Posted on 10/11/2010 11:39:19 AM PDT by chessplayer
DENVER — It has been one of the great murder mysteries of the garden: what is killing off the honeybees?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Bee Mystery Unsolved? Lead Investigator Had Connections to Pesticide Maker"
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/10/bee_mystery_unsolved_lead_inve.html
In the 1970’s the media was in a panic over the coming extinction of the honey bee.
In the 1980’s the media was in a panic over the coming extinction of the honey bee.
In the 1990’s the media was in a panic over the coming extinction of the honey bee.
In the 2000’s the media was in a panic over the coming extinction of the honey bee.
Age has it’s benefits, as I can remeber all of the panic.
Now, please excuse me while I go have some toast and honey. Which, by the way, is as cheap and plentiful as it was in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and the 00’s.
BY GOTHAMCITYBEES on 10/09/2010 at 8:27am
We know this man well, and he has been smeared for doing excellent work.
Fortune magazine was fed a set of libel, or the reporter did a smear job with actual malice towards a very reclusive non-public figure. Dr. Bromenshenk has worked tirelessly on the problems of bees for decades, and has not, nor has he any prospect, of getting rich from his work. He is a man of good character, and he has never been employed by Bayer on any basis. The conspiracy theory about Bayer is naive - when all of agriculture is beset with an ever-growing invasive species problem, the shrill screaming about pesticides in the face of clear evidence of invasives in all the dying hives, when detectable levels of systemic pesticides are only found in about 10% of the hives seems to be part of an effort to protect the forces of globalization, who profit massively while spreading pests and diseases via the invasive species they import along with your cheaply-made consumer goods. So, what's killing the bees? WalMart, the G20, and your flat-screen TV.
NY Mag should interview and DEFEND Dr. Bromenshenk's reputation.
BY NOBELWONKINOBIE on 10/09/2010 at 12:10pm
Hmm, write first, ask questions, do research later, or not. I agree with GOTHAMCITYBEES' remarks to which I would add that the degree to which this article is a lazy journalist's attempt to sell controversy without investing any first hand effort in researching the subject matter, not only makes the author guilty of spreading potentially libelous misinformation, but it represents the worst kind of shoddy, tabloid journalism. The question of whether Dr. Bromenshenk's paper is good science or not is never even looked into, much less answered. Nor are the credibility and motives of the original character assassin, Katherine Eban, examined. If this is the kind of "journalism" typically accepted at New York magazine I guess I'll have to look elsewhere.
There is a fungal disease of grasshoppers. It makes them crawl to the highest thing they can find, usually a grass seed head that is about 6 inches taller than the surrounding ones. Then the grasshopper attaches itself and then dies. The fungal spores are best disseminated from this lofty perch and infect other grasshoppers.
The article says the culprit is a virus and a fungus. What are you saying?
At the end of the day, the data show what they show, and who funded their collection doesn't matter.
Buuuut that’s just CRAZY! I mean, pesticides are totally safe because people connected to them say so!
Reminds me of hearing Pat & Stu on Glenn Beck’s radio show earlier today laughing their asses off at someone suggesting Glenn might be suffering health consequences from aspartame. How can conservatives selectively turn their brains off like that? We all agree that the government is steeped in corruption & backroom deals and the global warming farce has shown us that scientific ‘evidence’ can be fabricated on a vast scale.
But somehow, when it comes to pesticides, oh, you’d have to be CRAZY to think there’s anything amiss!
Then there is the money...... there is likely money to be made by crafting a chemical solution to the problem.
As a former beekeeper who suffered year after year the loss of seemingly healthy colonies, I know first hand the problem is not trivial. I spoke over the weekend with a fairly new bee keeper and she advised that the problem may have lessened slightly, but it is certainly still a challenge.
He's claiming that the findings are susepct because the principal investigator allegedly recieved a grant from Bayer, a pharmaceutical company that also happens to manufacture pestisides.
You see, many people suspect that it is pesticides that are killing the bees, and apparently bee keepers have been suing pesticide makers over the deaths of their hives. The research cited in the article doesn't help their case, and so they are trying to discredit the scientist by bringing up his Bayer grant.
Of course, the mere fact that this guy took a grant from Bayer doesn't mean his findings are wrong. As others have already pointed out, scientific research stands or falls on its own merits. Just because the guy took a Bayer grant doesn't mean his findings are wrong. Perhaps it means those findings should be vetted more carefully, but at the end of the day, the question of whether the guy took a grant from Bayer doesn't matter.
Finally. For years they’ve been blaming it on cell phones
Shut up and buzz?
Exactly. They are artificial chemicals, therefore they gotta be harmless. The makers of them say so, and they would`nt lie to make a buck, would they? Ten years ago I could look into a field and see lots of bees. This entire summer I saw only three.
I wonder if there is a way to turn this to killing off the Africanized bees but save the native bee.
Very well said. If it is true science then it should be repeatable, regardless of sponsor.
“I wonder if there is a way to turn this to killing off the Africanized bees but save the native bee.”
Huh?
The new world did not have bees. All bees are imports. The friendly bees are from Europ and Asia. The not so friendly ones from Africa. You can learn a lot studying bees.
Just because pesticides aren't the main cause of the bee death problem doesn't mean pesticides are perfectly safe. Those are two seperate questions. We generally stick to organic fruits and vegetables in my family in order to avoid eating pesticides.
However, I have been skeptical of the bee-killing pesticide hypothesis from the beginning. Pesticides have been utilized on a mass scale for over 60 years. While they have caused many problems over the years, to be sure, there have been no mass die-offs of bee hives, on this scale, until a few years ago. That makes it pretty darn unlikely that pesticides are the culprit, unless there has been some radically different new pesticide widely adopted in recent years, which I understand there wasn't.
I know, it's a potentially disasterous problem. That's why you should be supporting research that seeks to find the the true cause, whether or not that cause happens to be the same as your prejudices lead you to suspect.
As I've said to others, I'm no fan of pesticides. My family and I avoid food grown using pesticides. Yes, pesticides cause problems, but that doesn't mean they are causing THIS problem.
Concerning pesticide residue, if you are afraid of injesting pesticides, wash the fruits or vegetables before eating.
Incidentally, the approved chemicals for organic application in Washington fills several pages of single spaced typing. Pesticides approved for conventional fruit is a lot less.
Since I work in the industry, I don't and would not spend the extra money for aly organic fruits or produce. It is a waste of your food dollars.
Sorry, was not aware that the “american honey bee” was brought over from Europe. I have always seen “american bees” in association with colony collapse so I assumed that they were native.
Thanks for the info.
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