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posted by martyb on Saturday October 31 2015, @03:43PM   Printer-friendly
from the concerning-but-not-surprising dept.

AlterNet reports

A research team from the Institute of Bee Health at the University of Bern, from Agroscope at the Swiss Confederation, and from the Department of Biology at Canada's Acadia University [published the results of their study] in an article in the open-access journal Scientific Reports from the Nature Publishing Group [which concludes] that honey bee queens are "extremely vulnerable" to the neonicotinoids thiamethoxam and clothianidin.
[Reprinted in the journal Nature."]

The study shows profound effects on queen physiology, anatomy, and overall reproductive success.

[...] Previous research suggests that exposure to these chemicals [causes] both lethal and sub-lethal effects on honey bee workers, but nothing has been known about how they may affect queens.

The observation that honey bee queens are highly vulnerable to these common neonicotinoid pesticides is "worrisome, but not surprising", says senior author Laurent Gauthier from the Swiss Confederation's Agroscope.

[...] Since there is only a single queen in each colony, queen health is crucial to colony survival.

[...] In 2013, governments in Europe took a precautionary approach by partially restricting the application of the neonicotinoid pesticides thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and imidacloprid, with the mandate to perform further environmental risk assessments.

A new inter-governmental review will take place in the coming months.

Previous: Can Obama Save the Bees?
EPA Finds Little Benefit to Pesticide Linked to Bee Declines


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by edIII on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:29PM

    by edIII (791) on Saturday October 31 2015, @11:29PM (#257030)

    You self-marked it as troll, but what is trolling about the actual truth again?

    "American Apples(TM)" would be exclusive. If we don't have intellectual property, we don't have anything anymore. God knows where we are getting this intellectual property too with brain drain going on for a couple of decades. Of course those American Apples would be exclusive, and operate in a protected propped up market by the state. What are you a Commie? ;)

    You think I'm kidding? Walk into any nursery around here and about half of what you can buy is protected by some intellectual property that demands compensation. It doesn't even have to do with the "evil" GMO either, people are being granted IP rights on hybrid plants.

    Yes, many, many, Americans will flock to over-priced culture-war grocery stores that will allow you to eat real food by importing it from Europe, and then charging you an arm and a leg for it. However, Big Ag is winning over here and soon we will be censored and under gag orders where we can't, and aren't allowed, to identify our food. We won't be able to tell your stuff is even from Europe probably. Heck, we will be thrown in prison now for whistle blowing and/or activism showing Big Ag acting improperly. Their whore senators in Wyoming I think? They'll punish you instead of Big Ag if you show them to be doing something illegal you shouldn't have seen in the first place.

    Trolling? I think we need a +1 Inconvenient Truth

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