The below news release from General Mills has appeared locally and is
presented here for informational purposes.  Apologies if this has
been presented before.
 
-dan
 
>NEWS RELEASE - OCTOBER 23, 1996
>
>
>"The makers of Honey Nut Cheerios, along with the nation's foremost
>entomologists and representatives from the American Honey Producers
Association,
>today launched a national campaign to raise funds to accelerate study of a
>crisis that threatens to eradicate America's honeybee population and devastate
>American agriculture.
>
>According to one of the nation's leading entomologists, Dr. Eric Mussen,
>Professor of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, an invasion of
>parasitic mites that migrated to the United States from Latin America over the
>past few years 'now represents the single greatest threat to ever confront the
>food chain and America's agricultural industries.'  Almost all of America's
wild
>honeybees have been eradicated by the mites since they first arrived in the
U.S.
>More than 60 percent of America's commercial honeybees have been killed by the
>tiny, spider-like creatures.
>
>...the Honey Nut Cheerios "Save the Honeybee" campaign will raise funds to
>research threats posed by the "Varroa Mite", which sucks blood from
honeybees by
>attaching itself to their bodies; and the "Tracheal Mite", which chokes
>honeybees to death by reproducing while lodged inside honeybees' throats.
>
>As part of the Honey Nut Cheerios "Save the Honeybee" campaign, between now and
>January 31, 1997, Honey Nut Cheerios will donate 25 cents for every honeybee
>clipped from the front of a Honey Nut Cheerios box and mailed to General Mills.
>The cartoon-like drawing of a honeybee has appeared on the front of the Honey
>Nut Cheerios boxes since 1979, a year after its introduction in 1978.
>
>...General Mills stands ready to donate up to $100,000 for honeybee research.
>The funds will be evenly distributed to three of America's premiere honeybee
>research centers:  the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University and
>the University of California, Davis.  Each school has established apiary
>research programs that have been in the forefront of the search for a way to
>destroy the deadly mites and repopulate America's honeybee hives.
>
>Individuals who want to help save the honeybee should mail honeybees clipped
>from the front of Honey Nut Cheerios boxes to:
>
>"HELP SAVE THE HONEYBEE"
>P.O. BOX 5450
>MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55460-5450
>
>Those who want to receive a honeybee information packet or hear more about how
>too they can help are urged to call the "Help Save the Honeybee" Hotline at
>800-362-2006."
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