Neonicotinoids "damage bees' brains"

Qualitymark

Scary:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21958547

Neonicotinoid pesticides 'damage brains of bees'
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC World Service

Commonly used pesticides are damaging honey bee brains, studies suggest.

Scientists have found that two types of chemicals called neonicotinoids and coumaphos are interfering with the insect's ability to learn and remember.

Experiments revealed that exposure was also lowering brain activity, especially when the two pesticides were used in combination.

The research is detailed in two papers in Nature Communications and the Journal of Experimental Biology.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/science/earth/soaring-bee-deaths-in-2012-sound-alarm-on-malady.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms

Jim Wilson/The New York Times
A Disastrous Year for Bees: For America’s beekeepers, who have struggled for nearly a decade with a mysterious malady called colony collapse disorder that kills honeybees en masse, the last year was particularly bad.
By MICHAEL WINES
Published: March 28, 2013

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.

A conclusive explanation so far has escaped scientists studying the ailment, colony collapse disorder, since it first surfaced around 2005. But beekeepers and some researchers say there is growing evidence that a powerful new class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, incorporated into the plants themselves, could be an important factor.
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Hondo75

Fipronil seems to be under the spot light as well.



http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0618-gen-fipronil.html?fbfnpg

bob charles

as good as any reason to push for GM crops:). unfortunately I dont believe the crap printed above though either

Dont think neonicotinoids are as widely as the report states. I can ever remember using any form

Qualitymark

bob charles wrote: »

as good as any reason to push for GM crops:). unfortunately I dont believe the crap printed above though either

Dont think neonicotinoids are as widely as the report states. I can ever remember using any form

GM crops just have the insecticides bred into them - they're major bee-killers where they're grown.

If you have a dog or a cat you probably use neonicotinoids ever year - all those insecticides that you put on your pet's neck to kill fleas for a month have them.

This Guardian article describes neonicotinoids as the world's most widely-used insecticide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/29/bees-european-neonicotinoids-ban

And also from the Guardian this month: Third of European bee colonies did not survive winter:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jun/13/honeybee-colonies-england-winter

bob charles

Qualitymark wrote: »

GM crops just have the insecticides bred into them - they're major bee-killers where they're grown.

If you have a dog or a cat you probably use neonicotinoids ever year - all those insecticides that you put on your pet's neck to kill fleas for a month have them.

This Guardian article describes neonicotinoids as the world's most widely-used insecticide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/29/bees-european-neonicotinoids-ban

Oh so GM crops are major bee killers with the genes that are bred into them, ge I learn something new today

So is the insecticide that you place on the dogs back is a pesticide as outlined in your first link.......... suppose come to think of it, it is.

Qualitymark

bob charles wrote: »

Oh so GM crops are major bee killers with the genes that are bred into them, ge I learn something new today

Yes. And also, farmers are actually using more pesticides due to the effects of GM crops; here's a study reported in Business Insider:

http://www.businessinsider.com/study-gm-crops-cause-more-pesticides-2012-10

So is the insecticide that you place on the dogs back is a pesticide as outlined in your first link.......... suppose come to think of it, it is.

It's one of the uses; another is the use of neonicotinoids on seeds so that it's systemic in the plant (it's in every part, including the pollen).

Believe me, if I could find a safe way of killing pests on plants I'd be queueing up for it. Unfortunately, neonicotinoids are risky. If we kill the bees that cross-fertilise plants, we're not going to be able to grow a lot of food.

Qualitymark

Programme about this on BBC4 Who Killed The Honey Bee now June 19, 2013 9:31 p.m.

bob charles

So how many of you clever bunnies broke down the group of chemicals to

Neo-NICOTIN-oids

scared

bogman_bass

Qualitymark wrote: »

GM crops just have the insecticides bred into them

Eh no! I dont think you fully understand how GM crops work

bob charles

bogman_bass wrote: »

Eh no! I dont think you fully understand how GM crops work

:rolleyes::rolleyes: dont go robbing the ball

Qualitymark

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/us-usa-study-pesticides-idUSBRE89100X20121002

Pesticide use ramping up as GMO crop technology backfires: study

(Reuters) - U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of "superweeds" and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study.

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In line with site policy regarding Sherlock's Law, most of the article quoted above has been removed.
The full article can be read at the posted link.

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bob charles

Qualitymark wrote: »

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/02/us-usa-study-pesticides-idUSBRE89100X20121002




[MOD]

In line with site policy regarding Sherlock's Law, most of the article quoted above has been removed.
The full article can be read at the posted link.

