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Chronological Thread  
  • From: ecoponderosa <3cedarsfarm AT gmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] CCD, Imidacloprid, Oh My! (was: Glyphosate--Huber)
  • Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 07:21:48 -0400


On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 11:34 PM, Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com> wrote:
> On Apr 6, 2012, at 9:04 PM, John Ehrlich wrote:
>
>> Do you need more evidence?
>
> I have to chime in.
>
> We've been discussing this on and off the Bee-L forum (a group of hobby beekeepers, pro beekeepers, and researchers).  This was a horrible study.  Harvard should be ashamed that this made it as far as it did.
>
> First off it is clear that this has not been peer reviewed, certainly not anyone dealing with bees or a toxicologist.  People went into this study to deliberately PROVE something.
>
> Next, I've actually read the study.  Its bunk.

Ridiculous. You are no authority on the subject.

You need to read all of this:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [SANET-MG] neonicotinoids and bees
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 22:26:49 -0800
From: Alia Tsang <alia AT DIETRICK.ORG>
To: SANET-MG AT LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Looks like another paper implicating neonicotinoids came out at the same
time.

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/30-9

A new study published in *Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature* by a
leading bee expert provides damning evidence that a widely used pesticide,
even at low levels, is responsible for the recent catastrophic decline in
honey bees. Dr. Jeff Pettis of the USDA's Bee Research
Laboratory<http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-75-05-00>in
Beltsville, MD led the study.

Colony collapse disorder, as this phenomenon is known, has been getting
worse since 2006.

The news has brought renewed calls for these pesticides, which only became
widely used in the 1990s, to be banned as honey bees are key to human’s
survival – pollinating 70 per cent of the crops which produce most of the
world’s food.
The pesticide that the
study<http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=p1027164r403288u&size=largest>(pdf)
looked at was imidacloprid, one of the most widely used pesticides
worldwide. It is neonicotinoid insecticide produced by Bayer
CropScience<http://www.bayercropscience.com/bcsweb/cropprotection.nsf/id/imidacloprid_se.htm>
.

Study mentioned above:

Pesticide exposure in honey bees results in increased levels of the gut
pathogen Nosema.
Abstract Source:

Naturwissenschaften. 2012 Jan 13. Epub 2012 Jan 13. PMID:
22246149<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22246149>
Abstract Author(s):

Jeffery S Pettis, Dennis Vanengelsdorp, Josephine Johnson, Galen Dively
Article Affiliation:

USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA,
jeff.pettis AT ars.usda.gov.
Abstract:

Global pollinator declines have been attributed to habitat destruction,
pesticide use, and climate change or some combination of these factors, and
managed honey bees, Apis mellifera, are part of worldwide pollinator
declines. Here we exposed honey bee colonies during three brood generations
to sub-lethal doses of a widely used pesticide, imidacloprid, and then
subsequently challenged newly emerged bees with the gut parasite, Nosema
spp. The pesticide dosages used were below levels demonstrated to cause
effects on longevity or foraging in adult honey bees. Nosema infections
increased significantly in the bees from pesticide-treated hives when
compared to bees from control hives demonstrating an indirect effect of
pesticides on pathogen growth in honey bees. We clearly demonstrate an
increase in pathogen growth within individual bees reared in colonies
exposed to one of the most widely used pesticides worldwide, imidacloprid,
at below levels considered harmful to bees. The finding that individual
bees with undetectable levels of the target pesticide, after being reared
in a sub-lethal pesticide environment within the colony, had higher Nosema
is significant. Interactions between pesticides and pathogens could be a
major contributor to increased mortality of honey bee colonies, including
colony collapse disorder, and other pollinator declines worldwide.

