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posted by mrpg on Sunday April 29 2018, @04:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the nobody-thinks-of-the-wasps dept.

Bees just got a helping hand from the European Union who banned outdoor use of harmful pesticides.

With several types of bees and bumblebees on the endangered-species list, some governments are starting to do their part to protect the lives of these essential pollinators. 

The European Union voted Friday to ban outdoor use of pesticides that harms bees. Specifically, there's now a complete ban on three substances referred to as neonicotinoids -- imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam. Scientific studies have shown that these substances can harm bees when used outside.

Also at EU Times.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday April 29 2018, @07:59AM (2 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 29 2018, @07:59AM (#673296) Journal

    Nahhh, I just enjoy good food. Definitions of "good food" vary, of course, so maybe I should just say that I enjoy food. Most people do. If they don't get food pretty regularly, they tend to wither up and fade.

    If the bees die off, and half or more of our agricultural products disappear, your meals will grow a lot less interesting. I have an idea. Why don't you look up "nonflowering food plants" on Google or some other search engine. Odd - I'm not getting any direct hits! There really ought to be some. Native Americans had a liking for some pine nuts. There are others, but not a whole heckuva lot. Almost all of our food crops come from FLOWERING PLANTS!

    Now, GP suggests that we should kill off all of the free labor that works so very hard to pollinate our food, and replace it with robotic labor. Hmmm. Interesting idea. Robots. All under the control of some shady corporation, like Monsanto maybe? Oh yeah, Monsanto has verbalized the desire to control the world's food supply many times in past decades. They've demonstrated that desire many times. Look to Iraq - food crops that they have grown since before there was a British Empire are now claimed by Monsanto, and the farmers have to PAY for the privilege of raising their crops.

    Monsanto would be in a position to out perform Stalin's imposed famines in the old Soviet. Some nation gets out of line, and absolutely no flowering plant crops will pollinate. None. The robots simply appear to be dead. And, since we've killed off the bees, the only method remaining is for individuals to get out in the fields with tiny little brushes, and daub the flowers. Little bitty brushes that resemble a bee's legs and hairy abdoment.

    I do like food, but I don't know about stroking the sex organs of all those flowering plants for several hours each day. You may not think that's creepy, but it seems that way to me.

    --
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  • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday April 29 2018, @01:18PM (1 child)

    by Gaaark (41) on Sunday April 29 2018, @01:18PM (#673389) Journal

    Wow: very futuristic and Orwellian, but well thought out!

    Yeah, they should NEVER have allowed the mergers of Monsanto and Bayer. The world needs INCREASED competition, not less.

    Monsanto is EVILCORP.

    I'm glad they are doing this ban, but now Monsanto will sue the EU (another thing that should NEVER BE ALLOWED: corporations suing governments? Bullshit!)

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    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @06:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 29 2018, @06:25PM (#673447)

      corporations suing governments? it should be allowed but only in national tribunals, keep the supranationale tribunals like the OMC commerce court to settles dispute between countries not Corp vs peoples