[/MOD]

As I have said before the rush is our very own super weed:D,

Superweeds is such a bull****e term, plants have always evolved to try and suit there environment and this including adapting so as beat off chemical interference.

one of the main reasons weeds are adopting is the incorrect application of pesticides.

kupus

for anyone who missed last night (like me)its on youtube, mod feel free to delete if its not ok

brianmc

For a little balance.

Neonicotinoids... my understanding is that neonicotinoid pesticides have what are described as "sublethal" effects on honeybees. This is not a good thing and so I'd be just as happy to see them banned.

However, I have heard large scale bee breeders and honey producers say that they have not actually noticed much serious effect on their colonies from known neonicotinoid treated crops that their bees were working. This was in the UK and Ireland where management and treatment of bees is not as errr... "industrial"... as it is in the US.

A lot of theories suggest that the whole (very dramatic and impactful) problem of "Colony collapse" is not due to any one disease/poison/condition. Colony collapse disorder is mainly an American phenomenon which is strange, given that neonics are used both here and in the UK too. The theory is that a combination of the culture of pollinating huge monocrops, poor health and breeding management and perhaps neonicotinoids all combine to cause the phenomenon of colony collapse. Neonicotinoids have become more of a scapegoat than perhaps they should be.

GM crops are whole different issue. There is no evidence that GM crops have any negative effect on honeybees that I know of (disclaimer: I'm a reasonably well-read, hobbyist, beekeeper, not a well-read scientist). The issue for honey producers is that the EU has decided that honey that has been produced from GM crops must be labelled as being a GM product. Nobody knowingly chooses the jar off the shelf that is marked GM. It is not to say that there is actually any quality difference.

This is a particular dilemma in honey production because a colony of bees forages for up to 2 or 3 miles from the hive. Therefore, if GM crops are grown widely in your country, it is almost impossible to guarantee that your bees don't forage on them somewhere and so you are legally (probably; IANAL) obliged to label your honey as GM. This is also the reason that you won't find certified organic honey produced in Ireland. The bees would need to be foraging solely on certified organic lands. A three mile radius is a lot of land!

I believe there are currently GM potato crops being trialled by Teagasc at Oakpark in Carlow. Bees aren't big fans of potato blossom but there is a question for any beekeepers in the vicinity as to the labelling of their honey.

On the plus side of GM crops, thousands of tons of inseciticides/fungicides/etc. are saved each year around the world because the crops don't need them. That's definitely good for the bees and more.

The GM/neonicotinoid confusion...

GM plants, crops, etc are engineered to be more resistant to certain conditions/diseases. That's quite different to having insecticdes built into them. It's a bit like the fact that Irish men are more genetically predisposed to haemochromatosis than other nationalities of men.

Neonicotinoids however are often used as systemic insecticides. The seed is treated with neonicotinoids and as the plant grows the insecticide pervades through the whole plant including the blossom. It's not a GM thing though.

Qualitymark

What I don't like about GM is that they're being forced on us without - it seems to me - sufficient and sufficiently cautious testing.

More on neonicotinoids:

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/01/purdue-study-implicates-bayer-pesticide-bee-die-offs

For the German chemical giant Bayer, neonicotinoid pesticides—synthetic derivatives of nicotine that attack insects' nervous systems—are big business. In 2010, the company reeled in 789 million euros (more than $1 billion) in revenue from its flagship neonic products imidacloprid and clothianidin. The company's latest quarterly report shows that its "seed treatment" segment—the one that includes neonics—is booming. In the quarter that ended on September 30, sales for the company's seed treatments jumped 28 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

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it's important to know how seed treatments work, which is like this: The pesticides are applied directly to seeds before planting, and then get absorbed by the plant's vascular system. They are "expressed" in the pollen and nectar, where they attack the nervous systems of insects.

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Now, neonic pesticides likely have two separate effects on bees: an acute one during spring corn planting, when huge clouds of neonic-infested dust rises up, at doses that kill bees that come into contact with it. Those population losses weaken hives but don't typically destroy them. And then there's a gradual effect—what scientists call "chronic"—when bees bring in pollen contaminated at low levels by neonicotinoids. Research by the USDA's Pettis suggests that even microscopic levels of exposure to neonics compromises bees' immune systems, leaving hives vulnerable to other pathogens and prone to collapse.

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Interesting article - well worth reading the whole thing.