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Mysterious illness stings beekeepers
Herald Daily News / Associated Press ^ | 15-Feb-2007 | Genaro C. Armas / Associated Press

Posted on 02/15/2007 7:29:48 PM PST by VxH

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.

Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some affected commercial beekeepers — who often keep thousands of colonies — have reported losing more than 50 percent of their bees. A colony can have roughly 20,000 bees in the winter, and up to 60,000 in the summer.

The country‘s bee population had already been shocked in recent years by a tiny, parasitic bug called the varroa mite, which has destroyed more than half of some beekeepers‘ hives and devastated most wild honeybee populations.

Along with being producers of honey, commercial bee colonies are important to agriculture as pollinators, along with some birds, bats and other insects. A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants — including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel — rely on pollinators for fertilization.

"We are going to take bees we got and make more bees ... but it‘s costly," he said. "We are talking about major bucks. You can only take so many blows so many times."

One beekeeper who traveled with two truckloads of bees to California to help pollinate almond trees found nearly all of his bees dead upon arrival, said Dennis vanEnglesdorp, acting state apiarist for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture .

Scientists at Penn State, the University of Montana and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are among the quickly growing group of researchers and industry officials trying to solve the mystery.

• Although the bodies of dead bees often are littered around a hive, sometimes carried out of the hive by worker bees, no bee remains are typically found around colonies struck by the mystery ailment. Scientists assume these bees have flown away from the hive before dying.

• Normally, a weakened bee colony would be immediately overrun by bees from other colonies or by pests going after the hive‘s honey. That‘s not the case with the stricken colonies, which might not be touched for at least two weeks, said Diana Cox-Foster, a Penn State entomology professor investigating the problem.

Cox-Foster said an analysis of dissected bees turned up an alarmingly high number of foreign fungi, bacteria and other organisms and weakened immune systems.

In the meantime, beekeepers are wondering if bee deaths over the last couple of years that had been blamed on mites or poor management might actually have resulted from the mystery ailment.

"Now people think that they may have had this three or four years," vanEnglesdorp said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; bees; gmfood; mysteryillness; outbreak
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1 posted on 02/15/2007 7:29:50 PM PST by VxH
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To: VxH

Diabetes?


2 posted on 02/15/2007 7:30:33 PM PST by Hegemony Cricket (Never let it be said that there are things we would never let be said.)
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To: VxH

see also:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1759436/posts


3 posted on 02/15/2007 7:32:26 PM PST by xcamel (Press to Test, Release to Detonate)
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To: Hegemony Cricket

Groan.


4 posted on 02/15/2007 7:33:14 PM PST by saganite (Billions and billions and billions-------and that's just the NASA budget!)
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To: VxH

X-Files.


5 posted on 02/15/2007 7:34:00 PM PST by Sir Gawain
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To: VxH

Bee inbreeding?


6 posted on 02/15/2007 7:34:58 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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To: Grinder; freepatriot32; prairiebreeze; tiamat; Ladysmith; Alas Babylon!; Malacoda; vrwc0915; ...

ping


7 posted on 02/15/2007 7:35:01 PM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

ping


8 posted on 02/15/2007 7:36:24 PM PST by Calpernia (Breederville.com)
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To: Hegemony Cricket
Diabetes?

No HIV or Hives (take your pick)

9 posted on 02/15/2007 7:38:23 PM PST by AndrewC (Duckpond, LLD, JSD (all honorary))
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To: VxH
Liberals!
10 posted on 02/15/2007 7:40:18 PM PST by sionnsar (†trad-anglican.faithweb.com†|Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: AndrewC

Hehehe - nice return...


11 posted on 02/15/2007 7:41:04 PM PST by Hegemony Cricket (Never let it be said that there are things we would never let be said.)
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To: xcamel

Hmmm. This doesn't look good.

Given the timeline, gotta wonder if this isn't related to insect resistant GM food crops that were introduced in the last few years.


12 posted on 02/15/2007 7:42:22 PM PST by VxH (There are those who declare the impossible - and those who do the impossible.)
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To: Hegemony Cricket; saganite

Diabeetes.


13 posted on 02/15/2007 7:44:00 PM PST by VxH (There are those who declare the impossible - and those who do the impossible.)
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To: VxH

Nice... :-)


14 posted on 02/15/2007 7:44:45 PM PST by Hegemony Cricket (Never let it be said that there are things we would never let be said.)
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To: Hegemony Cricket
Kyoto was the right way to go. This looks like man-made Global Swarming taking its toll again...
15 posted on 02/15/2007 7:48:15 PM PST by C210N (Bush SPIED, Terrorists DIED!)
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To: VxH
I heard this being discussed on Coast to Coast 02/14/2007.
Eric Mussen was the guest and offered a ton of interesting information.

Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Has many links that I haven't checked out yet.

/Salute
MaxMax

16 posted on 02/15/2007 7:49:26 PM PST by MaxMax (God Bless America)
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To: VxH
Given the timeline, gotta wonder if this isn't related to insect resistant GM food crops that were introduced in the last few years.

I hadn't thought of that but it's a real possibility. Excellent thinking VxH!!!

17 posted on 02/15/2007 7:49:32 PM PST by lakey
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To: Hegemony Cricket

LOL!


18 posted on 02/15/2007 7:57:22 PM PST by traviskicks (http://www.neoperspectives.com/Ron_Paul_2008.htm)
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To: VxH

Al Gore hasn't blamed global warming yet?


19 posted on 02/15/2007 8:01:08 PM PST by Taichi
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To: Taichi

Give 'im a minute, he's got all these storms and freezing in FL to rail against first.


20 posted on 02/15/2007 8:57:53 PM PST by aspen64 (Release the hounds!!)
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