More UNITED than we realize!
Honey Bees in Danger
Evaggelos Vallianatos
Truthout
Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:09 UTC
© Getty Images
Industrial, pesticide-dependent agricultural practices in the United States are creating a death trap for the honeybee and threatening the human-bee symbiotic relationship forged over milieu.
When I was teaching at Humboldt State University in northern California 20 years ago, I invited a beekeeper to talk to my students. He said that each time he took his bees to southern California to pollinate other farmers' crops, he would lose a third of his bees to sprays. In 2009, the loss ranges all the way to 60 percent.
Honeybees have been in terrible straits.
A little history explains this tragedy.
For millennia, honeybees lived in symbiotic relationship with societies all over the world.
The Greeks loved them. In the eighth century BCE, the epic poet Hesiod considered them gifts of the gods to just farmers. And in the fourth century of our era, the Greek mathematician Pappos admired their hexagonal cells, crediting them with "geometrical forethought."
However, industrialized agriculture is not friendly to honeybees.
In 1974, the US Environmental Protection Agency licensed the nerve gas parathion trapped into nylon bubbles the size of pollen particles.
What makes this microencapsulated formulation more dangerous to bees than the technical material is the very technology of the "time release" microcapsule.
This acutely toxic insecticide, born of chemical warfare, would be on the surface of the flower for several days. The foraging bee, if alive after its visit to the beautiful white flowers of almonds, for example, laden with invisible spheres of asphyxiating gas, would be bringing back to its home pollen and nectar mixed with parathion.
It is possible that the nectar, which the bee makes into honey, and the pollen, might end up in some food store to be bought and eaten by human beings.
Beekeepers are well aware of what is happening to their bees, including the potential that their honey may not be fit for humans.
Moreover, many beekeepers do not throw away the honey, pollen and wax of colonies destroyed by encapsulated parathion or other poisons. They melt the wax for new combs: And they sell both honey and pollen to the public.
Government "regulators" know about this danger.
An academic expert, Carl Johansen, professor of entomology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, called the microencapsulated methyl parathion "the most destructive bee poisoning insecticide ever developed."
In 1976, the US Department of Agriculture published a report by one of its former employees, S. E. McGregor, a honeybee expert who documented that about a third of what we eat benefits from honeybee pollination. This includes vegetables, oilseeds and domesticated animals eating bee-pollinated hay.
In 2007, the value of food dependent on honeybees was $15 billion in the United States.
McGregor also pointed out that insect-pollinated legumes collect nitrogen from the air, storing it in their roots and enriching the soil. In addition, insect pollination makes the crops more wholesome and abundant. He advised the farmer he should never forget that "no cultural practice will cause fruit or seed to set if its pollination is neglected."
In addition, McGregor blamed the chemical industry for seducing the farmers to its potent toxins. He said:
"Pesticides are like dope drugs. The more they are used the more powerful the next one must be to give satisfaction" and therein develops the spiraling effect, the pesticide treadmill. The chemical salesman, in pressuring the grower to use his product, practically assumes the role of the "dope pusher." Once the victim, the grower, is "hooked," he becomes a steady and an ever-increasing user.
No government agency listened to McGregor.
The result of America's pesticide treadmill is that now, in 2009, honeybees and other pollinators are moving towards extinction.
In October 2006, the US National Research Council warned of the" "demonstrably downward" trends in the populations of pollinators. For the first time since 1922, American farmers are renting imported bees for their crops. They are even buying bees from Australia.
Honeybees, the National Academies report said, pollinate more than 90 crops in America, but have declined by 30 percent in the last 20 years alone. The scientists who wrote the report expressed alarm at the precipitous decline of the pollinators.
Unfortunately, this made no difference to EPA, which failed to ban the microencapsulated parathion that is so deadly to honeybees.
Bee experts know that insecticides cause brain damage to the bees, disorienting them, making it often impossible for them to find their way home.
This is a consequence of decades of agribusiness warfare against nature and, in time, honeybees. In addition, beekeepers truck billions of bees all over the country for pollination, depriving them of good food, stressing them enormously, and, very possibly, injuring their health.
