Bees, CCD, GMOs, Bats & Insects

[Spike Silverback]

Folks,

 

Wanted to toss this out for review...... Death of the Bees: GMO Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America

 

Considering all the forums I populate, there seems to be a general consensus

that there is bee, bat, bird and insect die off going on. It would appear that the common denominator would be plants linking them all.

 

The study of the digestive tract is an interesting approach. Any thoughts?

 

Best.

 

Spike

[Turtle]

Folks,

 

Wanted to toss this out for review...... Death of the Bees: GMO Crops and the Decline of Bee Colonies in North America

 

Considering all the forums I populate, there seems to be a general consensus

that there is bee, bat, bird and insect die off going on. It would appear that the common denominator would be plants linking them all.

 

The study of the digestive tract is an interesting approach. Any thoughts?

 

Best.

 

Spike

 

Here's our long-going thread on CCD: >> http://hypography.com/forums/news-brief/10911-honey-bees-disappearing.html

 

I watched a piece on the bats dying in New York State last night or two, and as they are insect eaters, the plants are down the chain. Arguably, plants are near the bottom of all food chains.

 

The dead bats found in New York have a white fungus growing on their faces, but the cause of the dying is still unknown. No doubt the digestive tracts receive due attention. :eek2:

Why are thousands of bats dying in New York? - Science - MSNBC.com

..."White nose syndrome," as the killer has been dubbed, is spreading at an alarming rate, with researchers calling it the gravest threat in memory to bats in the U.S.

 

"This is definitely unprecedented," said Lori Pruitt, an endangered-species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bloomington, Ind. "The hugest concern at this point is that we do not know what it is." ...

[InfiniteNow]

Well, the bees are also dying off pollinating plants which haven't been modified, so that kind of blows that theory out of the water in one quick brush stroke. The most likely candidate is actually the insecticide "Gaucho" made by Bayer (and other insecticides which have a similar method of action):

 

Bayer CropScience: Gaucho

 

 

These chemicals screw up the nervous system in insects, and causes memory loss, which helps to explain why the bees aren't returning to the nest... getting lost... and also how it spreads throughout the colony since they all feed off the same nectar... the insecticide comes with that nectar and the other bees get sick. They are generally in poor health, which makes them more susceptible to additional illinesses.

 

As much as people enjoy being scared about GMOs, your link does not propose any mechanism by which it would be killing the bees (and again, bees are dying even on plants that aren't GMO, so... ).

 

 

YouTube - 60 Minutes: Why Are Honeybees Disappearing? Pt. 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRBJf57aNp4

 

YouTube - 60 Minutes: Why Are Honeybees Disappearing? Pt 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZv9BvQJ-A