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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [SANET-MG] neonicotinoids and bees
  • Date: Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:37:25 -0500

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





  • [permaculture] Fwd: Re: [SANET-MG] neonicotinoids and bees, Lawrence F. London, Jr., 02/05/2012

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