About the author
Evaggelos Vallianatos, former EPA analyst, is the author of "This Land Is Their Land" and "The Passion of the Greeks.
Truthout
Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:09 UTC
© Getty Images
Industrial, pesticide-dependent agricultural practices in the United States are creating a death trap for the honeybee and threatening the human-bee symbiotic relationship forged over milieu.
When I was teaching at Humboldt State University in northern California 20 years ago, I invited a beekeeper to talk to my students. He said that each time he took his bees to southern California to pollinate other farmers' crops, he would lose a third of his bees to sprays. In 2009, the loss ranges all the way to 60 percent.
Honeybees have been in terrible straits.
A little history explains this tragedy.
For millennia, honeybees lived in symbiotic relationship with societies all over the world.
The Greeks loved them. In the eighth century BCE, the epic poet Hesiod considered them gifts of the gods to just farmers. And in the fourth century of our era, the Greek mathematician Pappos admired their hexagonal cells, crediting them with "geometrical forethought."
However, industrialized agriculture is not friendly to honeybees.
In 1974, the US Environmental Protection Agency licensed the nerve gas parathion trapped into nylon bubbles the size of pollen particles.
What makes this microencapsulated formulation more dangerous to bees than the technical material is the very technology of the "time release" microcapsule.
This acutely toxic insecticide, born of chemical warfare, would be on the surface of the flower for several days. The foraging bee, if alive after its visit to the beautiful white flowers of almonds, for example, laden with invisible spheres of asphyxiating gas, would be bringing back to its home pollen and nectar mixed with parathion.
It is possible that the nectar, which the bee makes into honey, and the pollen, might end up in some food store to be bought and eaten by human beings.
Beekeepers are well aware of what is happening to their bees, including the potential that their honey may not be fit for humans.
Moreover, many beekeepers do not throw away the honey, pollen and wax of colonies destroyed by encapsulated parathion or other poisons. They melt the wax for new combs: And they sell both honey and pollen to the public.
Government "regulators" know about this danger.
An academic expert, Carl Johansen, professor of entomology at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, called the microencapsulated methyl parathion "the most destructive bee poisoning insecticide ever developed."
In 1976, the US Department of Agriculture published a report by one of its former employees, S. E. McGregor, a honeybee expert who documented that about a third of what we eat benefits from honeybee pollination. This includes vegetables, oilseeds and domesticated animals eating bee-pollinated hay.
In 2007, the value of food dependent on honeybees was $15 billion in the United States.
McGregor also pointed out that insect-pollinated legumes collect nitrogen from the air, storing it in their roots and enriching the soil. In addition, insect pollination makes the crops more wholesome and abundant. He advised the farmer he should never forget that "no cultural practice will cause fruit or seed to set if its pollination is neglected."
In addition, McGregor blamed the chemical industry for seducing the farmers to its potent toxins. He said:
"Pesticides are like dope drugs. The more they are used the more powerful the next one must be to give satisfaction" and therein develops the spiraling effect, the pesticide treadmill. The chemical salesman, in pressuring the grower to use his product, practically assumes the role of the "dope pusher." Once the victim, the grower, is "hooked," he becomes a steady and an ever-increasing user.
No government agency listened to McGregor.
The result of America's pesticide treadmill is that now, in 2009, honeybees and other pollinators are moving towards extinction.
In October 2006, the US National Research Council warned of the" "demonstrably downward" trends in the populations of pollinators. For the first time since 1922, American farmers are renting imported bees for their crops. They are even buying bees from Australia.
Honeybees, the National Academies report said, pollinate more than 90 crops in America, but have declined by 30 percent in the last 20 years alone. The scientists who wrote the report expressed alarm at the precipitous decline of the pollinators.
Unfortunately, this made no difference to EPA, which failed to ban the microencapsulated parathion that is so deadly to honeybees.
Bee experts know that insecticides cause brain damage to the bees, disorienting them, making it often impossible for them to find their way home.
This is a consequence of decades of agribusiness warfare against nature and, in time, honeybees. In addition, beekeepers truck billions of bees all over the country for pollination, depriving them of good food, stressing them enormously, and, very possibly, injuring their health.
