Are Cell Phones Wiping Out Our Bees?
D. Spencer Hines
only four years of life left"."
Hmmmmmm...
DSH
-------------------------------------------------------
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony
collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
15 April 2007
The Independent
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some
scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive
food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile
phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more
bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt
disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some
bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then
spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees'
navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding
their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now
evidence to back this up.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly
disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so
many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to
die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that
normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to
go anywhere near the abandoned hives.
The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all
American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its
commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.
CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and
Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers,
announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.
Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west
England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."
The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops
depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees
disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".
No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides,
global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.
German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power
lines.
Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to
return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn,
who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.
Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile
phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am
convinced the possibility is real."
The case against handsets
Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is
still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer,
take decades to show up.
Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official
Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years
were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they
held the handset.
Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from
mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers
could go senile in the prime of their lives.
Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use
mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically,
doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from
constant texting.
Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned
that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety
recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.
---------------------------------------------------------------
DSH
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have
> only four years of life left"."
>
> Hmmmmmm...
>
> DSH
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
>
>
Check on this control: are there places with no cell phones that have
bees? Are there places with bees and cell phones? Are there places
with no cell phones and no bees?
I have forwarded this to the FCC doctor responsible for goofy cell
phone theories, I am sure he has heard it but it falls in with the
others.
TMOliver
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote ..
Given the spread and the number of dramatic (and occasionally fatal)
incidents involving the Africanized honey bees in South Texas, we need more
cell phones fast....
TMO
La N
"TMOliver" <tmoliv...@hot.rr.comFIX> wrote in message
news:4622af9b$0$4937$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
I didn't read the article. Do cell phones give them brain cancer?
- nilita
D. Spencer Hines
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
"Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have
only four years of life left"."
Serious Stuff...
More important, and an immediate threat, than Global Warming?
DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
Deus Vult
Jack Linthicum
> "TMOliver" <tmoliverjr...@hot.rr.comFIX> wrote in message
>
> news:4622af9b$0$4937$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@earthlink.net> wrote ..
>
> >> On Apr 15, 6:10 pm, "D. Spencer Hines" <poguemid...@hotmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have
> >>> only four years of life left"."
>
> >>> Hmmmmmm...
>
> >>> DSH
> >>> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> >>> Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
>
> >> Check on this control: are there places with no cell phones that have
> >> bees? Are there places with bees and cell phones? Are there places
> >> with no cell phones and no bees?
>
> >> I have forwarded this to the FCC doctor responsible for goofy cell
> >> phone theories, I am sure he has heard it but it falls in with the
> >> others.
>
> > Given the spread and the number of dramatic (and occasionally fatal)
> > incidents involving the Africanized honey bees in South Texas, we need
> > more cell phones fast....
>
> I didn't read the article. Do cell phones give them brain cancer?
>
> - nilita
They lose their sense of direction, if I read it right. Since the
frequency emission from a cell phone itself is very very small it
seems unlikely. There was a thing going before I left the FCC that the
Eurp digital switching could cause something, peritonitis or cancer or
one of those disabling things. You need bees with the intercept
capability of those CIA listening devices or the sensitivity of a rat
brain. It's just the Eurp ones so don't worry buy North American
analog devices and be behind the times but not in a clinic.
Bert Hyman
<pogue...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would
> have only four years of life left"."
I'm sure that when Einstein spoke on matters of entomology, he was a
great physicist.
--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN be...@iphouse.com
La N
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1176678724.0...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
Okay, as long as we're segueing off into goofy (end of the weekend)
territory, here's breaking news from pravda!:
American radio icon Don Imus disgraced, fired after threat to reveal
9/11 secrets
13.04.2007
PRAVDA.Ru
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/89728-0
In a clear sign of its intent to reign in dissident American media
personalities, and their growing influence in American culture, US War
Leaders this past week launched an unprecedented attack upon one of
their most politically 'connected', and legendary, radio hosts named
Don Imus after his threats to release information relating to the
September 11, 2001 attacks upon that country.
http://english.pravda.ru/img/idb/don_imus.jpg
Don Imus
According to European reports of the events surrounding Don Imus that
have gripped the United States this past week, it was during an
interview with another American media personality, Tim Russert, who is
the host of a television programme frequently used by US War Leaders,
wherein while decrying the state of care being given to American War
wounded stated, "So those bastards want to keep these boys [in
reference to US Soldiers] secret? Let's see how they like it if I
start talking about their [in reference to US War Leaders] secrets,
starting with 9/11."
