CCD - Colony Colapse Disorder - Is Monsanto and Bayer the cause of the killing o

[Ocean]

Hey fellow beekeepers, came across this article and wanted to hear your thoughts on this.

http://www.progressiveconvergence.com/monsanto-bayer-killing-of-bees.htm

[oliver]

Believe the epa dropped the ball big time on this one. with corn syrup being used in  so many products, this can't be good.. Talked to  a neighbor ,(corn farmer), a while back, he said  that pancho has been used here for several years with no great increase in yield..

[Finski]

.
They are not.

CCD is only in USA and those firms are everywhere.

[bee-nuts]

"CCD is only in USA"

We dont even know what CCD is so I dont know how accurate that statement can be. 

If neonics are weakening bees immune systems, symptoms and deaths of bees could result from complete different causes.  We may have a fungus, you may have a virus, ect that takes out the bees with the aid of neonics.  I had a good number of bees dead in front of my hives shortly after corn was planted.  At first I wondered what was sprayed, (roundup) but I know that did not kill them.  Maybe it was run off from corn seed coatings that infected dandelions and bushes that grow on edges of fields.  Maybe it was something else.  Untill we have real long term realistic studies, there is no way to know. 

Plant first, ask questions later!

[MrILoveTheAnts]

http://myrmecos.net/2011/03/10/honey-bee-colony-collapse-disorder-in-context/

Okay, according to this chart and study CCD is a fairly recent problem and Honey Bees have been in decline since the 1950's. Native Bees too.

The two major things we should be blaming here are the lack of native environments, and the constant inbreeding of our Honey Bees. Bee farms mass produce hives on a large scale and have been selectively breeding out inferior genetics for the centuries now. This kind of habit was just begging for something to go wrong. Insects can get away with inbreeding but there comes a point when you might as well be cloning the hive.

These hives are trucked around the US, making sure the varroa mite can be found in ever hive in North America.

Neonicotinoides are safer because the seeds are coated with the long lasting poison. So weekly spraying of poison isn't needed. Because farmers aren't spraying their crops each week they're not hosing down the forest with run off. In theory this is safer for our native bees. I will admit though that it has been demonstrated that the poison can leak out of corn plants. Also

Changes in transcript abundance relating to colony collapse disorder in honey bees (Apis mellifera) http://www.pnas.org/content/106/35/14790.full

"Overall, elevated expression of pesticide response genes was not observed."

Meaning their immune system that should be going ballistic when pesticides are introduced weren't actually doing anything consistent in CCD hives. Some weren't doing anything, others were acting normal as if exposed to certain levels of pesticide.

Theories revolving around the Virus and Fungi causing CCD have been exaggerated by the news as far as I can tell. They certainly are coloration but no one is sure if they are the cause. Figuring out if we can stop treat either though and weather or not that prevents the hive from dying though is a step in the right direction but shouldn't be the only.

[Acebird]

Is Monsanto and Bayer the cause of the killing of bees


Nah, they're responsible for killing off humans but I doubt if they are hurting the bees. :'( :-x