Bijensterfte, oorzaken en gevolgen

ZWARTEMEER - Het Drentse natuurgebied Bargerveen is ingericht als een hersteloord voor gestreste bijen. Dat meldde Staatsbosbeheer vrijdag.

De ZEMBLA documentaire Moord op de Honingbij gemaakt door Hetty Nietsch en Manon Blaas, uitgezonden door VARA Zembla op 12 maart 2011, is genomineerd voor De Loep 2011, een prestigieuze prijs voor onderzoeksjournalistiek. "Deze Zembla-aflevering boeit van de eerste tot de laatste minuut, en geeft fascinerende context aan een fenomeen dat klein lijkt maar het niet is." aldus de jury.

[NGO viewpoint, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 Sue Kedgley]
Unless we take decisive action to protect our bees, we could be faced with massive bee deaths, a horticultural industry in crisis, food shortages and escalating food prices.

The honey bee is indispensable to our horticulture, our ecology and our economy. Yet the honey bee is in crisis all around the world, with bee populations being decimated by a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, where entire colonies of bees disappear.

Het Ctgb breidt de driftreducerende maatregelen uit voor vier middelen uit de groep neonicotinoïden. Het gaat om Admire, Admire O-Teq, Kohinor 70WG en Actara. Neonicotinoïden liggen onder vuur, omdat ze in verband worden gebracht met bijensterfte.
Lees het hele artikel op de website van De Bookwekerij.

An investigation by Buglife – the Invertebrate Conservation Trust has revealed that contrary to statements made by Government scientists from the National Bee Unit on yesterday’s Channel 4 News item - http://www.channel4.com/news/bee-decline-not-caused-by-pesticides -, there is evidence of an increasing link between Neonicotinoid pesticides and bee deaths in Britain.

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor - The Independent - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Bees can detect pesticide residues in the pollen they bring back to the hive and try to isolate it from the rest of the colony, the American government's leading bee scientist revealed in London yesterday.

They "entomb" the contaminated pollen in cells which are sealed over, so they cannot be used for food, said Dr Jeffrey Pettis, head of the Bee Research Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture.

HELEN MURDOCH , Nelson Mail, 1-Apr-2011
It is used for seed dressings, on agricultural crops, soil treatment, compost products, in wood preservatives and in animal flea treatments. But the synthetic neonicotinoid pesticide family is under the spotlight of beekeepers and the Green Party for its possible bee-killing properties.

A MIXTURE of chemicals found in modern pesticides may be killing bee colonies around the world, according to a UN report. Seeds are being coated in systemic insecticides that spread throughout the plant, from the roots to the flowers and into the nectar and pollen. The report says that the highly toxic chemicals in the insecticides, collectively known as neonicotinoids, can cause loss of the sense of direction and memory on which bees rely to find food. The UN Environment Program (Unep) report says that when neonicotinoids are combined with certain fungicides, the toxicity becomes 1000 times stronger.

The world’s bee populations are under an increasing – and perhaps under-estimated range of threats. These threats comprise a suite of problems including new exotic pathogens, loss of diverse forage, a new generation of insecticides, the stresses we place on our hives through moving them, and introducing chemical controls for existing pathogens like the Varroa bee mite. We cannot eliminate pathogens like Varroa once they are here, but we can do something about another major challenge facing honeybees - the new generation of insecticides called neonicotinoids.

"We zijn bezig de insecten uit te roeien", meent toxicoloog Henk Tennekes. Bijen, hommels, maar ook vlinders, kevers en muggen. Steeds meer insecten leggen het loodje.
Lees het hele artikel in De Gelderlander

Your shocking revelations about the impact of neonicotinoids on pollinating insects ("Poisoned spring", 20 January) confirms the worst fears of scientists, conservationists and organic farmers. There is a terrible sense of history repeating itself, as government scientists, politicians and chemical companies deny the impact of this new set of chemicals, just as they did with DDT in the 1960s. Back then it took the disappearance of many of our birds of prey before the problem was recognised. It looks as if the same is going to happen to bumblebees and honey bees.

Fleas and ticks are a profitable market for the chemical/pesticide industry, but ‘convenient’ spot-on flea and tick treatments have come under fire recently. The active ingredients in these pet products used to be organophosphates (such as chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, phosmet, naled, tetrachlorvinphos, diazinon, or malathion) and carbamates (such as carbaryl or propoxur), but these chemicals are being phased out and replaced by newer insecticides such as imidacloprid. Modern ‘spot-on’ products may not harm pets or humans with the initial exposure, or even after several exposures. Exposed in this way it takes longer for negative effects to reveal themselves. Small chronic exposures add up. As with small children, pets cannot report when they’re being poisoned at low doses.

