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Beekeepers Tell Pesticide Firm to Buzz Off
One of the world's biggest pesticide companies, Syngenta, has been accused of a "howling conflict of interest" for funding research into the disappearance of honeybees - a problem which some people claim it may have helped cause.
A bumblebee rests on a sunflower. The 41st world apiculture congress, where 10,000 beekeepers, entomologists and other actors in the honey business are gathered, will try to understan what is killing bees. (AFP/File/Karen Bleier) Syngenta, based in Basel, Switzerland, last year clocked up £7.3 billion worth of sales in more than 90 countries. Among the products it markets to farmers are insecticides which have been blamed for harming honeybees.
It now also co-funds a £1m project in the UK, announced last week, to research the decline of the bees. But the company has dismissed criticisms of its role in the project as "perverse".
A film due to open in cinemas this week highlights the global plight of the honeybee and argues that insecticides are partly to blame. Called Vanishing Of The Bees, it is backed by the Co-operative retail group, which has a strict policy on the use of pesticides on the fruit and vegetables it sells, including a total ban on the use of several chemicals.
According to beekeepers, honeybee populations in the UK crashed by nearly a third in 2008. The implications are alarming, as bees contribute £200m a year to the UK economy, pollinating a third of our food.
Scientists speculate that a combination of factors may be involved, including disease, mites, weather and modern farming practices. But some argue that a group of widely-used nicotine-based insecticides known as neonicotinoids could be inflicting neural damage on bees, and contributing to their demise. Syngenta sells two products containing neonicotinoids, Actara and Cruiser.
To protect bee populations, some such insecticides have been banned or restricted in France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. But they can still be used in other countries, including the UK and the United States.
A coalition of environmental groups has launched a campaign for a ban on neonicotinoids in the UK. The group includes the Soil Association, which certifies organic food.
Its Scottish director, Hugh Raven, said Syngenta had made its position clear by opposing a ban on neonicotinoids.
"The taint of commercial interest has undermined this research before it's even started," he said.
The research is also supported by the government's Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. "The BBSRC should think again, and get a co-funder without this howling conflict of interest," said Raven.
Professor Andrew Watterson, head of the occupational and environmental health research group at Stirling University, agreed there were "potential conflicts of interest in the project which may affect the credibility of the findings".
Graham White, a beekeeper in the Scottish Borders and an environmental author, was scathing about Syngenta's role: "Putting Syngenta in charge of UK research into the causes of honeybee deaths is arguably the equivalent of putting the tobacco companies in charge of research into lung cancer."
But Andrew Coker, Syngenta's head of corporate affairs in the UK, said: "It seems perverse that we put our money into researching bee health and then get criticised for it."
Dr Celia Caulcott, BBSRC's director of innovation and skills, also defended the research. She said: "The use of insecticides in agriculture is just one possible reason for the problems bees are facing. The most important thing to do right now is to understand what is happening and then translate that knowledge into actions to address the decline."
10 Comments so far
Show AllOne of the problems with 'modern research' is that the scientists tend to believe that EXACTLY ONE ingredient is to blame for the problem trait. Research is done to discover the effects of one chemical after another, not bothering to determine if the blending of two chemicals has either a totally different effect or perhaps a multiplying effect.
PANNA had an article several years ago showing a suspect link between a compound found in insecticides and lymphoma. The insecticide itself was not the culprit, but rather another ingredient used to help the insecticide disperse, and was not listed as an 'active' ingredient.
I suspect that there may be more than one cause for the colony collapse disorder and would not rule out bio-engineered crops, mono-culture farming, insecticide, herbicide and fungicide spraying or even electronic grids. Dispite what is written in the article above, I belive that mites and the weather have both been eliminated as probable causes already.
Excellent observations.
Good points nobodyknown. Besides being distorted by commercial interests, our science does not deal well with the effects of interactions. Since biochemical systems like the environment are heavily influenced by interactions, we have a lot of gaps in our ways of thinking.
Sometimes, with urgent problems like what is happening to arctic ice, to oceans, to fresh water supplies, to bees, etc. we have to look at a preponderence of evidence and and start supportive emergency care as we would for a very sick child for whom we have no definitive diagnosis. It is hard to get a reading of significance for a process in which two or more factors interact over time.
Why are we more cautious and demanding of proof in order to act when it comes to the environment than when it comes to war?
Joe
Wild places help to support the bees. I keep my place organic and grow plants indigenous to the location. The bees are present here in large numbers. A local beekeeper has some hives in the area nearby. I purchase honey from her and everyone benefits including the bees. Working to end the use of harmful insecticides is just one important aspect of healthy bee communities; also, providing local indigenous plants for the bees and protecting wild places are equally important. It's just one more piece of the healing puzzle.