Unable to attack such a powerful media figure as Don Imus, directly,
the US War Leaders, and as we have seen many times before, resorted to
a massive media attack against him using as the reason a racial slur
against a US woman's basketball team, but which has been pointed out
by other media outlets was not by any means a rare occurrence for the
legendary radio icon to make.
But, to the US War Leaders, Don Imus represented the most serious
threat, to date, of the growing assault against them by America's
media personalities threatening to expose the truths behind the events
of September 11, 2001 and the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars; and to such an
extent that another American media personality, Rosie O'Donnell, has
expressed concern that US Military Leaders could actually imprison Mr.
Imus.
From our past research of the tactics used against those threatening
America's War Leaders, the likelihood of imprisonment for Don Imus
would only occur should he persist in his threats to undermine their
authority, and which appears, at this time, unlikely after the public
disgrace he has had to endure.
It is expected, also, that the US War Leaders actions against Don Imus
will have a further chilling affect upon other American media
personalities questioning their authority, such as the popular US
movie actor, Charlie Sheen, and who was one of the first to question
the events of September 11, 2001, and as we can read as reported by
New Zealand Herald News Service in their article titled "Charlie Sheen
may voice 9/11 documentary", and which says:
"US actor Charlie Sheen is reportedly in talks to narrate an internet
documentary that suggests elements of the US government were behind
the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.
Sheen's representatives say he was involved in the production of a new
version of Loose Change, a 90-minute conspiracy theory film that has
been seen by more than 10 million internet viewers."
Apparently lost upon America's media personalities is that a
government being investigated by the International Red Cross for the
torture of an Iranian Diplomat by whipping with steel cables on his
feet; a government that would have its soldiers imprison in an
Ethiopian torture jail a Swedish teenage girl; a government that would
even contemplate the release of one of the World's most wanted
terrorists, Posada Carriles; does not hesitate, for even a second, to
crush any, and all, opposition to it.
To the American people themselves their remains no evidence that they
know, much less care, about the dire state of their once Free Nation.
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
J Antero
"D. Spencer Hines" <pogue...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:DpxUh.53$X05...@eagle.america.net...
> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have
> only four years of life left"."
>
> Hmmmmmm...
>
> DSH
> -------------------------------------------------------
>
> Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
It's CO2.
Billzz
news:4622af9b$0$4937$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>
Sure, but you have to be able to talk Swahili.
Billzz
news:1176678724.0...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
Hmm. I had an analog phone but Cingular made me turn it in for a digital.
Actually both analog and digital. Then the next one was digital only. I
think they are phasing out the analog network.
D. Spencer Hines
Pogue Linthicum The Unthinking Strikes Again!
Vide infra.
> They lose their sense of direction, if I read it right. Since the
> frequency emission [sic] from a cell phone itself is very very [sic]
> small it seems unlikely.
Pogue Linthicum
----------Cordon Sanitaire-------------------------------
The sensory apparatus of the BEE is also VERY, VERY SMALL -- and DELICATE.
Pogue Linthicum, [vide supra] means the ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS -- NOT
"the frequency emission" -- but he's too stupid to get it right -- and he's
an alleged former Naval Security Group Officer to boot. He's probably
posting while drunk on a Sunday.
Appalling!
Remember:
The sensory apparatus of the BEE is also VERY, VERY SMALL -- and DELICATE.
DSH
Bringing Lux et Veritas et Libertas To The Unwashed Masses Daily
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1176678724.0...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
<Detritus Deleted>
>> >> On Apr 15, 6:10 pm, "D. Spencer Hines" <poguemid...@hotmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would
>> >>> have only four years of life left"."
>>
>> >>> Hmmmmmm...
>>
>> >>> DSH
> They lose their sense of direction, if I read it right. Since the
Andrew Chaplin
news:qDyUh.2908$j%5.49@edtnps90...
> Okay, as long as we're segueing off into goofy (end of the weekend)
> territory, here's breaking news from pravda!:
>
> American radio icon Don Imus disgraced, fired after threat to reveal
> 9/11 secrets
>
> 13.04.2007
> PRAVDA.Ru
> http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/89728-0
>
> In a clear sign of its intent to reign in dissident American media
> personalities, and their growing influence in American culture, US War
> Leaders this past week launched an unprecedented attack upon one of
> their most politically 'connected', and legendary, radio hosts named
> Don Imus after his threats to release information relating to the
> September 11, 2001 attacks upon that country.
