Newhead News
	Permaculture Mar 5 07 The Mysterious Disappearance of Honey Bees By Joe Cummins In October 2006 United States National Research Council published the report of their Committee on the Status of Pollinators in North America, The report pointed out that an existing decline in honey bee pollinators was devastating North America. The report pointed out the importance of pollinators noting that three quarters of the earth's flowering plants depended on pollinators for propagation. The extensive report dealt with bureaucratic issues aimed at dealing with the catastrophe and delineated ways that more human and financial resources should be focused on honey bee decline The report did not pin down causes in decline but instead focused on introduced parasites and microbial disease causing organisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses Other causes included habitat decline, fragmentation and deterioration. The remedies suggested included testing commercial pollinators to insure that they were disease free and similar bureaucratic measures rather than a sharp focus on the primary causes of decline (1). The impact of pesticide on bees the uses and the spread of genetically modified (GM) crops modified for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance were barely discussed in the report leaving the impression that these were not considered important by the committee. The following discussion will deal with those important issues regardless of the views of the NRC Committee. Science Magazine reported on the pollination crisis but emphasized the need to replace the current pollinators with more robust insects (2). The New York Times emphasized the impact of bee decline on farmers and reported a salient observation that bees were flying off from the hive and simply not returning.(3). The Independent commented on the swift colony decline and noted that the problem of a tremendous pathogen load in the remaining members of a colony (4). The cogent point is that the bees in the colonies appear to have lost their immunity to viruses, bacteria and fungal diseases. The loss of resistance to disease may be caused by parasites, virus infections, or pesticides (both applied and present in GM crops). The disappearance of bees may have originated with one thing that diminished the bee's immunity or by a combination of environmental factors diminishing the immune system ,all hitting the bee colonies at the same time. at: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/2007-March/026349.html