Scottish MEP calls for ban of neonicotinoids

[Stromnessbees]

...
Noone has demonstrated any correlation between areas where neonicotinoids are used and areas where CCD occurs.
...

Not true, here is one of the scientific studies that show the correlation:



Detection of Pesticides in Active and Depopulated Beehives in Uruguay

Lucía Pareja,¹ Marcos Colazzo,¹ Andrés Pérez-Parada,¹ Silvina Niell,^1,2 Leonidas Carrasco-Letelier,³ Natalia Besil,¹ María Verónica Cesio,¹ and Horacio Heinzen^1,*

During the last fifteen years, a continued depopulation of beehives has been reported in USA, Italy, France and Spain and other countries. This phenomenon which is characterized by bees suddenly abandoning beehives, with evidence of bee death, is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in the United States. ...

...

The colony collapse disorder (CCD) has been reported in areas where intensive agricultural practices constitute the main economic activity. Particularly in Uruguay, continuous beehives losses were recorded since 2002. After this first event, a monitoring program has been established showing that the major losses occurred in regions where soy and sunflower crops are the most important agricultural activities during summer
...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210585/

[Stromnessbees]

Winter dwindle has been reported for centuries though, before CCD, before neonicotinoids, before any pesticides for that matter.

No, sudden winter dwindle of previously strong colonies is a new phenomenon.

The affected American beekeepers certainly said, that they had never seen anything like it before.
That's why CCD caused such an outcry.

I would encourage all beekeepers who have had sudden dwindling in their colonies this winter to contact me by pm.

[Jon]

What do you mean by sudden dwindle? Over what time period?

Are there no references correlating CCD with neonicotinoid use in the US? Surely that would be more obvious given that the US is where most cases of CCD have been reported.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to demonstrate given that we know geographically where cases of CCD occur and geographically where pesticides are applied.
There is no correlation.

[Stromnessbees]

What do you mean by sudden dwindle? Over what time period?

Are there no references correlating CCD with neonicotinoid use in the US? Surely that would be more obvious given that the US is where most cases of CCD have been reported.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to demonstrate given that we know geographically where cases of CCD occur and geographically where pesticides are applied.
There is no correlation.

Sudden dwindle: over a few weeks, usually late autumn or winter.


Of course the correlation has been shown for the USA as well:

From the excellent book A Spring without bees by Michael Schacker, page 260 :



http://www.amazon.com/Spring-without.../dp/B0058M8WSW

I recommend you get the book, it's only £ 5, so there's no excuse for not reading it.

[chris]

a monitoring program has been established showing that the major losses occurred in regions where soy and sunflower crops are the most important agricultural activities during summer
...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210585/

Interesting Doris. I know nothing about soy, but have just dug out a Swiss paper on sunflowers.The summary states:

"Influence of sunflower crops on bee colonies development.
In Switzerland, sunflower cultivation extends since the nineties and nowadays reaches
about 5000 ha. The sunflower seeds are not treated with insecticides (imidacloprid,
fipronil) but despite that, Swiss beekeepers are complaining about colony losses if the
hives are placed close enough to fields of blooming sunflower. A two-years trial was
carried out in order to find out whether sunflower by itself was detrimental for bees or
caused any colony damages. Results show that foraging of sunflower has no adverse
effect on bee populations neither during blooming period or within the next following
months. Sunflowers didn’t have any impact on bee losses during winter. Bees were foraging
intensively on sunflowers but the nectar quantity collected was small or nought.
During a few days after the migration to the sunflower fields, bees were collecting
sunflower pollen but opted soon for other pollen sources such as maize and clover."

But I'm going off subject.

[Jon]

Doris
How does a table showing states with CCD reported in 2006 demonstrate a correlation with current use of neonicotinoids? That's just a list of states where CCD was reported in 2006.
How would you separate out any correlation between CCD and monoculture or intensive agriculture as opposed to an association with neonicotinoids.

This was also the problem with the Connolly study. A whole stack of other variables which were not eliminated.

The sunflower seeds are not treated with insecticides (imidacloprid,
fipronil) but despite that, Swiss beekeepers are complaining about colony losses if the
hives are placed close enough to fields of blooming sunflower.

Chris
I was at a presentation on Friday evening by Pam Hunter on the importance of pollen and she mentioned that bees which took pollen from sunflowers lived on average 31 days as opposed to 51 days for bees on other sources of pollen. I don't have a reference but will do a bit of googling.

EDIT.
This must be where she got the reference.
L.S.Schmidt et al, Feeding preference and survival of young worker honey bees fed rape, sesame and sunflower pollen. J. of Econ. Entom. 88(6):1591-1595 (1995).

1995 study4 divided bees into two groups: one fed solely with canola pollen, the other with sunflower pollen:

Pollen Source Life Span of Bees

Canola 51 days

Sunflower 31 days

This study was done well before the advent of CCD and the remarkable 20 day difference in life span could well cause sunflower bees that survived in past years to reach a tipping point in today’s world where they are confronted with the agents of CCD.

From the USDA

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a serious problem threatening the health of honey bees and the economic stability of commercial beekeeping and pollination operations in the United States. Despite a number of claims in the general and scientific media, a cause or causes of CCD have not been identified by researchers.

Several studies that reported a negative impact on honey bees by neonicotinoids relied on large, unrealistic doses and gave bees no other choice for pollen, and therefore did not reflect risk to honey bees under real world conditions. Nor have the studies demonstrated a direct connection or correlation to CCD.

At a personal level, a few years ago I had a double brood colony crash from maybe 40,000 bees to 2 frames of bees in about 3 weeks. It had got to the brink of starvation and although it took down a lot of syrup the stress brought on (I suspect) nosema.

In the winter it is not unusual at all to have a small colony crash from 3 frames of bees to a little cluster of a couple of hundred over a 3 week period. This coincides with the die off of old bees. This is quite common and always had been but it is not CCD. I have lost several nucs like this this winter. No mystery at all.

[Neils]

So states with no or limited commercial, migratory beekeeping aren't reporting CCD is the main conclusion I draw from that table.

[Stromnessbees]

...
The sunflower seeds are not treated with insecticides (imidacloprid, fipronil)
...
Results show that foraging of sunflower has no adverse effect on bee populations neither during blooming period or within the next following months.
...

Well, it says it clearly there: in sthe sudy they used no insecticides and there were no adverse effects.

I thought you were trying to say the opposite.

Maybe the fields that the beekeepers complained about had actually been treated.


Would you be so kind to provide the link please, so that everybody can have a look at it?

[drumgerry]

Just been reading the March 2013 issue of the ABJ where there is a report on the findings by Henderson, Bromenshenk and Fischer on Clothiandin levels in bee-collected pollen and nectar in seed treated corn and canola/OSR - tests carried out during 2010 and 2011.

Seed treatment was at the standard levels used in agriculture in the US (0.5mg/seed) up to the maximum permitted level (1.25mg/seed). In corn the mean level found was 1.2ppb and in canola the mean level was 2ppb or less. Levels, they say, not expected to pose a significant risk to honey bee colonies. I think you'll have to look elsewhere for your smoking gun when it come to CCD Doris.

[Stromnessbees]

...
From the USDA
...

The USDA is another one of those agencies that suffer from 'revolving doors':

Employees of the pesticide corporations work for a few years in senior positions at USDA an then go 'home' again.

You can't expect genuine results as long as such malpractice is allowed.