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Re: [SANET-MG] are gm crops killing bees



Hi Robert.
I am glad to get your information, I am glad to hear of such situations. The evidence is wrote about showed that GM roundup ready canola was less visited by bees than either or organic or conventional canola. One publication I included showed that the BT Cry toxin effected bee behavior but not as strongly as a powerful chemical insecticide.Disrupting bee behavior causes the bees to get lost and aimless. However, the most interesting observation was the one from Germany showing that Bt corn pollen interacted with the parasite to cause much more damage to the bee colony.I further point out that using, say Dipel, near or on the bee colony is different from GM Bt crops because the Bt genes and proteins are synthetic approximations of the bacterial genes. Finally, I was trying to point out that government research money was not being used to support much of the needed work on the effect of pesticides and GM crops on honey bees and the government bureaucrats are trying to hide the effects of pesticides and gm crops , responding as usual from pressure from the big corporations who face liability. The most important research such as that being done to study the impact of pesticides and GM crops on the bee immune system and interaction with parasites and viruses is being left out in the cold! Natural honey bee cycles may have happened but the current bee crisis is actually been going on a few years, each year worse than the previous. The study showing that the bees immune systems are not as able to cope with changing environments as are the immune system of mosquitoes and flies. That finding means that we need to protect bees more than we do and learn what pesticides and gm crops weaken the bee's immune system. sincerely, joe
Robert Schuler wrote:
Joe.. On the east coast on the Delmarva peninsula you will find the highest concentration of both Bt field corn and bee dependant processing cucumbers and fresh market watermelons anywhere in the northeast USA. There are over 2000 bee keepers and more than 12000 hives. If Bt were a danger to bees you should see evidence of it here, but it has not happened. Bee inspectors in the area have reported only 2 confirmed CCD cases, otherwise bee mortality rates are normal and can be attributed to environmental factors. A bee keeper told me that events like CCD have been recorded frequently over the last 50 years, its not something new just something that has never been seriously investigated. Perhaps now that its become headline news we will find the answer. I depend on bees for a good 20% of my farm income so folks like me have a lot at stake. I agree it makes a great anti-biotech rant but I see no relationship of bee deaths to Bt... Bob
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

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