Nature sometimes needs a lot of intelligent help. Bees need help. One corporation that funds that help is Häagen-Dazs ice cream company. Order up a honey-vanilla cone for everyone in your group. See: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS145267+26-Feb-2009+PRN20090226
I keep bees in South Florida; have done it since 1973. Lots of things are apparent to a careful hobbyist. For instance 30 years ago I had no problems with small hive beetles, wax moths, trachael (Acarine)mites, Varroa mites, nosema, foulbrood, predatory Africanizing queens, and vicious honey-robbing ants. Virus attacks, chalkbrood, and Stonebrood were not problems either.
In 2009 nature hasn't equipped bees to fight all this stuff. So, you can't just use the hippy-detachment thing and hope it all works out. A keeper who wants to keep his/her bees has got to feed them good sugar syrup sometimes, has got to requeen the hive regularly, has got to use mite strips and anti-biotic patties, has got to fight off ants, and has to use ingenuity to help bees fight for themselves.
I found an old Alabaman, Jerry Freeman, who invented a bug trap that the bees use to drown their attackers in cooking oil. It works wonderfully well. See http://freemanbeetletrap.com/about_the_trap
Most of all you've got to contend with the uneducated neighbors and government officials who all think they're "allergic" to bee stings and so want all bees instantly executed. Merc Medical manual says that only 1 person out of every 100,000 is truly allergic to honeybee stings.
So, one thing everyone can do is vow not to say "I'm allergic to bee stings." Fear mongering by Dick Cheney and G.W.B. may have been done with the best intentions, but fear mongering about bees is evil. Nobody likes being stung, but just because the sting site hurts or swells up, don't say "I'm allergic." Another thing everyone can do is object to community insect poisoning activities. Here in the swamps, government mosquito control agencies regularly spray pesticides. Tell them where you have hives and ask them not to spray, especially in the daylight when they're out working hard.
Watch what the bees tell you about their hive's health, about what flowers are causing a honey-flow, and about how weather causes their moods to change. They're amazing creatures. And they need help. If you cannot do anything else, buy [or ask for] some special flavor Häagen-Dazs "Vanilla Honey Bee" or any flavors with the HB(R) symbol under the lid. Plant some blue basil and don't be afraid of the little ladies. Each one who stings dies very quickly afterwards. Stinging bees are committing suicide and don't do it lightly.
"Fear mongering by Dick Cheney and G.W.B. may have been done with the best intentions"
you are kidding - right?
I, too, have been a beekeeper since the early 1970s. One poster has very clearly laid out the situation as it actually is. The other is completely uninformed when he dismisses the scientific work and then tells us what he "suspects". If he had actually read the current research, he would know that:
> Of 61 quantified variables (including adult bee physiology, pathogen loads, and pesticide levels), no single measure emerged as a most-likely cause of CCD. Bees in CCD colonies had higher pathogen loads and were co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than control populations, suggesting either an increased exposure to pathogens or a reduced resistance of bees toward pathogens. Levels of the synthetic acaricide coumaphos (used by beekeepers to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor) were higher in control colonies than CCD-affected colonies.
This is the first comprehensive survey of CCD-affected bee populations that suggests CCD involves an interaction between pathogens and other stress factors. We present evidence that this condition is contagious or the result of exposure to a common risk factor.
Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study by Dennis vanEngelsdorp, et al
Hi Peter... Sorry if you feel that one poster who "suspects" is as you say... "completely uninformed"... IF you'd read the post I was only pointing out that scientist research ONE SUBSTANCE AT A TIME, nothing else, and even reaffirmed the articles contention that there was perhaps more than one substance or condition to blame. I did NOT, as you say, dismiss the scientific research, merely point out that many of those who do the rsearch are myopic and self engrossed.
When one reads 'research' it would also be advisable for one to research the funding of that reasearch. With research funded by the big chemical companies it is always good to 'accept with cautious reservation', in my opinion.
One of the problems with the research you quote, is that the study is done, not on the bees affected, but rather with the remaining bees in the colony. The great mystery with this problem is the bees are disappearing. It's quite difficult to do physiological study on something that is not there. One study from California showed that the majority of the hives effected had been used to pollenate the almond crops first and then moved to other areas.... This article was about the Brits problems.... The same problem has been witnessed in several parts of the world which would tend to rule out the 'electronic' factor, but not necessarily. There also seems to be great fluxuations in some butterfly and other insect populations. Chemicals ARE used universally as are the GMOs. IF scientists ever evolve beyond liniar thinking there may be a chance of discovering the root cause(s). (IMHO)
I maintain one honeybee hive ("Beatrice") behind the studio workshop on my Florida property. It is very healthy. The primary reasons for this are the following:
1. I don't use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides around the area.
2. The hive is more for pollinating plants and trees for fruits and flowers. And the honey? Well, I don't rob the bees of honey... because it's too much work and it stresses the bees.
3. Unlike commercial beehives, my hive ("Beatrice") is not loaded onto a truck and carted across the country.
4. The bees don't sting me when I use the hive as a table for morning coffee. I'm their sugar daddy.
I like it. It is a good model for restoring populations. I would give up honey if it helped the bees.
Joe