Oh, Fffffffff!
--
Andrew Chaplin
SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO
(If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.)
Peter Jason
>>
>> They lose their sense of direction, if I
>> read it right. Since the
>> frequency emission from a cell phone
>> itself is very very small it
>> seems unlikely. There was a thing going
>> before I left the FCC that the
>> Eurp digital switching could cause
>> something, peritonitis or cancer or
>> one of those disabling things. You need
>> bees with the intercept
>> capability of those CIA listening devices
>> or the sensitivity of a rat
>> brain. It's just the Eurp ones so don't
>> worry buy North American
>> analog devices and be behind the times but
>> not in a clinic.
These infernal portable telephone machines
are a blight on the modern age.
I would need five hands to count the number
of times I have been collided with in the
street by a phone junkie taking a call.
Clearly, invention is the mother of
necessity!
But hope is nigh. These devices are
shrinking in size,and now approach the size
of suppositories, which immediately suggests
a final solution.
To hell with the *bees*, we poor pedestrians
are in need of sympathy!
La N
"Peter Jason" <p...@jostle.com> wrote in message
news:evuq33$uqt$1...@otis.netspace.net.au...
Amen, brother!
- nilita, who shares the same sentiments re cp's ...
D. Spencer Hines
DSH
Lux et Veritas et Libertas
Deus Vult
------------------------------------------------
"Peter Jason" <p...@jostle.com> wrote in message
news:evuq33$uqt$1...@otis.netspace.net.au...
redc1c4
being Canadian, the solution should be obvious to you:
BODY CHECK!
if they're not paying attention, it'll look better on the highlight reel.
redc1c4,
who inserts himself into loud public phone conversations..... %-)
--
"Enlisted men are stupid, but extremely cunning and sly, and bear
considerable watching."
Army Officer's Guide
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
> Hilarious!
>
> Pogue Linthicum The Unthinking Strikes Again!
>
> Vide infra.
>
> > They lose their sense of direction, if I read it right. Since the
> > frequency emission [sic] from a cell phone itself is very very [sic]
> > small it seems unlikely.
>
> Pogue Linthicum
>
> ----------Cordon Sanitaire-------------------------------
>
> The sensory apparatus of the BEE is also VERY, VERY SMALL -- and DELICATE.
>
> Pogue Linthicum, [vide supra] means the ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS -- NOT
> "the frequency emission" -- but he's too stupid to get it right -- and he's
> an alleged former Naval Security Group Officer to boot. He's probably
> posting while drunk on a Sunday.
>
> Appalling!
>
> Remember:
>
> The sensory apparatus of the BEE is also VERY, VERY SMALL -- and DELICATE.
>
> DSH
>
> Bringing Lux et Veritas et Libertas To The Unwashed Masses Daily
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> news:1176678724.0...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
>
> <Detritus Deleted>
>
> >> >> On Apr 15, 6:10 pm, "D. Spencer Hines" <poguemid...@hotmail.com>
> >> >> wrote:
> >> >>> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would
> >> >>> have only four years of life left"."
>
> >> >>> Hmmmmmm...
>
> >> >>> DSH
> > They lose their sense of direction, if I read it right. Since the
> > frequency emission from a cell phone itself is very very small it
> > seems unlikely.
Now this is funny, the "add-on" Commander who lost his job with the
Security Group and was snidely referred to as ignorant then has
decided he knows more about frequencies than the 40 years
communications information boy.
First, the frequencies for cell phones are in the 1900 MHz range, with
a wavelength of about 6 inches. The average bee is about a half an
inch in width. Since antenna theory says that at least one dimension
of the the receiving antenna must be the size of the wavelength the
bees are somewhat handicapped by their size.
Another theory says that the GWEN (Groundl Wave Emergency Network) at
250 kHz is at fault
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/03/06/millions_of_bees_die_are_electromagnetic_signals_to_blame.htm
But it is being phased out not in.
This reference has a discussion of the microwaving of bees and the
effects there on. and other possible effects causing the disappearance
of bees. One of the best seems to be the new crops with their Gaucho
seed covering. The bees will mate with the Africanized bees and then
the problem will be keeping the little bastards out of your hair.
Complaint of the week.
