Another plethora of neonicotinoid articles today...

[Neils]

I read it and tried to sit through the video presentation, that it got so much wrong within 5 minutes didn't bode well.

I won't retread where others, better than me have already trod, but I think someone should ask the Blackawton Kids to go to Harvard and teach them how to do it properly next time. (if you haven't read it before I recommend it, it's a great read in its own right).

[lindsay s]

Neonicotinoids and bees on BBC Countryfile last night. I'm still sitting on the fence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...le_06_05_2012/
2 parts 6.40 and 28.05

[Neils]

Interesting articles and nice to see a broader scope than just honeybees. I think they missed/are missing a trick over that. Adam was on the other week bringing a beekeeper and bees onto his OSR, I'd actually quite like to hear the farmer's side/view in this argument. Does he use treated OSR? If not, why not and what does he treat with instead? what are the financial implications as well as environmental of using/not using neonictinoids in comparison to the alternatives?

Perhaps he's happy to make points around Bovine TB because it's an issue that directly concerns him whereas what he puts on his OSR is someone else's fight?

[HJBee]

...which means that the (lazy) journalists were all primed with press releases yesterday by the usual suspect(s)

Richard Black BBC environment correspondent interchanges facts about bumblebees and honey bees without seemingly being aware of it and throws stuff about ccd into the mix as well. I do agree with Dave Goulson of Stirling University when he states that all insecticides should be banned in gardens. Hardly mission critical for our food supply. I wish they were banned on allotments as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17535769

Alison Benjamin clearly wants to leave the Guardian and seek a career with News International.
Tabloid headline of the day:



I didn't make that up.
Here's the link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ad-bee-disease
Didn't she write the World without Bees book which ended up in everyone's Christmas stocking!

Her colleague Damian also churns out the same old chestnut about honeybee decline in the UK even though the bbka reports that colony numbers have tripled in the last 3 years or so. He also get mixed up between bumbles and honeybees.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ine?intcmp=239

When will these folk start to check some of their facts.
The studies mentioned have some interesting stuff in them but the reporting from a broadsheet like the Guardian is of a dire standard.

I am half way through the World Without Bees book - should I take it all with a Pinch of Salt, they do provide quotes for most claims etc, and I have found it informative, but should I be reading something better?

[Jon]

The simple answer to that is yes. Alison Benjamin's articles in the Guardian are riddled with inaccuracy. I haven't read her book.
She has a tabloid approach to writing about honeybees.

[HJBee]

So what alternative do you suggest for a beginner?

[Rosie]

Someone bought me the book when it first came out. It's still on the shelf unopened. There is so much reading material available and I have waisted so much time wading through nonsense about CCD and the world ending that I could not face another one. The tragedy is that there are serious problems with the environment but people like Borderbeeman, his desciples and others have muddied the water with wild and unsubstantiated claims.

Rosie

[Neils]

So what alternative do you suggest for a beginner?

That's a tough one. I don't think it's that simple. One point of view has a specific agenda and goal (ban pesticides/hurt big business) the rest, perhaps with the exception of the companies that make them, and want to keep selling them largely don't. Its also quite hard to sell "things are generally ok but some research is showing things that need to be investigated further."

So I'm not sure it's about recommending alternatives so much as suggesting both investigating further the claims being made to see if they actually stack up and forming your own opinion rather than being told what it is.

[AlexJ]

So what alternative do you suggest for a beginner?

HJBee - my thoughts are to steer well clear of the 'agendas' that have polarised all attempts to discuss pesticide use/ccd... on the forum.

I would urge you to start off with an open mind by carrying out your own research to try and understand the issues/interdependencies and underlying research that supports (or otherwise) the entrenched views often articulated here and elsewhere. Start off by scanning the threads below; pick out the links to studies and start to build up your knowledge of the subject matter. You'll also get a feel for the way in which opinions become reinforced and mask informative debate, and the challenges you will face.

• Video lecture about risk profile of neonicotinoid insecticides
• BBKA Pesticde Decision
• Jeff Pettis comment channel 4 news
• Nosema ceranae

I recently read IBRA (International Bee Research Association) Journal of Apicultural Research Special Issue: Colony Losses Volume 49 Number 1.

Alex

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Alex, I've just read through these threads again and heartily endorse your selection. Consider yourself poster of the week (for the day)! Folks, get yourself a cup of tea or other tipple, a comfy chair, and spend an hour or so going through that lot for a fantastic education. Many thanks to all who contributed.

I thought that clickable links would help here:

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...channel-4-news

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...d-insecticides

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...ticde-Decision

http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...nosema+ceranae

[Jon]

As far as I know there is no beginners guide to bees and pesticides. The subject is heavy going and dry and involves understanding what the products do, how they work, how they are applied and how many parts per billion are likely to be damaging to honeybees. I don't know what Alison Benjamin's training is but it is clearly not in science.
The subject is dealt with in great detail on the forum Bee-L.

There was also a lot of good discussion on the old bbka forum (RIP)

Many of Alison Benjamin's articles in the Guardian were illustrated by a picture of a hoverfly rather than a honeybee. Sometimes a bumblebee was used. That is the level of fact checking we are dealing with.
The stories in the UK press appear to be based on press releases from the anti pesticide campaigners or campaigning organizations and as such have a completely one sided agenda. I am as wary of the big corporations as the next man (or woman) but the idea that if it is made by Bayer or Monsanto then it has to automatically be bad is lazy thinking. It may well be bad but you need to provide evidence for that which is where the science, the research and the published papers come in.