The Future of our Honeybees
Why are honeybees so important for humans? well, It isn’t just their divine honey, over one third of our fruits and vegetables are reliant on honeybees to pollinate them so they can reproduce. The reproduction of the plant is also the production of our food. As most of us know bees are having a hard time these days, in 2006 a phenomena know as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was first observed.
CCD is the mass die-off or disappearance of entire colonies. Every winter since 2006 one third of the US bee population has vanished, nearly twice the amount annually prior to 2006. The loss of the honeybee and the subsequent loss of 1/3 of our fruit and vegetables, would also cripple the already struggling US economy, by collapsing the US agricultural and commercial pollinating industries.
So what is happening? Many people claim it is a mystery and there is no hard evidence what is causing CCD. It is true that there is no single cause for CCD but there is plenty of scientific data that proves some of our current agriculture practices are a portion of the problem. Chemical pesticides sole purpose is killing insects, these products are supposed to be tested to ensure standards that prove they are safe. “Conditional registrations” are a way that the Chem-Ag. industry uses to avoid these standards. which is explained in this article.
Also in the same article it explains Neonicontinoids type pesticides. It states that there are three forms that the treated plant will expose honeybees to the pesticide; Through the pollen, the plant nectar and the plants perspiration, called gutation, which the honeybees drink. Neonicotinoids kill insects by disrupting their nervous systems. This would explain why the worker bees (which are the ones that forage the pollen and nectar) in a colony that has collapsed never find their way back to the hive.
Two of these Neoeicotinoids; Clothianidin and Imidacloprid have been addressed in House Bill H.34 by three Vermont representatives calling for them to be banned in sales, use and application in the state of Vermont by July 2012.
Here is the link for a letter to the EPA on this subject from; the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, the American Beekeeping Federation, the American Honey Producers Association, Beyond Pesticides, the Pesticide Action Network, and the North America Center for Biological Diversity
more information from the Vermont Rural Water Association – http://www.vtruralwater.org/legislation/state.php
Please help to save our honeybees by sharing this information and by writing your representative to tell them to support H.34
VT State Reps listed by District & Senators By County
Here is a sample letter:
I am writing you in regards to Bill H.34 http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/bills/intro/H-034.pdf . This is a very important bill for the future ecology of Vermont. If you don’t know anything about Neonicontinoids pesticides please read this article and follow the links for more detailed information. Neonicontinoids are not only polluting our water but are also threatening our pollinators, including our honeybees, whom we rely on for pollinating our food crops. The call to ban these pesticides is backed by the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, the American Beekeeping Federation, the American Honey Producers Association, Beyond Pesticides Pesticide Action Network, and the North America Center for Biological Diversity and others. Please help by educating yourselves and others on this important subject and by supporting the passage of this bill. Thank you for your efforts to protect the future of Vermont.
VT 4 Evolution 