Eugene Griessel
>seed covering. The bees will mate with the Africanized bees and then
>the problem will be keeping the little bastards out of your hair.
Really this fuss over African bees is wildly overdone. We have been
living with the things here forever. Ok so they kill a few dozen
people annually, but so what? People is one thing that is not in
short supply on this planet. Anyway they make great honey.
Eugene L Griessel
Time is the best teacher; unfortunately, it kills all its students.
Peter Skelton
<jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote:
WIthout pretending to know anything about bees, most of the RF
from the cell phone system comes from the towers.
Peter Skelton
Jack Linthicum
and bees navigate by sensing small variations in the magnetic field of
the area. I think the cell phone draws a lot of people who have no
idea how it works but it worries them.
HD.Radio
> shrinking in size,and now approach the size
> of suppositories, which immediately suggests
> a final solution.
>
> To hell with the *bees*, we poor pedestrians
> are in need of sympathy!
>
A cure for prostate cancer?
dapra
It is worrisome. But it would be easy to test if the bees are affected
(or is it effected?). Place a few beehives at various distances from the
transmitting tower, and put some cell phone close to other beehives.
And see the results. This doesn't seem rocket science to accomplish it.
One may measure the dominant frequencies, and the power density , if one
want to be a little more scientific.
Jack Linthicum
Or even accurate.
dapra
Well, accuracy is important, if you want to correct a known problem.
Like if dead whales and dolphins are floating in the water after the
Navy's testing of its super-duper high intensity ultrasound mapping system.
So far the cell phone and bee connection only looks anecdotal.
Jack Linthicum
All cell phone effects are anecdotal, no one has the time and the
money to prove anything, just create a postulation, get someone
interested in the results to pay for it and publish.
dapra
Bee keepers should be interested. They are the first to suffer. They
know what's going on, they should ring the alarm bell. Did they?
Jack Linthicum
What would be your first move if you saw the place where you work
closed?
dapra
> On Apr 16, 2:47 pm, dapra <dap...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
[....]
>>
>>Bee keepers should be interested. They are the first to suffer. They
>>know what's going on, they should ring the alarm bell. Did they?
>
>
> What would be your first move if you saw the place where you work
> closed?
>
I see only tangential connection to the subject, but..
First, I would resist to close it. I went throw this process. I tried to
protect my subordinates, the people worked for me. I refused to transfer
our technology and go to Japan.
In other words, I pissed against the wind. I tried to be patriotic,
while the CEO's were selling out our technology, the country.
The direct answer to your question, if the place already closed, look
for an other job.
Singanas@Texasgulfcoast
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dap,
The Bush administration has got another Katrina class failure in its
lap.
One agency after another has come under fire since 9-11, and
I think the next will be Dept of Agriculture for not getting on to
this bee problem as a condition red alert.
One of their spokesmen said, "We are working on it but it's a slow
process." Rather than blame Japan, the DA needs to fly its top
scientists to Tokyo tomorrow and petition the Diet and the PM
for assistance.
In fact, we need to go to every country with a bee research facility
and compare notes ASAP. It's idiotic to wait until food prices
skyrocket
before reaching out to the rest of the world.
Cheers, David H
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tankfixer
mumbled
>
> "TMOliver" <tmoliv...@hot.rr.comFIX> wrote in message
> news:4622af9b$0$4937$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
> >
> > "Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote ..
> >
> >> On Apr 15, 6:10 pm, "D. Spencer Hines" <poguemid...@hotmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>> "Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have
> >>> only four years of life left"."
> >>>
> >>> Hmmmmmm...
> >>>
> >>> DSH
> >>> -------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>> Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> Check on this control: are there places with no cell phones that have
> >> bees? Are there places with bees and cell phones? Are there places
> >> with no cell phones and no bees?
> >>
> >> I have forwarded this to the FCC doctor responsible for goofy cell
> >> phone theories, I am sure he has heard it but it falls in with the
> >> others.
> >>
> >
> > Given the spread and the number of dramatic (and occasionally fatal)
> > incidents involving the Africanized honey bees in South Texas, we need
> > more cell phones fast....
> >
>
> I didn't read the article. Do cell phones give them brain cancer?
>
Of course not
They fly into things while talking on the cell phone silly....
--
Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
diet of static text and
cascading "threads."
La N
"Tankfixer" <paul.c...@us.army.m> wrote in message
news:OOqWh.3827$j63....@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
Ummm ..... that would be mosquitoes. Last weekend a few of them bumped into
me at a BBQ while they were talking on their cell phones. As a result, I
was covered with itchy bumps .....
