Why we Should be Concerned about Bees

[Guest guest]

From Dr. Mercola's site:

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/3/4/loss-of-bees-threatens-ice-cream.aspx

 

Also, if you go to that site, there are some interesting comments by

folks ............Lynn

 

Should you be concerned about the disappearance of bees?

 

If you are fond of being alive – whether that includes the occasional

indulgence of

ice cream

or not -- then the answer is a resounding Yes.

It’s astounding to consider the fact that an entire one-third of the U.S.

food supply is dependent on the pollination from bees. Some 100 different

kinds of crops need honeybees to transport pollen between flowers,

prompting fertilization and jump-starting the production of seed and

fruit. This goes way beyond flavored ice cream – alarming as that may be

for some – but if Haagen-Dazs’ PR stunt has the effect of making a few

more folks sit up and pay attention, then that’s a good thing.

 

The Honey Bee – Master

Creator

In addition to pollinating U.S. food crops worth

billions of dollars per year, they also pollinate flowers, trees, and

other flowering shrubs, which adds to the beauty of nature in general.

They’re also one of the most prolific workers, when it comes to creating

a wide variety of useful and delicious things, such as:

 

 

 

honey bee

pollen

beeswax

royal jelly

 

 

medicinal bee venom

 

Bee pollen, for example, is often referred to as a Superfood – one of

nature’s most completely nourishing foods. It contains nearly all

nutrients required by your body. About half of its protein is in the form

of free amino acids that are ready to be used directly by your body and

can therefore contribute significantly to your protein needs.

What’s Killing the

Bees?

Several potential causes for the “colony collapse disorder” have been

culled out, including:

 

 

Cell phones

Pesticides

 

 

Genetically modified crops

 

 

Micro-organisms that compromise the immune system (as seen in humans

whose immune systems have been suppressed by cancer or AIDS)

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), frequently used for feeding by

certain bee farmers

As of April 2007, 25 percent of all bee colonies in 27 U.S. states had

died. If this trend is not reversed, it has the potential to ignite

famine throughout the world.

The French

Experiment

Two pesticides in particular, Imidacloprid and Fipronil, sold under the

names of Gaucho (Bayer) and Regent (BASF), came under close scrutiny in

Europe when French beekeepers claimed they caused their bee colonies to

collapse.

Beekeepers progressively won legal battles to suspend the use of Gaucho

and Regent on various crops, starting in 1999 with the government

moratorium forbidding the use of Imidacloprid on sunflower seeds. In 2004

it was banned for use on maize (corn), and Fipronil was also suspended

from use on all crops.

2005 was therefore an important year for French beekeepers, and according

to the

 

2005 French Imidacloprid Ban Update, issued by

MDRGF.org, honey harvest for that

year improved in certain regions of France for the first time in a dozen

years.

German GM Findings

Meanwhile, a German study found compelling

evidence that GM crops are changing the genetic makeup of the bees. When

bees were released in a GM rapeseed crop, then fed the pollen to younger

bees, scientists discovered that the bacteria in the guts of the young

ones mirrored the same genetic traits as found within the GM crop

itself.

The inevitable agricultural and economic catastrophe that will result

from GM crops is a stark reminder of how complex, fragile and

interdependent our biosystem really is. The loss of one plant, one

animal, one species, can cause potentially devastating repercussions that

can wreak havoc on the entire system for years, decades, or worse --

permanently.

Genetic modification is playing fast and loose with this system, with no

real idea what the results will be. It's taking parts out of a

smoothly-functioning machine and replacing them with new, untried, and

untested parts.

Voting with your pocketbook is perhaps the only answer available here, by

avoiding GM foods like the plague that they truly are.

These two articles in particular can show you the way around GM foods:

 

 

How do you Know if Your Food is Genetically Modified?

 

The GMO Food Guide

Canaries in the Coal

Mine

The fact that the French have seen a small reversal in their bees’

survival rates after banning certain pesticides is heartening. And

clearly, the German findings are a stern warning to us all about the

danger of GMO’s.

However, I truly believe there’s more than one thing going on here. Just

as you are bombarded with toxic chemicals from the air you breathe, to

the soil your food is grown in, to the toiletries you use and the water

you drink, bees are the true canaries in the coal mine, showing us what’s

in store for you and me if we don’t clean up our act on several

fronts.

I am relatively convinced that another major contributor to this disorder

is that the

 

bees are reacting to the epidemic increase in cell phone use, which

also coincides rather precisely with the decline in the bee

population.

It took from 1984 to 2004 to reach the first billion cell phones and then

only 18 months to get to the second billion, nine months to the third,

and we will hit four billion cell phones by the end of this year.

Wireless broadcasts are loaded with information containing packets, which

resonate at various frequencies (depending on the source), and can cause

biological effects when the frequency is the same, or similar to, the

biological system of the organism. In the case of the bees, it appears to

disrupt intercellular communication and cause disorientation of the

magnetite in their bodies that they use to orient themselves to the

earth. They can't find their way back to the hives and they die because

they don't have the capacity to store much nutrition in their body,

because they require food from the hive.

Wireless technology is also being

 

linked to the death of migratory birds.

Maybe it’s time to realize we live in a fragile, interconnected balance

with everything around us.

Related Articles:

 

 

 

 

Are GM Crops Killing Honeybees?

 

 

 

Cell Phones May be Why Honeybees Are Disappearing

 

 

 

Another Possible Explanation for the Devastating Disappearance of

Honeybees