More on the poor bees--"canaries"in the coal mine?

Photo: NYTimes. CAPTION: Isaias Corona of Bradshaw Honey Farm, near Visalia, Calif., putting corn syrup — bee food — into hives.

Now the bee story has even hit the front page of the New York Times . Isn't it lovely to know we are feeding the SAD (Standard American Diet): sugar, corn syrup, processed protein --yechhhhhh!--to the poor bees? (and calling it "bee food"!!) And they're wondering why the queen bees ain't so fertile anymore?

Here's a snippet:

In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate...

...Beekeeping has become increasingly commercial and consolidated.

... And beekeepers are losing out to suburban sprawl in their quest for spots where bees can forage for nectar to stay healthy and strong during the pollination season.

...They are also studying a group of pesticides that were banned in some European countries to see if they are somehow affecting bees’ innate ability to find their way back home.

...the insecticides used to try to kill mites are harming the ability of queen bees to spawn as many worker bees. The queens are living half as long as they did just a few years ago.

...Dennis van Engelsdorp, a bee specialist with the state of Pennsylvania who is part of the team studying the bee colony collapses, said the “strong immune suppression” investigators have observed “could be the AIDS of the bee industry,” making bees more susceptible to other diseases that eventually kill them off.

Read more here (if you want to, like the dumb mechanical solutions people are trying to use to "replace" bees--eeek!). As always, use GREENFERTILITY for username/password.

And previous posts:

Dying bees--so sad!

Honey has antibiotics

An article from the NRDC's OnEarth Magazine (thank you, reader Ian)

Need any MORE reason to buy organic???? They say,

The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.

Hello, pesticides are neurotoxins. Is it any wonder that we while the kiddies are getting all autistic and ADHD and epileptic on one hand, one the other end of the age spectrum we have this:

Neurological disorders affect 1 billion people
"The burden of neurological disorders is reaching a significant proportion in countries with a growing percentage of the population over 65 years old," Nobel medicine laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini said in a foreword to the [World Health Organization] report.