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Study: Roundup Weed Killer Could Be Linked To Widespread Bee Deaths
The controversial herbicide Roundup has been accused of causing cancer in humans and now scientists in Texas argue that the world's most popular weed killer could be partly responsible for killing off bee populations around the world.
A new study [open, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803880115] [DX] by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin posit that glyphosate — the active ingredient in the herbicide — destroys specialized gut bacteria in bees, leaving them more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.
Researchers Nancy Moran, Erick Motta and Kasie Raymann suggest their findings are evidence that glyphosate might be contributing to colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon that has been wreaking havoc on honey bees and native bees for more than a decade.
Also at Science Magazine.
Related:
Landmark Study: Honeybee Queens Severely Affected by Neonicotinoid Pesticides
Cancer Hazard vs. Risk - Glyphosate
Glyphosate Linked to Liver Damage
Extensive Study Concludes Neonicotinoid Pesticides Harm Bees
Lithium Chloride May Help in Fixing Bee Colony Collapse Disorder
European Regulator Finds That Neonicotinoid Pesticides Threaten Bees
Monsanto Faces First US Trial Over Roundup Cancer Link
Monsanto Ordered to Pay $289 Million in Glyphosate Cancer Trial
(Score: 3, Insightful) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday September 26 2018, @11:11PM (10 children)
Keep bees yourself.
From time to time a new queen will be born then will leave the hive in search of an unused one. Wild bees are good for farmers too.
To keep bees is quite cool. My father was a beekeeper as was his mother. I plan to keep bees myself but am not doing so yet because I must dig myself out from under the many commitments I made and so far have delayed acting on.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 26 2018, @11:34PM
I did. I kept bees in my car one spring. It worked alright for a little while. But, they never built a beehive. Then, I returned to my car one hot day, and found their dried up husks on the rear deck, all scrunched up against the window. That was the end of that.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bzipitidoo on Thursday September 27 2018, @12:25AM (2 children)
There's no way I could keep bees. Got family members who are mortally afraid scared of being stung and suffering a fatal allergic reaction. Even without that, I suspect the neighbors in this suburban "paradise" would do all they could to kill the bees and harass me for trying to keep them. I'd probably be reported to the city and told I must destroy the hives or face thousands in fines for violating dozens of city ordinances. At least I don't have to deal with a home owners association, but if there was one, I suspect they'd take a real dim view of anyone who tried to keep bees.
Maybe someday I'll be able to set up and use a clothesline.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 27 2018, @02:28AM
But that doesn't mean they don't forbid them anyway, rather it means the plaintiff can be confident they'll prevail when they sue their HOA.
My friend the paralegal is completely convinced that it's legal to drive in Oregon without a driver's license. He speaks of this frequently.
"That may be so, but it won't prevent your getting arrested. Rather it means that you'll win on appeal."
It happens that in the city of portland, public parks are required to be equipped with an iron ring:
To tie your horse to.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by dwilson on Thursday September 27 2018, @03:41PM
Get some leafcutter bees, then. Or mason bees.
No queen, no hive. Independent insects, but still 'bees'. They sting, but it's not much worse than a mosquito bite. They bite too, and that's worse than their sting. But they don't sting or bite unless -seriously- provoked. Like, it happened to fly near your torso while your arm was in the air, and you lowered your arm, trapping it against your body with no way out.
Anything short of that, they are live and let live. I've stood in the middle of a swarm so thick I could hardly see daylight, and they didn't even care.
Then I started switching out the full nesting blocks for empty ones, and one was under my hand as it came down. He cared quite a bit. His buddies didn't, though. Cute lil' buggers really.
- D
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday September 27 2018, @05:01AM (1 child)
Do you keep bees? I've been debating starting but I already have enough hobbies. I'm now thinking that perhaps I should build a beehive as a winter woodworking project, and see if wild bees colonize it. My house is next to a suburban riparian area so I could encroach the hive on public land.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 27 2018, @06:00AM
You'll be able to attract wild bees if your frames are equipped with honeycomb foundation. It's a sheet of beeswax that has the hex grid molded into it
Bees can smell that stuff a mile away
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday September 27 2018, @06:35AM (3 children)
Keep bees?
Why no keep As instead. I am disappoint.
After beeing left alone for years, recently bees went twice to relocate in my garden. The arrival is epic because the place is relatively small and the sky gets filled with bees and after 5 minutes all is quiet and a blob of bees is on the wall. Here they are protected and a beekeeper went to collect them that same night.
Second time they went for the bamboo plants stayed there a bit then went away.
When we were visited by hornets, that was scary.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 27 2018, @08:04AM
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45566304 [bbc.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @10:56AM
> When we were visited by hornets ...
