This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
Sweet Survival Bees & Superbees Update


While bee colonies die off around the world, pesticide chemical com- panies continue to protect their busi- nesses by lobbying against bans on neonicotinoids, a group of nicotine- based toxins designed to paralyze insects by attacking their nervous sys- tems. And that, claim critics, includes honeybees.


Mounting authoritative research undermines the pesticide industry’s long-repeated arguments that bees are not being harmed, and increases pressure on U.S. and UK authorities to follow other countries in banning the suspect chemicals, blamed for the “colony collapse disorder” that has been decimating bee populations. The current double-whammy for honeybees is an Asian mite, the var- roa, which feeds on honeybee young and adults and spreads viruses. To fight the pest, commercial beekeep- ers have turned to heavy feeding and medication to try to keep hives alive. Now, scientists at the U.S. De- partment of Agriculture’s honeybee lab, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that have studied for the last decade why some hives had low mite levels, have determined that the bees in those colonies were able to detect mites hiding in sealed cells and feeding on developing young. The research- ers’ goal is to breed a queen that will pass on to her colony the traits of resistance to pests and disease, gentleness, productivity and winter hardiness, thus creating a superbee. The project is ongoing.


Source: Environmental Health News natural awakenings July 2012 21


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64