The Independent, 7 Jan 2011
Nicotine, found in tobacco, is a deadly substance – and not only for smokers. It has long been known as a powerful natural insecticide, and its presence in the tobacco crop has evolved to deter pests; it is toxic to virtually all of them.
In the great mysterious crash of bee populations, which has been gathering speed around the world for the past decade or so, and which has started to alarm even governments because of the vast worth of bee pollination to the agricultural economy (more than £12bn annually just in Europe), neonicotinoids are increasingly suspect. In the great crash of other insect populations which has similarly been taking place, about which governments do not give a toss but which nonetheless threatens the natural environment with catastrophe (many insectivorous birds are dropping dramatically in numbers), neonicotinoids are similarly in the frame.
Read the full story in The Independent:
www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/nature_studies/nature-studies-by-michael-mccarthy-have-we-learned-nothing-since-silent-spring-2177935.html

EU landbouwcommissaris Ciolos wil dat natuurbeleid na 2013 een grotere rol in het Europese landbouwbeleid gaat spelen, maar een meerderheid van de Tweede Kamer heeft met steun van VVD, PVV en CDA een motie van De Mos (PVV) en Koopmans (CDA) aangenomen waarin het kabinet wordt opgeroepen de wens van de EU commissaris naast zich neer te leggen. De motie verzoekt de regering zich in te zetten voor een sterke landbouwsector die zich niet laat kapen door milieugoeroes.

In April 2003, the EPA decided to give Bayer conditional registration for the use of clothianidin on corn. Bayer could sell the product and seed processors could freely use it, with the proviso that Bayer complete a life cycle study of clothianidin on corn by December 2004. The U.S. bee population didn't start dying off until 2005, says David Hackenberg, the beekeeper who first discovered Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). "We started seeing problems where bees were disappearing in the fall. We blamed it on mites, viruses and a lot of other stuff because we didn't know what to blame it on." But soon Hackenberg made the connection: bee die-off seemed to follow corn crop plantings so much that "you can follow the trail of this stuff to where bees are collapsing," says Hackenberg. EPA is continuing to allow the sale of clothiandin, even though the study that the agency based its decision on proved to be invalid. An EPA official recently told Hackenberg that clothiandin is still on the market in part because of fears that Bayer would sue the agency if it is removed.

Het College voor de Toelating van Gewasbeschermingsmiddelen en Biociden (CTGB) heeft de toelating ingetrokken van twee middelen (Wopro en Kohinor) op basis van de werkzame stof imidacloprid die in de boomkwekerij werden gebruikt. Beide middelen zijn toegelaten bij de bestrijding van bladluizen en de buxusbladvlo in de teelt van boomkwekerijgewassen en vaste planten door middel van een gewasbehandeling.

The world honey bee population has plunged in recent years, worrying beekeepers and farmers who know how critical bee pollination is for many crops. A number of theories have popped up as to why the North American honey bee population has declined--electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change have all been pinpointed. Now a leaked EPA document reveals that the agency allowed the widespread use of a bee-toxic pesticide, despite warnings from EPA scientists.

Read full story at:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1708896/wiki-bee-leaks-epa-document-reveals-a...

Mike Barrett does not have much of a yard at his two-story row house in Astoria, Queens. But that fact has not kept him from his new hobby of beekeeping -- he put the hive on his roof.
Read full story in Herald Tribune 10 Dec 2010:
www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101210/ARTICLE/12101048/2055/NEWS?Title=For-beekeeping-growth-is-inside-the-city-limits

Het Europees Parlement wil dat er een onafhankelijk onderzoek komt naar de massale bijensterfte. Het parlement schaarde zich donderdag achter een voorstel over dit onderwerp.

The Guardian, 16 Nov 2010
Beekepers' group ends commercial relationship with pesticide manufacturer whose product killed bees

The British Beekeepers' Association has today announced plans to end its controversial practice of endorsing pesticides in return for cash from leading chemical manufacturers such as Bayer Crop Science.

Meer dan vijfhonderd bijenvolken zijn al geadopteerd of cadeau gedaan sinds het begin van de adoptieactie ruim een maand geleden. Dat heeft Stichting Adopteer een Bijenvolk laten weten. Prinses Irene was de eerste die een bijenvolk onder haar hoede nam.

Project Het Bijenlint, een initiatief van Piek Stor en Helma Röell van de werkgroep Bijen en Biodiversiteit van Transition Towns Zutphen, heeft de Zutphense Toekomstprijs 2010 gewonnen. De werkgroep probeert naar eigen zeggen "de bijenpopulatie in de stad te versterken door onder andere voor voldoende drachtplanten te zorgen". In mei en juni zijn vanuit een groot aantal winkels zakjes zaaizaad verkocht. "In veel Zutphense en Warnsveldse tuinen gonst het nu van de bijen en de hommels, die zich te goed doen aan overvloedige hoeveelheden nectar en stuifmeel."

De werkzame stoffen imidacloprid en thiacloprid hebben langer een negatief effect op de gezondheid van bijen dan gedacht.

Wenn Bienenzüchter oder Imker einen zähen braunen Schleim in ihren Völkern finden, dann ist guter Rat teuer. Der Schleim ist nämlich ein Hinweis auf eine Faulbrut. Genau das haben die Veterinäre des Kreises jetzt im Kerpener Raum festgestellt. Nach Angaben des Kreises haben Tierärzte dort schon vor über einer Woche die amerikanische Faulbrut bei Bienenvölkern festgestellt und eine Sperrzone eingerichtet. Alle Imker, die Bienenvölker in diesem Sperrgebiet haben, müssen sich beim Veterinäramt des Kreises melden, damit die Ärzte dort Proben entnehmen können. In den Sperrbezirk dürfen weder Bienen hinein noch hinausgebracht werden.

Trouw, 8 juli 2010

De bijensterfte is dit jaar niet afgenomen. Van de bijenvolken die imkers houden bleek dit voorjaar 23 procent niet meer te leven. Vorig jaar was dat 22 procent. Dat meldt de Nederlandse Bijenhouders Vereniging.