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They are among America's busiest workers but they've been declining sharply in recent years due to various factors, including pesticides, mite infestations and loss of genetic diversity. Now Faith Karimi writes at CNN that President Obama has created a task force to address the issue of rapidly diminishing honey bees and other pollinators. "The problem is serious and requires immediate attention to ensure the sustainability of our food production systems, avoid additional economic impact on the agricultural sector, and protect the health of the environment," Obama said in a memo was sent to Cabinet secretaries and agency heads.
Friends of the Earth says that the US needs to immediately ban the use of neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides chemically similar to nicotine that has been linked to bee deaths. "The administration should prevent the release and use of these toxic pesticides until determined safe," says Erich Pica whose organization is conducting a campaign and has collected more than half a million petition signatures asking Home Depot and Lowe's to stop selling plants treated with neonicotinoids (neonics). So why isn't the US moving more quickly to ban neonics? Neonics play "a major role in pest management for pest control, agriculture and the ornamental plant protection industries. They serve as a group of highly effective insecticides with low risk to people and birds, which can be applied systemically to the soil," notes a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension blogger. This is a safer, better pesticide than many alternatives.
Another reason to hold off on a ban: There are still doubts that neonics are the principal cause of bee colony collapse. "In other words, while neonics might be one of the precipitating causes, they might not be the principle cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD) in the US and Europe," says David Clark Scott. "Saving the honey bees may require a more complex solution than banning one group of insecticides. And it may require more investigation into other possible causes of CCD, including parasites, viruses, climate change, bee nutrition, lack of genetic diversity and bee keeping practices."
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday June 23 2014, @11:21PM
Perhaps a big price hike in advance might send the proper message. However little will likely happen until the 0,1% top is personally affected.
(Score: 1) by Horse With Stripes on Tuesday June 24 2014, @12:33AM
The 1% will never be affected. But when voters start asking candidates about the high price of food and "the farmers blame it on pesticides killing the bees" then we'll see a shift in the attitudes in Washington. And let's not forget the Mid West's farming communities complaining about the high price of getting food to market and the low profits when people start pointing the fingers at farmers.
Of course the first thing they'll do is import bees from other parts of the world. And we all know that introducing non-native species to address a problem in nature always ends well. /sarcasm
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday June 24 2014, @12:54AM
Politicians will blame farmers. New laws written by big corporation will then screw them and antagonize them. Which causes less food to be produced. Meanwhile more poisonous Chinese food will be imported and all cancer cases will be blamed on the importer and Chinese. The catastrophe that imported species have will be blamed on scientists.
So it will be a blame game and coffers will be filled at the top. But the problem will remain. Solutions must be sought in a way that side steps politics and big corporations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 24 2014, @04:28PM
species?
I thought they were European honeybees and from the name assumed they were brought over from Europe?
If so, can we (or do they already) help with issues of inbreeding by bringing over some bees from Europe periodically?