- nilita - Benadryl to the rescue!
Paul J. Adam
<nilita20...@yahoo.com> writes
>Ummm ..... that would be mosquitoes. Last weekend a few of them bumped into
>me at a BBQ while they were talking on their cell phones. As a result, I
>was covered with itchy bumps .....
>
>- nilita - Benadryl to the rescue!
Could be worse - might have been sandflies.
(four months from throwing away my leishmaniasis warning card and no
lesions yet... not sure if it was the DEET or the cigarette smoke that
kept the bugs off)
--
The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its
warriors, will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done
by fools.
-Thucydides
Paul J. Adam - mainbox{at}jrwlynch[dot]demon(dot)co<dot>uk
La N
"Paul J. Adam" <ne...@jrwlynch.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Cbja8RPz...@jrwlynch.demon.co.uk...
> In message <dnrWh.26679$GV5.6725@edtnps89>, La N
> <nilita20...@yahoo.com> writes
>>Ummm ..... that would be mosquitoes. Last weekend a few of them bumped
>>into
>>me at a BBQ while they were talking on their cell phones. As a result, I
>>was covered with itchy bumps .....
>>
>>- nilita - Benadryl to the rescue!
>
> Could be worse - might have been sandflies.
>
> (four months from throwing away my leishmaniasis warning card and no
> lesions yet... not sure if it was the DEET or the cigarette smoke that
> kept the bugs off)
>
Ewww.... sandflies .... btw, did you manage to escape the crud when you were
in the sandbox?
- nilita
Jack Linthicum
Chinese hornets chewing up the French honeybee population, the bees
response? WMD!
Bigger and bulkier than their European cousins, the hornets have no
trouble nabbing their unsuspecting prey. They ambush the beehives.
They then dismember the bees, ripping off the their heads, antennae,
and wings and reducing them to a paste that will feed the queen and
her larvae.
In view of this threat, the resistance is getting organized. The bees
have developed a means of defense: They gather around the hornet and
roast it.
According to Villemant, the bees flap their wings to increase the
temperature and as the hornet cannot withstand such high temperatures,
it eventually dies.
Asian hornets attack French honey bees
POSTED: 1618 GMT (0018 HKT), April 13, 2007
PARIS, France (AP) -- Ambushing locals as they return home from work,
Asian invaders are dismembering French natives and feeding them to
their young.
This horror film is playing in France's beehives, where an ultra-
aggressive species of Asian hornets -- who likely migrated in a
pottery shipment from China -- may be threatening French honey
production.
The hornets are thought to have arrived in France in 2004, after
stowing away on a cargo boat, said Claire Villemant, a lecturer at
Paris' Natural History Museum.
She said a France-based bonsai merchant traveled to the Yunnan region
of southern China to buy ceramic pots for his trees.
"He saw the hornets in that region," she said. When he saw them again,
they were buzzing around his property in the southwestern French
village of Tonneins.
Since then, they've been busy establishing themselves in their adopted
country, concentrating mostly on building their imposing nests.
It took until last summer for their numbers to start threatening honey
production, said Henri Clement, president of the National Union for
French Beekeeping. He said it was too early to give figures on how
much economic impact the hornets are having, but he is bracing for a
tough summer this year.
The situation is "very worrying," he said. "If the hornets keep
attacking the bees then their number will be reduced and honey
production will be severely handicapped."
France's 1.1 million hives produce up to 30,000 tons of honey a year,
about 2,500 tons of which are exported, according to ONIFLHOR, the
French national agency for fruits, vegetables and horticulture.
Experts fear the hornets may spread beyond France, through the warmer
reaches of southern Europe. They could begin colonizing Spain as early
as this summer, Villemant said.
Even Britain could be vulnerable to the hornets if they're passed
across the English Channel through freight, she said.
With no natural predators in southern France, the Asian hornets have
quickly spread and turned the region's once-tranquil hives into
battlefields.
Bigger and bulkier than their European cousins, the hornets have no
trouble nabbing their unsuspecting prey. They ambush the beehives.
They then dismember the bees, ripping off the their heads, antennae,
and wings and reducing them to a paste that will feed the queen and
her larvae.
In view of this threat, the resistance is getting organized. The bees
have developed a means of defense: They gather around the hornet and
roast it.
