and declining bee populations has been the subject of controversy and the target of research for some time; but the soaring use of fungicides hasn’t received much attention as they were accepted to be harmless to the pollinators—until now. Two recent studies found fungicides to be the potential cause for deteriorating health in bumblebee and wild bee …
Aluminum contamination implicated in dementia and bee deaths by David Gutierrez
An insect form of Alzheimer’s disease caused by aluminum contamination may be one of the causes behind an ongoing decline in populations of bees and other pollinators, according to a study conducted by researchers from the universities of Keele and Sussex and published in the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers found that honeybees had levels of aluminum in their bodies equivalent …
Introducing the World’s First “Bumblebee Highway” to Save the Bees By Carey Wedler
As the world’s bee population continues to decline, the community of Oslo, Norway is taking action to protect its pollinators. The Oslo Garden Society is working with the city’s municipal government, businesses, environmental organizations and the public to create a “bumble bee highway” that will provide food for bees. Urban areas have few flowers for bees to feed on, which effectively …
Tiny Parasite May Contribute to Declines in Honey Bee Colonies by Infecting Larvae
Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered that a tiny single-celled parasite may have a greater-than expected impact on honey bee colonies, which have been undergoing mysterious declines worldwide for the past decade. In this week’s issue of the journal PLOS ONE, the scientists report that a microsporidian calledNosema ceranae, which has been known to infect adult Asiatic and European honey bees, …
Why President Obama’s Pollinator Strategy Won’t Solve Bee Crisis – Tiffany Finck-Haynes
Yesterday, the Obama administration released its long awaited National Pollinator Health Strategy, a requirement of a presidential memorandum released last June, which directed federal agencies to establish a Pollinator Health Task Force, develop a strategy to protect pollinators and charged the EPA with assessing the effects of pesticides, including neonicotinoids, on bees and other pollinators within 180 days. While it’s promising that the …
Bee Health Committee Chairman Praises Neonicotinoids, Denies Connection to Bee Deaths – Christine Sarich
Want proof that our representatives are likely taking handouts from Syngenta, Bayer, and other Big Ag makers of bee and butterfly killing neonicotinoids? Elected representative Rodney Davis of Illinois, who also happens to be the bee health committee chairman appointed to study pesticide and herbicide connections to colony collapse disorder, is singing the praises of neonicotinoids (neonics). Davis claims that the bee-killing …
Elementary-age suicides: rate rising among black children
Youth suicide is a major problem – the second-leading cause of death among adolescents in the US – but research into the trends has tended to exclude young children, say authors analyzing the numbers. Their analysis looks exclusively at the group aged 5-11 years and finds that while the rate has remained steady overall, an increasing proportion of young black …
‘The Bees Can’t Wait’: White House Plan to Save Pollinators Falls Short, Say Experts – Lauren McCauley
Faced with the growing crisis of declining bee populations, the White House on Tuesday released its strategy for improving pollinator health. Almost immediately, experts decried the plan, saying it “misses the mark” by refusing to acknowledge the overwhelming role that pesticides play in driving bee deaths. Under the strategy (pdf) put forth by the Pollinator Health Task Force, which falls under the …
The Gary Null Show – 05.20.15
Recent USDA report on the further 40% collapse in honey bee population — what we can do about it – with Ross Conrad.
A Sharp Spike in Honeybee Deaths Deepens a Worrisome Trend – MICHAEL WINES
A prolonged and mysterious die-off of the nation’shoneybees, a trend worrisome both to beekeepers and to farmers who depend on the insects to pollinate their crops, apparently worsened last year. In an annual survey released on Wednesday by the Bee Informed Partnership, a consortium of universities and research laboratories, about 5,000 beekeepers reported losing 42.1 percent of their colonies in the …