yuvgotmel
Well-Known Member
I have withheld posting this because I figured that someone would have already brought the issue up on RF.
There is a problem occurring in the United States, and also, to a lesser extent, in the UK and Europe. It is called Colony Collapse Disorder.
Honeybees are disappearing. The worker bees are leaving the hives and not returning, causing the queens and the rest of the colony to collapse. First signs of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) were reported in November of 2006. By December, beekeepers were reporting 60 to 97% loss of colonies! That's MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of bees. Over half of the US states are affected.
Only a small amount of dead bee bodies have been recovered, of which those bees are filled with viruses and bacteria, exceeding usual amounts. Unlike previous colony losses, this particular CCD, which started just recently, is extremely rapid. This is NOT a dwindling of the bee population--It is a disappearance of the bees on a scale that is unprecedented.
Scientists and beekeepers are calling this AN EMERGENCY. The U.S. Congress is expected to start hearings on this immediately (if they haven't already).
Similar CCD cases are being reported in other countries as well: the UK, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. The BBC News has reported the bee disappearance in the US as a "national crisis"; however given that our food production could be affected within one year or less (due to the lack of pollination by the bees), this could be seen as a possible international crisis too.
Here are some links and excerpts concerning this issue:
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There is a problem occurring in the United States, and also, to a lesser extent, in the UK and Europe. It is called Colony Collapse Disorder.
Honeybees are disappearing. The worker bees are leaving the hives and not returning, causing the queens and the rest of the colony to collapse. First signs of CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) were reported in November of 2006. By December, beekeepers were reporting 60 to 97% loss of colonies! That's MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of bees. Over half of the US states are affected.
Only a small amount of dead bee bodies have been recovered, of which those bees are filled with viruses and bacteria, exceeding usual amounts. Unlike previous colony losses, this particular CCD, which started just recently, is extremely rapid. This is NOT a dwindling of the bee population--It is a disappearance of the bees on a scale that is unprecedented.
Scientists and beekeepers are calling this AN EMERGENCY. The U.S. Congress is expected to start hearings on this immediately (if they haven't already).
Similar CCD cases are being reported in other countries as well: the UK, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. The BBC News has reported the bee disappearance in the US as a "national crisis"; however given that our food production could be affected within one year or less (due to the lack of pollination by the bees), this could be seen as a possible international crisis too.
Here are some links and excerpts concerning this issue:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33938.pdf
This is a PDF file--opens with Adobe. It is a report prepared for Congress dated March 26, 2007.
******************************This is a PDF file--opens with Adobe. It is a report prepared for Congress dated March 26, 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is the name of the phenomenon that describes the massive die-off affecting an entire beehive or bee colony. The BBC has referred to it as VBS (Vanishing Bee Syndrome). It was originally apparently limited to colonies of the Western honey bee in North America, but European beekeepers have recently claimed to be observing a similar phenomenon in Poland and Spain, with initial reports coming in from Switzerland and Germany, albeit to a smaller degree. The cause (or causes) of the syndrome is not yet well understood and even the existence of this disorder remains disputed. Theories include environmental change-related stresses, malnutrition, unknown pathogens (i.e., disease), mites, pesticides such as neonicotinoids, genetically modified (GM) crops or electromagnetic radiation (such as cellular phone signals).
From 1971 to 2006 approximately half of the U.S. honey bee colonies have vanished, but this decline includes the cumulative losses from all factors such as urbanization, pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites and commercial beekeepers retiring and going out of business, and has been fairly gradual. Late in the year 2006 and in early 2007, however, the rate of attrition was alleged to have reached new proportions, and the term "Colony Collapse Disorder" was proposed to describe this sudden rash of disappearances.
(more at link above)
******************************Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is the name of the phenomenon that describes the massive die-off affecting an entire beehive or bee colony. The BBC has referred to it as VBS (Vanishing Bee Syndrome). It was originally apparently limited to colonies of the Western honey bee in North America, but European beekeepers have recently claimed to be observing a similar phenomenon in Poland and Spain, with initial reports coming in from Switzerland and Germany, albeit to a smaller degree. The cause (or causes) of the syndrome is not yet well understood and even the existence of this disorder remains disputed. Theories include environmental change-related stresses, malnutrition, unknown pathogens (i.e., disease), mites, pesticides such as neonicotinoids, genetically modified (GM) crops or electromagnetic radiation (such as cellular phone signals).
From 1971 to 2006 approximately half of the U.S. honey bee colonies have vanished, but this decline includes the cumulative losses from all factors such as urbanization, pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites and commercial beekeepers retiring and going out of business, and has been fairly gradual. Late in the year 2006 and in early 2007, however, the rate of attrition was alleged to have reached new proportions, and the term "Colony Collapse Disorder" was proposed to describe this sudden rash of disappearances.
(more at link above)
Honeybees are vanishing at an alarming rate from 24 US states, threatening the production of numerous crops.
The cause of the losses, which range from 30% to more than 70%, is a mystery, but experts are investigating several theories.
(more at link above)
The cause of the losses, which range from 30% to more than 70%, is a mystery, but experts are investigating several theories.
(more at link above)
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Honey Bee Disappearances Continue: Could Pesticides Play A Role?
Honey Bee Disappearances Continue: Could Pesticides Play A Role?
© 2007 by Linda Moulton Howe
"How much of our food production do we want to turn over to other
countries that might be friendly now and not friendly in the future? The federal government is looking at this and my question is: Are honey bees the canary
in the coal mine? What are honey bees trying to tell us that we humans
should be paying more attention to?" - Jerry Hayes, Chief, Apiary Section,
Florida Dept. of Agriculture, Gainsville, Florida
March 16, 2007 Washington, D. C. - In my previous February 23, 2007, Earthfiles and Coast to Coast AM news updates about the mysterious honey bee disappearances, I interviewed a Pennsylvania honey beekeeper who has had nearly 2,000 of his 2900 hives disappear a 60% loss to date. That is David Hackenberg of Hackenberg Apiary in Pennsylvania. He said he had never seen so many deserted hives that were also left alone by predator moths and beetles. Thats why he suspects some kind of pesticide is getting into the flower pollen and nectar and poisoning the hives. He contacted Penn States bee experts to investigate. But to date, there is no answer.
And bees are still disappearing in massive numbers. One Midwestern beekeeper had 13,000 healthy, full hives in mid-November 2006. Those bees began disappearing in mid-December and now he's lost 96% of them. He's facing bankruptcy. This week, one Ohio beekeeper opened up his hives after the winter to find 80% were empty. Over the past six months, massive disappearances of honey bees have been reported in at least 24 states; internationally in Poland and Spain; and its still unknown how many more honey bees will be gone as more northern hives are opened this spring in North America and Europe. Right now, dozens of scientists are trying to find out what is causing what they call colony collapse disorder, or CCD.
(more at link above)
