The Birds and the Bees

No, it's not what you think, though I have been on some fun dates this summer ;)  Rather, this concerns the plight of nature's workhorse, the honey bee.  Earlier this year I was disturbed by a CBC Radio documentary on the strange disappearance of bees across the US, with die-offs of 30-70% of hives in Western bee colonies.  BC beekeepers have found a similar 23% loss.  With varying degrees of bee disappearances also reported across Europe.

The source of these disappearances?  CCD.  Dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder, adult bees leave the hive and simply don't return. The queen and remaining worker bees can't raise the brood and the colony collapses.  A study published in June found that CCD was by a two to one ratio the cause for bee loss in the US. 

The cause behind CCD however  is disputed -- theories include environmental change-related stresses, climate change, malnutrition, unknown pathogens, mites, radiation from cellular phones or other man-made devices, beekeeping practices (such as the use of antibiotics, or long-distance transportation of beehives),  and genetically modified crops (particularly GM corn -- which are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the US) and the powerful chemicals used for pest control on them such as neonicotinoids (nicotine-based pesticides).

The AIDS of the bee industry

Some beekeepers and scientists point the finger squarely at the latter -- noting that three years ago CCD began shortly after neonics became widespread in treating genetically engineered seeds.  Scientists have found neonics degrade the immune system of bees.  A recent three year study conducted by the British government found that GM crops and their associated pesticides were highly harmful to bees, butterflies and birds.  Similar results have been found in German studies.   

Alarm has risen in the environmental community, with the Sierra Club calling on the US government to fund emergency research into the neonic connection and if GM crops are found to be responsible for CCD to ban the plants.  They note:

"The "unpredictability" in the artificial gene splicing technology that is routinely performed in genetic engineering may lead to unpredictable consequences. Investigators have raised the possibility that honey bees are experiencing a sublethal effect such as a "suppressed immune system" from an unknown toxin.  Dennis van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist with the state of Pennsylvania who is part of the team studying the bee colony collapses, said the "strong immune suppression" investigators have observed "could be the AIDS of the bee industry," making bees more susceptible to other diseases that eventually kill them off."

The US Department of Agriculture claim that this is "the biggest general threat to our food supply", because 1/3 of all our food comes from bee-pollinated plants (blueberries, squash, broccoli, almonds, etc...) with the insects worth $16 billion to the North American economy. 

German bee expert Professor Joergen Tautz from Wurzburg University cited in the Telegraph, "Bees are vital to bio diversity. There are 130,000 plants for example for which bees are essential to pollination, from melons to pumpkins, raspberries and all kind of fruit trees - as well as animal fodder - like clover.  Bees are more important than poultry in terms of human nutrition. Bees from one hive can visit a million flowers within a 400 square kilometre area in just one day.  Bees are not only working for our welfare, they are also perfect indicators of the state of the environment. We should take note."

Nectar of the gods

Besides the utility that honey bees provide us for pollination and for cooking, there's also health benefits.  Though the practice is uncommon in the US, honey is successfully used elsewhere for ulcers, cataracts, allergies, a digestive aid, and an antiseptic.  It's also believed to be an antioxidant, that reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Related not so sweet news, all from China :(

• toxic honey
• antibiotic contaminated honey
• honey laundering

Yikes.  Yet another reason to buy local and organic...

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Attributed to Albert Einstein.

Comments

[Broadus Mattison]

Hey-

Here is a link from Penn State Entymology Department's website on the Colony Collapse:

http://www.ento.psu.edu/MAAREC/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html

[Broadus]

Looks like they may have found the source of the virus:

http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=E0E0362F-E7F2-99DF-3F4F781839D6C879

[Lori Lynn]

Hi Broadus, yeah, I saw all the articles a couple days after I wrote this pointing to a virus that originates in Australia as the cause. I still would like to blame GMO though ;)

FYI, the world's best honey -- Dew Fresh Honey from Oliver, British Columbia :)