Here in the 'burbs we have what are locally called "ground bees", but these are yellow/black striped wasps. They nest in the ground, behind small rock walls around garden beds. If they are close to the house, this is a problem--I know someone that almost died from massive stings when they stepped on a nest. I hate to use poison, so I vacuum them out. Turns out I'm not the only one, there are several videos on YouTube. In my case I have an old smaller shop vac, set the end of the wand near the opening to the nest and leave it on during the warm part of the day when the wasps are active. Might take a few days before the hive is below critical size and dies.
Cost is low, electricity here is USD $0.12/kwh and the vac uses about 500 watts-- 6 cents/hour. Much cheaper than insecticide packaged for home use.
(Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Thursday September 27 2018, @08:06PM
"all is quiet and a blob of bees is on the wall."
I quite like how this was written.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 26 2018, @11:43PM (5 children)
The reality is that CCD came into being around the same time that millennial bees reached breeding age. It seems likely that the explosion of bee genders that followed is what led to CCD, as queen bees became uncertain as to whether they were actually king bees trapped in queen bee bodies, and other bees began to believe that they fit on a spectrum of genders from drone to worker.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @01:30AM (2 children)
Fuck you, fucker...you trolling asshole. You should go take a leap into the boiling waters off the Puna District on the big Island in Hawaii.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @01:58AM
You're a poser. Just give up the tough guy talk. You don't even scare the day care children. Keep yapping like a little annoying dog, and we'll carry your ass up the mountain, and throw you into the volcano.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday September 27 2018, @06:39AM
Well look at this, are you sure it is YOUR SIDE that is oppressed?
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday September 27 2018, @06:18AM (1 child)
This is the first time I've ever seen a post marked: -1, Funny
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @10:31AM
> a post marked: -1, Funny
Enjoy it while you can, some other mod will probably change it shortly.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Some call me Tim on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:18AM (5 children)
Why are related links considered spoilers? Care to comment on this please takyon?
I can't be the only one wondering... (for transparency's sake.. infrequent poster and mostly drunk right now).
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:37AM (3 children)
I've been doing it when I have a lot of Previously/Related links. Cuts the height of the story on the main page.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @07:39AM (1 child)
I think it's a good idea. Would be even better if we could define the title for the dropdown.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 27 2018, @07:44AM
https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash/issues/426 [github.com]
Pester TMB!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Some call me Tim on Saturday September 29 2018, @03:57AM
A simple explanation for my silly question. Thank you sir!
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday September 28 2018, @11:16AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by CZB on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:30AM (4 children)
I read parts of the research paper, especially the methods they used. Seems credible, not one of the bogus studies. Seems like the bottom line with this ones is: glyphosate does effect bee gut biome, making them more susceptible to disease.
But here's the song, as a farmer who uses a lot of it, there's no good alternative at the moment. I've been studying ways to reduce and eliminate my herbicide usage, and there are some things I'll be trying, but really, robots are the only hope for eliminating herbicides.
Over the next 20 years we'll be reducing herbicide usage and changing a lot of weed control methods because so many weeds are growing resistant to them. But no amount of worry or actual research will create a glyphosate ban. Its way too essential to the current global food system. Farmers with their herbicides are at the same point as gas powered cars, it would be really nice to stop using internal combustion engines, but we just can't do that yet.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:39AM (2 children)
What we need is a robot that can pick weeds and shoot down bugs with a laser. Adapt to that!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by kiffer on Thursday September 27 2018, @11:44AM (1 child)
You would only want to shoot down insects that are harmful to crops, so you would obviously tune the system to ignore ladybirds/ladybugs.
This will place a pressure on the pest insects to look more and more like non-pest insects.
if you set the system to kill all insects, then smaller insects will still get through the system, and you won't have any ladybirds to eat all the aphids.
(Score: 2) by CZB on Thursday September 27 2018, @04:53PM
And all the wasps are good! (Except maybe in some orchard fruit crops.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @10:41AM
> there's no good alternative at the moment.
Not a farmer, so this is really just out of curiosity--have you compared the cost of herbicide (product + application costs) to the loss of crop if the herbicide isn't used? Seems like the yield would change all over depending on local conditions and farming technique so testing on different fields would be necessary. For example if you are able to crop rotate that might reduce weeds? Or, if you certify organic (yes, this takes several years), your (possibly smaller yield) will sell for a higher price.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 27 2018, @03:54PM
is that Monsanto has patented a new toxin to to put in the U.S. food supply?
Roundup is out of patent. So I guess now it's cool to recognize what all the bee keepers have known for a decade on now. Because doing so, means that there won't be a competing public domain chemical composition to whatever new horror is introduced into the food supply.
As you can tell I am all sunshine and roses today.