According to Villemant, the bees flap their wings to increase the
temperature and as the hornet cannot withstand such high temperatures,
it eventually dies.
Beekeepers are also fighting back. They can change the size of the
entrances to the hives so that the bees can get in but not the
hornets.
Some have suggested destroying all hornet nests in the region,
including French and European hornets that do not cause the same
damage. But Villemant says that would be ecologically disastrous.
"It's a natural phenomenon," she said.
Paul J. Adam
<nilita20...@yahoo.com> writes
>"Paul J. Adam" <ne...@jrwlynch.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:Cbja8RPz...@jrwlynch.demon.co.uk...
>>
>> (four months from throwing away my leishmaniasis warning card and no
>> lesions yet... not sure if it was the DEET or the cigarette smoke that
>> kept the bugs off)
>
>Ewww.... sandflies .... btw, did you manage to escape the crud when you were
>in the sandbox?
I was (to date) lucky. By being almost Howard Hughes-like about personal
hygiene I managed _not_ to cop a case of Basra belly (of my team, two
of us got away clean, one got a few days of grumbly-guts, one got a week
of thoroughly miserable D&V). The mosquitoes and sandflies mostly left
me alone, the few bites I got faded fast, so far nothing's come up
nasty, and I'm getting towards the end of the two-year "carry this card
and show it to your doctor if you have any odd lesions or bouts of
fever". I wasn't allowed to donate blood last year (the malaria line
may, or may not, run through Basrah and the staff sensibly erred on the
side of caution), but that's the worst medical problem I've had to date.
I missed out on the surprisingly high STD rate by the simple expedient
of being a good boy until I got home (not that this was at all
difficult, in fact it was almost compulsory - you can't really claim
virtue for following necessity), but then we did trace the problem: it
wasn't some Typhoid Mary of venereal disease lurking in-theatre, it was,
bluntly, too many young unattached servicebeings conducting "Exercise
Last Carefree Shag" before deploying on "Operation Certain Death" and
not noticing and reporting uncomfortable personal symptoms until they
were out in Iraq.
The OA team and the J4(Medical) team tied up quite tightly when I was
there, trying to help cut down non-combat injuries (anything from
analysing road traffic accidents, through D&V prevention, to early
reporting and prompt treatment on having caught the clap
pre-deployment). A lot of it was just right place, right time; where
does "a Wednesday evening pub quiz" factor into inter-agency
co-operation?
Jack Linthicum
wrote:
The usual "run in circles scream and shout" from Hines turns out to be
a bug that was suspected from the first.
"Historically, bee losses are not unusual. Weather, pesticide
exposures and infestations by pests, such as the Varroa mite, have
wiped out significant numbers of colonies in the past, particularly in
the 1960s and 1970s."
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-sci-bees26apr26,0,7437491.story?track=mostviewed-homepage
>From the Los Angeles Times
biology
Experts may have found what's bugging the bees
A fungus that hit hives in Europe and Asia may be partly to blame for
wiping out colonies across the U.S.
By Jia-Rui Chong and Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writers
April 26, 2007
A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and
Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known
as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United
States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday.
Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder,
and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a
potential cause.
But the results are "highly preliminary" and are from only a few hives
from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. "We
don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been
solved."
Other researchers said Wednesday that they too had found the fungus, a
single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from
around the country - as well as in some hives where bees had survived.
Those researchers have also found two other fungi and half a dozen
viruses in the dead bees.
N. ceranae is "one of many pathogens" in the bees, said entomologist
Diana Cox-Foster of Pennsylvania State University. "By itself, it is
probably not the culprit ... but it may be one of the key players."
Cox-Foster was one of the organizers of a meeting in Washington, D.C.,
on Monday and Tuesday where about 60 bee researchers gathered to
discuss Colony Collapse Disorder.
"We still haven't ruled out other factors, such as pesticides or
inadequate food resources following a drought," she said. "There are
lots of stresses that these bees are experiencing," and it may be a
combination of factors that is responsible.
Historically, bee losses are not unusual. Weather, pesticide exposures
and infestations by pests, such as the Varroa mite, have wiped out
significant numbers of colonies in the past, particularly in the 1960s
and 1970s.
But the current loss appears unprecedented. Beekeepers in 28 states,
Canada and Britain have reported large losses. About a quarter of the
estimated 2.4 million commercial colonies across the United States
have been lost since fall, said Jerry Hayes of the Florida Department
of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Gainesville.
