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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Peter L Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 7 Jun 2012 15:28:59 -0400
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Hi all
My chief objection to this and some other studies is that they seem to be just trying to get some of the money that is being spent on "saving the bees" and -- they ignore most of what has already been done. They all start out with some declaration of the "importance of bees to humankind" and go on to spend the money on their project in a woefully ignorant manner, reinventing the wheel, the tire, and the headlights. For example, the following paragraph raises the flag about bee importance but at least he acknowledges that he isn't the first person to think of looking at pesticides killing bees:

QUOTED
Honey bees provide important pollination services
to crops and wild plants. The agricultural use of
systemic insecticides, such as neonicotinoids, may harm
bees through their presence in pollen and nectar, which
bees consume. Many studies have tested the effects on
honey bees of imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid, but a clear
picture of the risk it poses to bees has not previously
emerged, because investigations are methodologically
varied and inconsistent in outcome. In a meta-analysis of
fourteen published studies of the effects of imidacloprid on
honey bees under laboratory and semi-field conditions ...

These findings raise renewed concern about the impact on
honey bees of dietary imidacloprid, but because questions
remain over the environmental relevance of predominantly
laboratory-based results, I identify targets for research and
provide procedural recommendations for future studies.

FROM: "A meta-analysis of experiments testing the effects of a neonicotinoid insecticide (imidacloprid) on honey bees." James E. Cresswell [Should be required reading for anyone interested in getting at the facts]

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