I read in a back number of the New Scientist dated 25 October 2003 that "A  
separate study in the same journal [Proceedings of the Royal Society] showed  
bees' learning abilities suffer if their immune systems are on high alert.  
Eamonn Mallon at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and his colleagues  
injected bees with a bacterial protein that was not toxic but that did stimulate  
the bees' immune systems.  Then they trained these bees and untreated ones  to 
associate a flower scent with food.
 
Twelve minutes after training, 60 per cent of the untreated bees had  learned 
the trick compared with just 30 per cent of the treated bees. Mallon  
suggests their immune systems and brains compete for the same chemicals."
 
Could it be that this points towards part of the explanation why bees are  
having problems? Their immune systems must be alerted as never before by the  
effects of varroa and all it transmits; by random environmental pollution; by  
sub-lethal doses of various agricultural chemicals applied to the land, to 
seeds  and to growing plants; and by the substances secreted by some varieties of 
GM  plants that are not found in conventional ones?
 
Chris
 
 



   

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