Review of Bee Health

Monsanto Vows To Help Save The Bees

July 10, 2013

From: The Inquisitr

 

Monsanto recently held a Honey Bee Health Summit to address colony collapse  disorder. The bee population has decreased drastically around the globe in  recent years. The biotech giant acquired Beeologics from an Israeli company in 2011. Monsanto is attempting to convince beekeepers that the GMO  seed and pesticide manufacturer wants to be proactive in the fight to save the  bees.

 

Even if you do not like honey or keep bees, the health and population  statistics of the little buzzing creatures is still extremely important. Without  bees to pollinate crops, the global food supply and human population would  quickly perish.

 

When asked about the Monsanto bee summit, company researcher Jerry Hayes had  this to say:

 

“The goal in my mind was pretty simple, to connect the beekeeping industry  more closely to Monsanto, and to connect Monsanto more closely to the beekeeping  industry. They’ve heard all the big scary stuff about the company. We want to  raise their comfort level.”

 

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) first presented in 2006. Millions of beehives  around the world lost more than one-third of their colonies. As previously  reported by The Inquisitr, 37 million bees were recently found dead in  Canada. Approximately 25,000 bees were found dead late last month in Oregon.

 

Scientists and researchers have surmised that insecticides, herbicides,  parasitic mites, and viruses have all played a role in the bee population  decreases. A new technology which will allegedly protect bees from the varroa  mite was discussed during the Monsanto bee summit. A University of Kentucky  report about varroa mites and bees stated that the external honeybee parasites  attack not only adults in colonies, but the brood as well. A deformed brood is  often a result after a varroa mite infestation.

 

An excerpt from the University of Kentucky bee report reads:

 

“They suck the blood from both the adults and the developing brood, weakening  and shortening the life span of the ones on which they feed. Emerging brood may  be deformed with missing legs or wings. Untreated infestations of varroa mites  that are allowed to increase will kill honeybee colonies.”

 

Monsanto researchers at the summit denied claims that the biotech giant was  planning to create genetically modified bees. Illinois beekeeper Terry Ingram’s  story about having a Roundup Ready queen bee confiscated from his property along  other necessary equipment, honey, and bees went viral. Ingram, like many other  beekeepers, grew concerned about the impact of pesticides on declining colonies  and had spent 15 years researching the issue. Ingram planned to raise the  Roundup Ready resistant queen bee’s offspring to find out if the bee had somehow  developed a resistance to the popular Monsanto product.

 

The bee population has been declining since 1997. In 2005, a significant  colony reduction prompted alarm among both beekeepers and environmentalists. In  2007, apiaries noted losses which totaled between 30 to 70 percent of the  colonies. Pesticides were labeled the primary suspect nearly immediately. Since  that time, everything from climate change to cell phone signals have also been  added to the list of colony collapse disorder possible causes.