Must-read book: 'A Spring Without Bees'

[gavin]

..... and it's very much along the other information I found out, but which is being suppressed on this forum.

Scurrilous, and bonkers. This is one of the best places for 'information'. It is the biased, unsubstantiated clap-trap that gets a rough ride here. It isn't suppressed, it is challenged.

Doris' book is propaganda of course. Chris' book is a fascinating read, but a slow read for someone with my level of French.

For those interested, there is a really careful review of French bee losses here in a report authored by some of the big names in the field. It is in both French and English and cuts through all the hype around, such as is found in Doris' book. There is the advantage that is it free and available on a computer near you.

http://www.afssa.fr/Documents/SANT-R...AbeillesEN.pdf

G.

[Trog]

When the pesticide(s) in question was banned in France, what did they use on the sunflowers and corn instead? Does anyone here know, and has there been any research into what the replacement pesticides do to bees and other pollinators?

[chris]

No Trog, I don't know, but I have contacted Gil Rivière-Wekstein and will let you know as soon as he replies. Incidentally, the bee losses in the winter following the ban were equivalent to those before the ban.

[chris]

When the pesticide(s) in question was banned in France, what did they use on the sunflowers and corn instead?

So, here is my translation of the information I received. If, in my ignorance of chemistry, I've invented some new pesticides, then I'm sure somebody more knowledgable will correct it.

For sunflowers, there are no seed treatment insecticides since the suspensions. Therefore, the farmers have managed with carbamates while there were still some available. They have now moved on to pyrethroids in the sowing furrows (as with maize), and at the moment they only have cypermethrin in micro granule form (Belem) to fight against click beetle. So a lot of problems ahead….even more so as the other action of the seed treatments was against the flying pests (aphids).Nowadays, leaf application of principally pyrethroid products (of which we know their limits in terms of resistance development) have taken over. The following table is a recapitulative of the authorized products.

Products permitted for leaf spraying against aphids Latest update : march 2012

Synthetic pyrethroids
MAVRIK FLO, TALITA product dosage0.3 l/ha toxicity: SC Active substances:tau-fluvalinate Dosage
of active ingredients used80 g/ha
Associated pyrethroids
KARATE K, OPEN, OKAPI liquide Product dosage:1.5 l/ha toxicity:Xn Active substances:lambda-cyhalothrin + pirimicarb
dosage of active ingredients used 7,5 + 150 g/ha
Carbamates
PIRIMOR G Product dosage: 0.5 kg/ha toxicity:T Active substances: pirimicarb
dosage of active ingredients used: 250 g/ha

Toxicity of the commercial patent : SC = not classed ; Xn = noxious ; T = toxic

For maize ,since 2008, there have been annual approvals for a seed treated insecticide: Cruiser made by Syngenta. It should be noted that the product Belem (cypermethrin) has been authorized, and a dispensation accorded for clothianidin in micro granule form for sweetcorn last year for Cruiser was not available.

[Jon]

lambda-cyhalothrin is highly toxic to honey bees, especially when tank mixed with fungicide.

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_...63#Ecotoxicity

pirimicarb is moderately toxic to honey bees

http://www.pesticide.org/get-the-fac...s/cypermethrin

cypermethrin is toxic to honey bees.
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_...66#Ecotoxicity

This stuff is also toxic to fish.

Well done all you anti neonicotinoid campaigners for getting this dangerous crap used in larger quantities. You know what they say, be careful what you wish for.
They don't replace banned neonicotinoids with unicorn manure, just older and more dangerous pesticides, the carbamates and pyrethroids.

[prakel]

Stumbled on this quote in an article by Ross Conrad on the use of EO's in Bee Culture

http://beeculture.com/storycms/index...y&recordID=697


May not be the best place to post it but there are already too many threads (to choose from) either about pesticides OR hijacked by the anti-p gang.

Richard Adee the owner of Adee Honey Farms in South Dakota is the largest beekeeper in America. Richard consistently runs 80,000 or more colonies between South Dakota, California, Washington, Texas and Mississippi. When it comes to Honey-B-Healthy, Richard says 'we wouldn’t operate without it.'

Adee Honey Farms suffered a 40% loss of bees in 2008 and testing indicated that numerous viruses were the primary cause. As Richard tells it, he sent the best of what was left of his bees to the almond orchards in California and shipped the rest to Texas. Then he bought a bunch of new bees in an effort to expand and improve the gene pool in his bees and he bred from the best and most resistant of his remaining stock. In the Summer of 2008 his bees were looking pretty good but were not making much honey. He drenched the bees with Honey-B-Honey and the bees seemed to take off, ending the year by producing a nice honey crop. Testing and sampling following the drenching indicated much lower virus levels as well as lower Varroa levels. Since then Richard reports that he has had no major health issues with his bees during the past year and a half and he now uses H-B-H regularly in his bee feed and is drenching them once each summer as preventive maintenance. Like his colleagues, he appreciates the fact that H-B-H is a food related natural product and that he does not have to rely on toxic chemistry and drugs to maintain his industrial size operation.

I'm not making any comment on H-B-H or any similar treatment, just pointing out what Adee (and others who lost badly to CCD) has to say about the primary reason for his colonies collapsing.

[Stromnessbees]

Scurrilous, and bonkers. This is one of the best places for 'information'. It is the biased, unsubstantiated clap-trap that gets a rough ride here. It isn't suppressed, it is challenged.

Doris' book is propaganda of course.

I can only advise any genuine forum readers to listen to the author (see previous post) and read the book, so that they can make up their own minds about what is propaganda and what not.

Which is the multimillion dollar industry that has got a lot to lose? - The beekeepers with a few hives in their backyards or the pesticide corporations?
So which of these groups has the money and is going to pay for propaganda?