From Bee Culture
by Alan Harman
Frightening new research shows honey bees are being exposed to deadly neonicotinoid insecticides and several other agricultural pesticides throughout their foraging period. The research, published in the scientific journal PLoS One says extremely high levels of clothianidin and thiamethoxam were found in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of treated maize seed. The work, which could raise new questions about the long-term survival of the honey bee, was conducted by Christian H. Krupke of the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, Brian D. Eitzer of the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and Krispn Given of Purdue.Read the rest of the article HERE
And to download the study:
http://www.moraybeedinosaurs.co.uk/neonicotinoid/routes%20of%20pesticide%20exposure%20for%20honey%20bees.pdf
If you don't use a pdf reader, because you've lost faith in pdf's, being one of the most prolific computer virus transmission vectors (that was a mouthful), you can read it on the PLoS ONE (Public Library of Science)site, in good old HTML, with links to all the reference research, if you want to follow on any sources easily.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029268
I have a pet hypothesis of my own, that this is the reason HFCS is said to be bad for bees. Well, not bad, compared to starving. As it was put it in the January 2012 issue of American Bee Journal, "Honey is better than Sucrose [white sugar] is better than HFCS", and I would add, "is better than starving." (Honey > Sugar > HFCS > Starvation)
I have yet to read a peer reviewed paper, and it may be out there, that says HFCS is bad for bees, so I've treated it like hearsay or anecdotes, so far. But if HFCS is actually worse for bees than Sucrose, despite HFCS being formed of sugars that much closer to honey's own sugars than Sucrose is, my pet hypothesis would hold that: it's these type of systemic pesticides used with corn, finding their way into the corn syrup itself.
I mean, how could they NOT be in Corn Syrup of any kind, right? They don't affect the mammal nervous system the same as insects, so it's deemed safe for consumption. What I need to find is data, telling me how many and at what levels systemic pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, are detected in HFCS.
I don't think, which is an admission that I don't know, that the sugar cane and sugar beet industries, which produce white Sucrose sugar, use any systemic pesticides regularly. This may be why it's considered safer to feed everyday white sugar, instead of a corn syrup.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Just needed to post the link and shut up.
Wow Chuck, I had not put corn and High Fructose Corn Syrup and these pesticides together, but it seems like a reasonable and easy-to-research-with-science assertion.
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