"These are remarkable and dramatic losses," said Hayes, who is also
president of the Apiary Inspectors of America.
Besides producing honey, commercial beehives are used to pollinate a
third of the country's agricultural crops, including apples, peaches,
pears, nectarines, cherries, strawberries and pumpkins. Ninety percent
of California's almond crop is dependent on bees, and a loss of
commercial hives could be devastating.
"For the most part, they just disappeared," said Florida beekeeper
Dave Hackenberg, who was among the first to note the losses. "The
boxes were full of honey. That was the mysterious thing. Usually other
bees will rob those hives out. But nothing had happened."
Researchers now think the foraging bees are too weak to return to
their hives.
DeRisi and UCSF's Don Ganem, who normally look for the causes of human
diseases, were brought into the bee search by virologist Evan W.
Skowronski of the U.S. Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in
Maryland.
Dr. Charles Wick of the center had used a new system of genetic
analysis to identify pathogens in ground-up bee samples from
California. He found several viruses, including members of a recently
identified genus called iflaviruses.
It is not known whether these small, RNA-containing viruses, which
infect the Varroa mite, are pathogenic to bees.
Skowronski forwarded the samples to DeRisi, who also found evidence of
the viruses, along with genetic material from N. ceranae.
"There was a lot of stuff from Nosema, about 25% of the total,"
Skowronski said. "That meant there was more than there was bee RNA.
That leads me to believe that the bee died from that particular
pathogen."
If N. ceranae does play a role in Colony Collapse Disorder, there may
be some hope for beekeepers.
A closely related parasite called Nosema apis, which also affects
bees, can be controlled by the antibiotic fumagillin, and there is
some evidence that it will work on N. ceranae as well.
also (Hawaii)
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/26/ap3659272.html
Destructive Mite Threatens Hawaii Bees
By TARA GODVIN 04.26.07, 5:41 PM ET
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A tiny mite that began infesting mainland honeybee populations in the
1980s showed up in Honolulu hives for the first time this month and
has now been confirmed in bee colonies across Oahu.
The infestation by varroa mites has led the state to ask beekeepers to
restrict transport of bees around the islands. There are concerns it
could threaten the Big Island's thriving queen bee export industry,
which has so far tested free of the mites.
The parasites have been blamed for destroying more than half of some
mainland beekeepers' hives and wiping out most wild honeybees there.
That destruction preceded the more recent appearance of a mystery bee
killer on the mainland that has destroyed tens of thousands of
honeybee colonies in at least 21 states. Known as colony collapse
disorder, the problem has not shown up in Hawaii.<more>
Tankfixer
mumbled
> "Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >seed covering. The bees will mate with the Africanized bees and then
> >the problem will be keeping the little bastards out of your hair.
>
> Really this fuss over African bees is wildly overdone. We have been
> living with the things here forever. Ok so they kill a few dozen
> people annually, but so what? People is one thing that is not in
> short supply on this planet. Anyway they make great honey.
>
The people make great honey ?
Or the bees ?
;')
Jack Linthicum
> In article <4623565f.1322...@news.uunet.co.za>, eugene@dynagen..co..za
> mumbled
>
> > "Jack Linthicum" <jacklinthi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> > >seed covering. The bees will mate with the Africanized bees and then
> > >the problem will be keeping the little bastards out of your hair.
>
> > Really this fuss over African bees is wildly overdone. We have been
> > living with the things here forever. Ok so they kill a few dozen
> > people annually, but so what? People is one thing that is not in
> > short supply on this planet. Anyway they make great honey.
>
> The people make great honey ?
> Or the bees ?
>
> ;')
>
> --
> Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
> diet of static text and
> cascading "threads."
Check your local motel tonight
Richard Casady
wrote:
>ut hope is nigh. These devices are
>shrinking in size,and now approach the size
>of suppositories, which immediately suggests
>a final solution.
'That's pretty funny, but I don't believe it is true.
The minimum is dictated by the size of peoples fingertips.
This size has been reached. More than reached If you go by my steel
fingers.
Casady
Peter Jason
"Richard Casady"
<richar...@earthlink.net> wrote in
message
news:46ab2ff6...@news.east.earthlink.net...
Many people are now wearing these annoying,
pestiferous devices around their ears, and
they even emit blue flashes of light
occasionally.
I guess the final solution now is for the
head to follow as well, an action which might
have the added benefit of keeping the ears
warm.