========================

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/PFHB.php

Parasitic Fungus and Honeybee Decline

Professor Joe Cummins says systemic pesticides undermine the bee's immune system, leaving it susceptible to the parasitic fungus Nosema

A fully referenced version (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/PFHBFull.php) of this article is posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here (http://www.i-sis.org.uk/membership.php)

An electronic version of this report, or any other ISIS report, with full references, can be sent to you via e-mail for a donation of £3.50. Please e-mail the title of the report to: report AT i-sis.org.uk

The decline of honeybees has become a global issue of grave concern. The symptoms of colony collapse disorder (CCD) of the honeybee include failure of foraging bees to return to their hive, the inability of infected hives to attract healthy bees and the infection of bees from affected hives by parasites and viruses. A United States National Research Council report focused on introduced parasitic mites, the bacterial foul brood disease and viruses; but made no mention of other possibilities besides pesticides and genetically modified (GM) crops, if only to dismiss them [1]. We have drawn attention to the sub-lethal effects on bees of pesticides and GM crops [2, 3] ( Mystery of Disappearing Honeybees , Requiem for the Honeybee , SiS 34) and the serious disorienting effects of radiation from mobile phone base stations [4] ( Mobile Phones and Vanishing Bees , SiS 34)..

Recently, a parasitic fungus was implicated as a potential culprit, but those results were admittedly highly preliminary. The fungus Nosema ceranae was found in affected hives around the USA as well as in some hives where the bees survived [5]. Nosema is a single-cell parasite belonging to the Microsporidia family that infects invertebrates and vertebrates including humans. Nosema infection of honeybees has been known for over a century as Nosema apis , which is relatively benign. The oriental honeybee Apis cerana was infected with Nosema ceranae , but in 2005-2006 the parasite was found in Apis mellifera in a highly virulent form [6, 7]. Nosema ceranae was identified in Apis mellifera honeybees collected from around the world and its importance as an emerging pathogen for beekeeping was highligted [8]. The increase in virulence of Nosema ceranae as it shifted from cerana bees to mellifera bees may be related to mutations or to environmental factors such as pesticides, which decreased immunity in mellifera bees. Microsporidia infections in humans, for example, are associated with suppression of the immune system by viruses or drugs [9].

Nosema ceranae causes bees to die within eight days after infection. Foraging bees seem to be the most infected. They leave the colony but become too weak to return, leaving behind a small cluster and a fragile colony. The antibiotic fumagillin is the only effective treatment of infected hives [10]. Fumagillin treatment is applied dissolved in sugar solution, and pollen and hive frames are irradiated with electron beams [11]. Fumagillin has genotoxic (chromosome damaging) effects on humans [12]. In spite of the genotoxic potential, fumagillin is the drug of choice for the treatment of microsporidia infection in AIDS patients, organ transplant recipients, contact lens wearers and the elderly [13]. Fumagillin is also used as a cancer treatment drug because it inhibits angiogenesis (blood vessel formation and blood flow) to tumours [14].

Until 2006, microsporidia were often deemed to be protozoa but in 2006 they were demoted to the kingdom of the fungi. The basis for the demotion was molecular data from a number of genes [15]. Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites, their spores have thick walls and are highly resistant. Within the spores, there is a coiled polar extrusion tube; and when the spore contacts a cell, the extrusion tube is uncoiled and pierces the membrane of the target cell, injecting spore plasma into the cell and initiating the reproductive cycle and release of further spores [16]. The parasite cells lack mitochondria, and depend on their hosts for aerobic respiration. However, some mitochondrial genes are present in the nuclei of the parasite and in some cases, mitochondrial relics can be found, made up of tiny double membrane vesicles containing enzymes but lacking respiratory functions [17].

Nosema ceranae may be a contributor to CCD, but it seems likely that the virulence of the parasite may depend on the bee's immune system being compromised by pesticides such as the systemic insecticides and fungicides used in seed treatment or as sprays, or by a combination of exposures that create immunodeficiency [18] ( Parasitic Fungi and Pesticides Act Synergistically to Kill Honeybees? SiS 35).





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