Thursday, April 12, 2012

Wired: "Controversy Deepens Over Pesticides and Bee Collapse"


By Brandon Keim

[excerpted] "A controversial new study of honeybee deaths has deepened a bitter dispute over whether the developed world’s most popular pesticides are causing an ecological catastrophe.

Researchers led by biologist Chensheng Lu of Harvard University report a direct link between hive health and dietary exposure to imidacloprid, a so-called neonicotinoid pesticide linked to colony collapse disorder, the mysterious and massive die-off of bees across North America and Europe....

...“Our result replicates colony collapse disorder as a result of pesticide exposures,” said Lu, who specializes in environmental exposures to pesticides. “We need to look at our agriculture policy and see if what we’re doing now is sustainable.”

Developed in the 1990s as a relatively less-toxic alternative to pesticides that seriously harmed human health, neonicotinoids soon became the world’s fastest-growing pesticide class and an integral part of industrial agricultural strategy. In the United States alone, neonicotinoid-treated corn now covers a total area slightly smaller than the state of Montana...."

Majia Here: This is an important article so I recommend reading it at the link above.

The story of the bee collapse is a story of corporate and government corruption, greed, and duplicity.

Bias in Bee Study

Our Dying Bees

1/3 of Domestic Bee Population Fails to Survive Winter

Seals and Radiation; Bees and Pesticide: SAME PLOT TO OBSCURE CAUSE


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