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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 17 2018, @02:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the bees-be-buzzin dept.

Agriculture's dependence on pollinators, including both wild and domesticated bees, has increased fourfold since the 1960s. A recent study of these pollinators found that they provide up to $577 billion a year of crops, half of which comes from wild pollinators. These ratios underline the severity of their collapsing numbers. More than a third are facing extinction.

Gemma Cranston, head of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership team that participated in the study, warned that "less than half the companies sampled know which of the raw materials they source depend on pollinators", adding that there needs to be more research to get the full picture.

Source:
Plight of the bees hits unaware businesses


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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:27AM (3 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 18 2018, @03:27AM (#668408) Journal

    I believe that's the neocorticoid pesticide. A part of the problem with that one is that it's persistent. Another part is that it's a slow contact poison...so it can get carried back to the hive.

    For an analogy, consider the way ants are killed with a syrup based on sweetened arsenic. But I really think a large part of the problem can be traced to a multi-drug interaction with the neocorticoid pesticide being only the most recent component added. I suspect that by itself and in isolation it wouldn't cause the perceived effects at the typically encountered dosage.

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  • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday April 18 2018, @10:11AM (1 child)

    by deimtee (3272) on Wednesday April 18 2018, @10:11AM (#668506) Journal

    I think you mean neonicotinoids not neocorticoids. They are a group of pesticides based on nicotine.

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    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:22PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 18 2018, @05:22PM (#668647) Journal

      Yeah, that looks better. I couldn't remember the exact term, and for some reason when I looked in Google it didn't show up.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday April 18 2018, @11:51AM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Wednesday April 18 2018, @11:51AM (#668526)

    I suspect that by itself and in isolation it wouldn't cause the perceived effects at the typically encountered dosage.

    Which is how it passes safety testing... then we get to argue about methods for 20 years while Bayer makes bank on it.

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