About the author
Evaggelos Vallianatos, former EPA analyst, is the author of "This Land Is Their Land" and "The Passion of the Greeks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Erik Stalenhoef on -
I just started keeping bees this year in the Netherlands, and found that there are indeed many bees shipped to the US. NL is less polluted and there is a lot of eco farming over here. Especially the greenhouses are maintained in a more natural way, mainly because the environment can be completely controlled and there is no influence from outside. Large crops are being harvested with the help of pollinating bees, and the government even subsidises the pollination through bees. The fruit and seed industry, part of which is not in greenhouses, has even decided to use less pesticides, because the result of pollinating with bees compensates the loss of crops throught insects.
Unfortunately there is one other thread to bees, which is the Faroa Mite, imported from Asia. Even though bees are one of the most important pollinators in the world, their existence is starting to depend more and more on humans controlling this Mite.
Being a website builder within a marketing company I have learned a lot about spreading information and telling stories about products. I am currently going back to school 1 day a week studying herbal medicine and beekeeping, and am planning to work with this intensively once I finished my degree, my main intention being the spreading of knowledge and keeping the traditions of both alive. Current medical knowledge is mainly based on herbal wisdom, and current crops are still depending on simpel insects. If we manage to keep that knowledge, we might hopefully some day respect this place a bit more before we wipe ourselves out by our foolish greed.
Erik.
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Permalink Reply by Vanese Va Voom on -
Ohh Erik how wonderful!
How on earth did you come to Bee Keeping??
Your course sounds very useful and your intention is a wonderful one.
I agree with your hope that we soon learn to respect our home and mother more!
Blessings to you
p.s. are these courses connected - or are you connecting them?
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Permalink Reply by Erik Stalenhoef on
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Hi Vanese,
I could ask you the same question, How on earth did you come to start this great network :-)
The 2 courses are not connected, but it is rather easy to connect them. Herbs need bees for pollination, and honey, pollen and propolis can be used as natural medicine.
Having said all this, I actually found myself in a small crisis during the past week or two, when I realized that building a proper amount of hives to become a fulltime beekeeper takes around 10 years. Also becoming a producer of herbal medication takes a couple of years, mainly because you need to properly keep a herbal garden. The work involved however, is nearly fulltime, so either I should quit my dayjob and go for it, trying to overcome the financial gap in god knows which way, or I should take it slower, which I personally experience as a very difficult decision.
I guess my impatient me is being tested again. Could you all please pray for me with the intention of winning a loterry so that I can keep up the good work ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Vanese Va Voom on
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OH MY LOVE!!!!!! I WILL PRAY FOR YOU!!
I am sure you have all of our support here -
I find when you are on this path - we so often must leap into the unknown.
So far I have always landed on my feet and I trust you will too : )
I also have the problem with patience LOL!!!!!
As I get older though I am learning to "go with the flow" - at least more than I used too : )
How much land do you need to do this Honey? And are you near a city?
I have been reading a lot about changes in Amsterdam. It used to be one of my most favorite cities. Has it in fact changed?
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Permalink Reply by Erik Stalenhoef on
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You actually don't need your own land for the honey, better even to use someone elses land, for pollination. Also putting hives next to a forest works great, so enough oppurtunities.
The herbal stuff needs more land. I currently own 150 m2 of land, but to become productive, 1 acre will be best. This will grow enough herbs to service a small community.
I have lived in Amsterdam for 15 years, but fled the city when i started raising my children. I now live near Nijmegen, very close to forest and nature. Amsterdam has changed a lot, I lived in the red light district for 6 years, and had a very good time there, but freedom somehow attracts good and bad, and right now the bad overrules the good.
I recently stumbled upon this:
http://www.fortnumandmason.com/Product/Fortnums-Bees-Honey,276,1044...
Fornum and Mason, the posh supermarket of London started produce their own honey, right on their own roof. Also a Toronto hotel installed their hives:
http://springwise.com/food_beverage/royalyorkbees/
Great initiatives, and i guess i will start talking to the expensive hotels around Nijmegen soon :-)
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