Why Are All The Bees Disappearing?

[moldlady]

Back in the 90s when Bt corn first came on the market, the pollen that fell on the milkweed plant single handedly almost wiped out the monarch butterfly population.

The monarch is the "red flag" species considered to have possible effects on humans long term.

I have posted the story of Bt corn on a thread on the old YC. I'll put the link here for you to read if you are interested.

Open Original Shared Link

A possibility is modified corn crops. Apparently, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know" [3]

Open Original Shared Link.

Bt corn thread info. and discussion

Open Original Shared Link

ML

[larry mac]

Back in the 90s when Bt corn first came on the market, the pollen that fell on the milkweed plant single handedly almost wiped out the monarch butterfly population.

The monarch is the "red flag" species considered to have possible effects on humans long term.

I have posted the story of Bt corn on a thread on the old YC. I'll put the link here for you to read if you are interested.

Open Original Shared Link

A possibility is modified corn crops. Apparently, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know" [3]

Open Original Shared Link.

Bt corn thread info. and discussion

Open Original Shared Link

ML

The first link you refer to is about the Colony Collapse Disorder

[loco-ladi]

While I have not studied this in any great detail, I do know its becoming a huge issue (about the bees not the rest) and I do believe its from something us "intelligent" humans are doing... I agree modifyinig our food products is not a good idea, look at the hormone situation with the cows/milk/human chain, I knew that was going to be a bad idea lang before it became "common practice"

We humans keep tampering with nature, make a cow produce more milk.... make corn priduce more kernels.... make the "perfect" sheep/pig/cow by cloning.... when will we stop and say wait maybe this is how its s'possed to be and leave things as they were created after millions of years?

think about it long term.... 1,000 years ago who had AIDS? none that I know of but then humans went and cured polio, measles, flu, plagues and as soon as we cure one another more deadly one pops up! Personally I believe this is God or Mother nature or whoever you believe in correcting what we keep screwing with. Do I think we shouldn't have cured those things? No as it did better lives but somethings got to give someplace.

[moldlady]

Larry,

I'm not aware of any books being offered by the Bt links. Those were pure articles on those threads and links to different independent sources.

.... If you are referring to the fungus link that came later in the thread, the people strayed a bit (as happens often), into fungus and mycotoxins.

The Bt links were not selling any books. Sorry if you got that impression. The Bt links did talk about the monarch butterflies.

There was another link provided by another participant on the YC forum that was another independent link talking about the same kinds of results.

The doctor in the ER said that they are seeing more and more of this kind of thing..... 50% of the cases they cannot find the leaks in the intestines and they die. If they are found and sealed or sewn up on the return trip, they remove parts of the intestine.

I don't blame anyone to be skeptical at first but don't discard it. Keep it in the back of your mind in case you need to help a friend or a family member later....

If you continue to eat corn and corn products, know that you are traveling at your own risk after knowing this information.

loco lady,

I agree with you that tampering with the gene pool and trans location of animal and plant genes can lead to trouble. These translocated genes are not being tested at all before they are put on the market. No one is keeping track of any statistics because it is all marketing and profits for the big companies that are putting patents on the genes.

This was first discovered in the 50s and no one thought anything of it. The man that discovered the technique made a presentation at a conference to geneticists and he was basically laughed at. In the late 60s people of the research institutes for big business started to realize the potention of the discovery. In the 70s big companies started to gene splice many different kinds of foods. It is a very small list that has not been tampered with.... The 80s continued much the same way and then in the 90s crossing of the species began. No telling where we are headed.

ML

[Glutenfreefamily]

I'll have to check out the articles. Im always interested on reading different theories.

There was an article a while ago saying it was believed to be a parasite

Open Original Shared Link

[blueeyedmanda]

Over the summer on the news here they mentioned Cell Phone Towers, it was pretty general.

[larry mac]

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is not news. It's been around for a while. I'm pretty sure there's been previous threads about it here. I know I posted about it some time ago on one of my forums, but it's difficult to search for it. Burts Bees keeps coming up. I'll try again after work.

best regards, lm

[moldlady]

Hi Larry,

I agree Larry and over the last couple of years, they have said weakened immune system and attacked by mites, virus, bacteria, fungus, etc. But this was the first time I saw anyone mention the Bt thing.

Unfortunately, more and more bees are being affected each year and some bee keepers are going out of business.

I think it is odd too that we don't hear much about the killer bees anymore either. Have they been wiped out by this too? Maybe that's a good thing...

People don't seem to realize how important this CCD is when it comes to our food supply and what the high prices at the market will do to the economy!!

I noticed that my plants last year were pollinated by flies and wasps. I did not see any bees like I used to see some 10 years ago. It is sad really. Remember in the fall we would get those friendly bees hanging around everywhere..?? They were gone last year. In fact, I don't remember seeing any monarchs all last summer.

Trust your own instincts and look around for yourself..........

ml

[blueeyedmanda]

This may not have much to do about the bees....but in PA where I live (normally winters range from October-April) In October this year we were still wearing Capris and sandals, it was cooler at night but not by much. In November I got married and the leaves were just beginning to fall from the trees. In December we had our first snow fall, a big 1 inch, and the leaves were still on the trees...it made for nice pictures.

In total this year we have had 8 inches of snow if lucky, we have gotten ice. Sometimes it can be below 32 and we still get ice instead of snow....odd.

[moldlady]

blue eyed manda,

I agree that the weather is really getting crazy over the past few years. Probably not a good thing and I'm sure it should factor in somehow.

The biggest bee keepers winter their hives down in florida and then when the season begins for the farmers they bring them up by truck and place the hives next to the fields that are in bloom.

I'm hoping that maybe this weird weather has forced the killer bees back south?/?/ could that be?

ML

[larry mac]

.....I think it is odd too that we don't hear much about the killer bees anymore either. Have they been wiped out by this too? Maybe that's a good thing...

Hi ML,

Of course I wouldn't know. But I did hear something a while back that perhaps they were being "diluted" by regular bees. I also found this link just now:

Open Original Shared Link

.....I noticed that my plants last year were pollinated by flies and wasps. I did not see any bees like I used to see some 10 years ago. It is sad really. Remember in the fall we would get those friendly bees hanging around everywhere..?? They were gone last year. In fact, I don't remember seeing any monarchs all last summer.......

In no way am I disputing the bee experts. But, just a few months ago we had a back yard covered with weeds. They were very short, wiry little plants with many tiny little white flowers, like miniature daisies. And there were hundreds of bees, maybe thousands. It was visually disconcerting to look at. All that random movement, seemed like the ground was moving, almost made you dizzy. I've never seen anything like it. I got stung walking out there barefoot, most likely I stepped on one. So maybe that's a good sign, at least in my little part of Texas.

I have a co-worker that grows a lot of native plants. He Has Maximillian Sunflowers, which attract Monarch butterflies. He thinks there were less the last few years. There were a lot in the late '90s he said. When they migrate each fall, North Texas is a stopover on their way to Mexico. He said he didn't notice as many bumblebees on his Passion Vines this year.

Of course, we could speculate all day long about weather patterns, rainfall, drought, possible global warming, etc. Who knows?

best regards, lm

[moldlady]

Larry,

Thanks for the input and keep eyes and ears open for any new developments. I'm not stuck on the theory of Bt but just wanted to make people aware and keep a heads up just in case. The potential of Bt, if true, can be devastating.

ML