UK Bee Plague Could be Worse than Foot and Mouth Crisis

Beemergency! A Mystery Plague Threatens Britain's Bees and the Result Could Be Worse than Foot and Mouth
By Vince Cable, Daily Mail, 5/31/2008
http://apitherapy.blogspot.com/2008/06/uk-bee-plague-could-be-worse-than-foot.html

...Bees matter. And not just for honey. When they are collecting nectar to make honey they spread pollen, which fertilises many of our garden flowers and useful fruits. 

Apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, broad and runner beans depend on them. They are the unpaid workers whose labour supports many an orchard or garden.

On the narrowest calculation, they help produce £165million a year of marketed products. 

Yet unthinking human activity is doing considerable harm. Britain's bumblebee population has been drastically reduced...

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