Alex Lu is now participating in congressional hearings as if he spoke with
authority on Bees and Neonics.

I wish I was joking.  I'm not.

Despite a string of studies where he fed massive overdoses of toxins to
bees, and misclassified them as "sublethal", despite being pilloried by
anyone who knows the difference between a part per million and a part per
billion, his press office continues to pump him up more than Columbia
trumpeted Ian Lipkin's "discovery" of IAPV ("Ian's Annoying Pet Virus" aka
"Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus") as the "proximate cause" of CCD.

I wish I had the time to grab a Delta shuttle down to DC to listen, but I
don't.  
Perhaps C-SPAN will air the hearing, so that the stream can be recorded.

Drastic measures may be required.  I suggest a half-dozen beekeepers, each
wearing a Sherriff S21 veil folded down on their back, appear wherever Lu
speaks, and just as he starts to speak, all the beekeepers silently don red
clown noses, removing them when he stops speaking.  I wish I could fund the
deployment.

Below is the full text of the press release:

=================

Congressional Briefing on Neonicotinoid Pesticides and Human Health This
Week
American Congressional Briefing: The Threat of Neonicotinoid Pesticides to
Bees and Other Organisms, and the Risks to Human Health

Rayburn House Office Building B318, Washington DC
September 18, 2014
9:30AM to 11AM
 Neonicotinoids are systemic pesticides, meaning they are taken up by all
tissues and fluids of treated plants, including nectar and pollen, and in
food produced by these plants. A large body of scientific evidence has
linked neonicotinoids to Bee Colony Collapse Disorder, a widespread and
massive die-off of honeybees over the past decade in the U.S., Europe, and
other parts of the world, evidence so compelling that the European Union has
banned the three most commonly used neonicotinoids.

 It has now become clear that these water-soluble, long-lived neurotoxins,
the world's most widely used insecticides, are also toxic to bumblebees and
other pollinators, and to birds, earthworms, and many other organisms. And
given that neonicotinoids have been shown to be present in surface waters
(by the USGS), ground water (reported by the EPA), and in our food (by the
USDA), and that they have been shown to disrupt nerve cell activity in
mammals, there are major concerns that they may have significant human
health impacts as well, particularly for developing nervous systems in
infants and children.
 This briefing, sponsored by the Center for Health and the Global
Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Department of
Environmental and Occupational Health at George Washington University's
School of Public Health's Milken Institute, will review the latest science
on neonicotinoids.

The following will speak:
 Eric Chivian M.D.-Director, The Program for Preserving the Natural World.
Founder and Former Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment,
Harvard School of Public Health. 
 Chensheng (Alex) Lu Ph.D.-Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure
Biology, Harvard School of Public Health.
 Melissa Perry Ph.D.-Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and
Occupational Health, Milken Institute, George Washington University School
of Public Health. President-elect, American College of Epidemiology.
 Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR 3rd District)-Co-Author of the "Saving
America's Pollinators Act of 2013"
 The briefing is free and open to the public. No RSVP is required.
 For more information, please contact:
 Tracy Sachs  [log in to unmask]
Kallista Bernal  [log in to unmask]

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