Mysterious Collapse Of Honeybee Populations Threatens National Food Supply
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mysterious Collapse Of Honeybee Populations Threatens National Food Supply*
Mar 23rd, 2007 8:13 AM
Christian Evans
The honeybee population in the United States is currently suffering a
devastating collapse. Honeybees are flying off in search of pollen and
nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. Have they all been
kidnapped by mad beekeepers, or is something more frightening occurring
with the pollinators in our ecosystem?
During the final three months of 2006, a distressing number of honeybee
colonies began to diminish from the United States, and beekeepers all
over the country have reported unprecedented losses. According to
scientists, the domesticated honeybee population has declined by about
50% in the last 50 years.
Reports of similar losses to the honeybee population have been
documented before in beekeeping literature, but are widely believed to
have occurred at this scale previously only at a regional level. With
outbreaks recorded as far back as 1896, this is regarded as the first
national honeybee epidemic in U.S. history.
The phenomenon, referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), is not
yet well understood. Even the existence of the disorder remains in
dispute. Nevertheless, what cannot be denied is that a shortage of
honeybees in the continental U.S. has affected cropowners from
California to the New England states.
"There are shortages [like this] that pop up from time to time," said
Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at Princeton University.
"Whether there are more [shortages] than there were 20 years ago, one
would guess yes, as there are fewer bees to go around, but it's not well
documented."
Subsequent investigations suggest these outbreaks of unexplained colony
collapse were experienced by beekeepers for at least the last two years.
Are the honeybees dying in the fields they pollinate, or do they simply
become too exhausted and disoriented to find their way back home?
Why honeybees are the invisible link to an abundant food supply
Whatever the reason, why should we care so much? Why should it matter at
all to Americans?
When entire bee populations seem to disappear or die out in alarming
numbers, the ramifications can be astounding. Bee pollination, which
most farmers depend on, is responsible for as much as 30% of the U.S.
food supply.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to
pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American
Beekeeping Federation.
A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually
pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United
States. These include such diverse food sources as almond blossoms,
pumpkins, cucumbers, raspberries, avocados, and alfalfa. Unless
something is done to protect the honeybee population soon, many fruits
and vegetables may disappear from the food chain.
"The sudden and unexplained loss of honeybee populations is an early
warning sign for coming disruptions in modern agriculture," explained
Mike Adams, executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center
non-profit group (www.ConsumerWellness.org). "If we continue to lose
honeybees at this rate, we may find ourselves in a dire food supply
emergency that will not be easily solved," Adams said.
"During the last three months of 2006, we began to receive reports from
commercial beekeepers of an alarming number of honey bee colonies dying
in the eastern United States," said Maryann Frazier, a senior extension
associate in the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State
University's College of Agricultural Sciences.
"Since the beginning of the year, beekeepers from all over the country
have been reporting unprecedented losses. This has become a highly
significant yet poorly understood problem that threatens the pollination
industry and the production of commercial honey in the United States,"
she said.
Honeybees are killed by synthetic chemicals
Scientists, for now, have primarily attributed the honeybee decline to
diseases spread as a result of mites and other parasites as well as the
spraying of crops with pesticides. It may also result from the treatment
of forests, rangelands and even suburban areas to control a wide variety
of pests.
"There is no question that the extremely irresponsible use of synthetic
chemicals in modern farming practices is significantly contributing to
this devastating drop in honeybee populations," said Mike Adams. "The
more chemicals we spray on the crops, the more poisoned the pollinators
become. And the fact that honeybees are now simply disappearing in huge
numbers is a strong indicator that a key chemical burden threshold has
been crossed. We may have unwittingly unleashed an agricultural Chernobyl."
In order to deal with this devastation, a newly formed CCD working group
has been organized in hope of finding a solution to the dwindling
honeybee population. According to the CCD mandate, the group will
explore "the cause or causes of honeybee colony collapse and finding
appropriate strategies to reduce colony loss in the future."
Comprised of university faculty researchers, state regulatory officials,
cooperative extension educators and industry representatives, the
working group hopes to develop management strategies and recommendations
for this epidemic. Participating organizations include the USDA/ARS, the
Florida Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture, Pennsylvania State University, and Bee Alert, Inc., a
technology transfer company affiliated with the University of Montana.
Research involving the value of honeybees to agriculture could be
beneficial to both the beekeeper and the grower. The knowledge formed
from such research maximizes the likelihood of finding answers that will
aid beekeepers in promoting good health for honeybees within the
pollination industry. It should also keep the grower well informed about
the process of pollination and the relative damage of different
pesticides to honeybee populations.
A detailed, up-to-date report on Colony Collapse Disorder can be found
on the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium Web
site at http://www.maarec.org
The pesticide link to honeybee populations
Pesticides, specifically neonicotinioid pesticides, including
imidacloprid, clothianiden and thiamethoxam, poison the bee while it is
in the process of collecting nectar and pollen. The poisoning may occur
when the material is ingested, or it may be transported to the hive
where it poisons other bees in the colony.
According to a recent report, "Pesticides in Relation to BeeKeeping and
Crop Pollination, even organic insecticides -- the chlorinated
hydrocarbons, organophosphates, and carbamates -- vary in their toxicity
and are not recommended."
Pesticides can also damage wild bees, but the toxicity level of a
specific insecticide to honeybees and wild bees is not always the same.
Even among wild bees, some materials are more toxic to one species than
to another.
According to the CCD report, "If bees are eating fresh or stored pollen
contaminated with these chemicals at low levels, they may not cause
mortality but may impact the bee's ability to learn or make memories.
This could cause the colonies to dwindle and eventually die."
So far a few common management factors have been found, but no common
environmental agents or chemicals have been identified. There is no one
substance currently being branded as the culprit.
Not limited to the United States, this problem is complex and the
ramifications are alarming. Such a loss to the honeybee population can
occur in other countries that have highly developed agricultural
infrastructures.
This only begs an even deeper question for society to answer: If we are
so dependent on honeybee pollination for our food supply, what happens
when the bees are wiped out? Mike Adams calls our current food
production situation a "food bubble" and explains that as mankind
disrupts nature and destroys sustainable ecosystems, the natural
backlash will impact the food supply first. "Following a century of
synthetic chemical poisoning of planet Earth, the human race is in for a
rather abrupt population correction. The collapse of pollinators is
merely a sign of things to come. Humans will either find a way to live
in balance with the planet, or they may ultimately face the same fate as
the honeybees."