> Ontario honey bees dropping like flies.
These people do not know what it was like in the good old days,
when there was widespread use of chemicals like:
Arsenic
Serious losses of honey bees have occurred periodically for many
years in Utah. The most severe and extensive losses were
during the relatively dry summer of 1939. Similar losses occurred
in Salt Lake County in the fall of 1942. Again in 1943 losses were
heavy during the summer and fall. Approximatey 90 to 95 percent
of all colonies in Salt Lake and Davis Counties died out in 1943.
Highest arsenic levels centered in parts of Salt Lake and
Tooele Counties. Serious losses from arsenic occurred in counties
adjacent to those where the arsenic level was high, more commonly
than in other parts of Utah.
The data support the conclusion that most adult honey bee
losses in the area around Salt Lake County have been caused by
arsenic containing dusts from early or present operation of smelters.
This dust is carried to the hives on the pollen or the bodies of the bees.
Knowlton, G. F., Sturtevant, A. P., & Sorenson, C. J. (1950). Bulletin No. 340-Adult Honey Bee Losses in Utah as Related to Arsenic Poisoning.
* * *
Honeybee losses in Arizona resulting from the dusting of crops with arsenicals have been heavy in recent years. The Arizona State Beekeepers' Association reports that in 1942 over 7,500 colonies were estimated to have been killed in this way. Losses in 1943 were not determined, but appear to have been less severe. In 1944 approximately 2,000 colonies were killed or seriously damaged in areas near insecticide-dusting crops. In 1945 more than 7,000 colonies were killed and as many more were seriously damaged.
Such losses have forced many beekeepers to go out of business or to move to other locations; others have taken the loss and restocked their apiaries, only to suffer similar losses in following years. Similar reports issue from many other states, wherever crops are treated with arsenical insecticides.
A survey of the literature reveals a history of increasing losses of bees from poisoning with insecticides. The first record of the use of arsenic as an insecticide in the United States was in 1868, when Paris green was used to control potato insects (1, 43). In 1881 Thompson (48) observed that bees were killed after Paris green had been sprayed on a pear tree in full bloom. In 1892 the insecticidal value of lead arsenate was discovered, and it soon became the leading stomach poison for insects
In 1922 Neillie and Houser (37) reported the use of the airplane in applying insecticidal dusts. The airplane was adapted immediately for use in cotton dusting (14), and by 1926 it was being used extensively for pest control in many coun- tries (31). Eckert and Allinger (16) in 1935 reported the death of 3,000 colonies from crop dusting in one county in California, and as many more were rendered unproductive. Root (41) in 1940 reported that thousands of colonies had been killed in Texas and California by airplane dusting.
One sample of live bees, crawling near the hive entrance, averaging 0.75 microgram of As2 O3 per bee, was collected 2 to 5 miles from a field dusted with the 15 per cent calcium arsenate dust. More than half the colonies in this apiary died as a result of this single dust application. The arsenic content of bees continued to be high for months in hives containing stored pollen of high arsenic content.
McGregor, S. E., Caster, A. B., & Frost Jr, M. H. (1947). Honeybee Losses as Related to Crop Dusting with Arsenicals.
* * *
Modern pesticides, in contrast to arsenicals, are less hazardous to honey bees. In general, they have a shorter residual effect and usually a lower toxicity value than arsenic. Although the newer pesticides are used in greater quantities over larger areas and over a greater variety of crops than the arsenicals, they can usually be used with safety if the above facts and precautions are taken into consideration.
Anderson, L. D., & Atkins Jr, E. L. (1968). Pesticide usage in relation to beekeeping. Annual Review of Entomology, 13(1), 213-238.
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