Einstein Gives Us FOUR YEARS!

[LTS TRN 2]

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."--Albert Einstein

(On the bright side, you REALLY won't have to worry about that college debt!)

A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried, while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy could be enormous.

Is the mysterous decimation of bee populations in the US and Germany a result of GM crops?
Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the very existence of beekeeping is at stake."

The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.

As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.

Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers' association in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12 percent in local bee populations. When "bee populations disappear without a trace," says Kriechbaum, it is difficult to investigate the causes, because "most bees don't die in the beehive." There are many diseases that can cause bees to lose their sense of orientation so they can no longer find their way back to their hives.

Manfred Hederer, the president of the German Beekeepers Association, almost simultaneously reported a 25 percent drop in bee populations throughout Germany. In isolated cases, says Hederer, declines of up to 80 percent have been reported. He speculates that "a particular toxin, some agent with which we are not familiar," is killing the bees.

Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings or the woes of beekeepers. Although apiarists have been given a chance to make their case -- for example in the run-up to the German cabinet's approval of a genetic engineering policy document by Minister of Agriculture Horst Seehofer in February -- their complaints are still largely ignored.

Even when beekeepers actually go to court, as they recently did in a joint effort with the German chapter of the organic farming organization Demeter International and other groups to oppose the use of genetically modified corn plants, they can only dream of the sort of media attention environmental organizations like Greenpeace attract with their protests at test sites.

But that could soon change. Since last November, the US has seen a decline in bee populations so dramatic that it eclipses all previous incidences of mass mortality. Beekeepers on the east coast of the United States complain that they have lost more than 70 percent of their stock since late last year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60 percent.

In an article in its business section in late February, the New York Times calculated the damage US agriculture would suffer if bees died out. Experts at Cornell University in upstate New York have estimated the value bees generate -- by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants, almond trees and animal feed like clover -- at more than $14 billion.

Scientists call the mysterious phenomenon "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), and it is fast turning into a national catastrophe of sorts. A number of universities and government agencies have formed a "CCD Working Group" to search for the causes of the calamity, but have so far come up empty-handed. But, like Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, they are already referring to the problem as a potential "AIDS for the bee industry."

One thing is certain: Millions of bees have simply vanished. In most cases, all that's left in the hives are the doomed offspring. But dead bees are nowhere to be found -- neither in nor anywhere close to the hives. Diana Cox-Foster, a member of the CCD Working Group, told The Independent that researchers were "extremely alarmed," adding that the crisis "has the potential to devastate the US beekeeping industry."

It is particularly worrisome, she said, that the bees' death is accompanied by a set of symptoms "which does not seem to match anything in the literature."

In many cases, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in the few surviving bees found in the hives after most have disappeared. Some had five or six infections at the same time and were infested with fungi -- a sign, experts say, that the insects' immune system may have collapsed.

The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster.

Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent -- and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.

The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "Bt corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened. According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed.

According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, 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."

Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period.

Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."

Another qoute from Einstein to consider: "The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time; the terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistancy."

[Mikey]

I definitely blame Bush for this.

[LTS TRN 2]

As Norman Mailer pointed out, GW Bush is "too stupid to be evil." But to the extent that he and his crew are steadfast and bunkered champions of unregulated free-sprawling gigantic interlocked corporations--agri business giants like Monsanto, for example, who are directly responsible for the bee catastrophe--then yes, the Chimp is to blame. Remember that he or his minion/handlers (Bremer) forced an agreement upon the "democratically elected Iraqi government" to allow genetically modified seed strains to be introduced in the eventual resuscitation of Iraq's vast agricultre industry.

[Sirfindafold]

I don't think I could take another 4 years of your shit posts or worthless takes.

[LTS TRN 2]

F-fold, yer not supposed to LEAVE the gerbil up your ass! You obviously have a rotted one that you've forgotten about for a few days. Take care of that.

[Dinsdale]

agri business giants like Monsanto, for example, who are directly responsible for the bee catastrophe

Uhm...you wanna maybe link that up...since you just posted a lengthy article explaining how the top scientists studying the problem call it a "mystery."

If you had some special scientific insight, I'm sure the beekeeping lobby would love to hear it.


Are you beginning to understand why you're a boardbitch yet?

[LTS TRN 2]

Maybe you missed this insight:

The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture.

No doubt, as with global warming, evolution, and tobacco use, "there's a controvery" which of course will require a LOT moer testing and debate. Blah, fucking blah. The only "mystery" here is just HOW the rapacious Monsanto behemoths fucked up the delicate infrastructure of nature. Wake the fuck up.

[Felix]

Felix Kriechbaum

rack

my new favorite beekeeper of all time forever......

[Dinsdale]

My bad...I forgot to employ my Boardbitch-to-English dictionary, and just didn't make the connection that "possibly contributing" and "directly responsible" were synonymous.

[LTS TRN 2]

He's a good man who loves his bees, and your admiration is well placed. Now let's HANG Cheney and Kisenger by their respective necks!

[LTS TRN 2]

Dins, you've got about five or six years to hate yourself and annoy people, but really, skip the tedious parsing and quibbling. You KNOWthat Monsanto and their insanely greedy and reckless manipulations have caused this disaster. Just deal with it...and WAKEY WAKE (that's all I'm looking for)

[LTS TRN 2]

No, there's no Secret Hand or any such backing force. The unregulated and rapacious Monsantos of the world have fucked up, and expecting THEM to solve it--with necessarily increased revenue streams!!-- is perverse, like expecting the tobacco companies to cure cancer. Usually this twaddle is trotted out by the pharmacutical racket.

[OCmike]

To suggest that corn that's been genetically modified, say, to produce, I don't know...MORE CORN...would kill bees is asinine to say the least.

Anyway, I think I've found the REAL culprit that's killing all the bees.



Let's all boycott Safelite! They're killin' all the bees, man.

[Felix]

Monsanto

did Monsanto kick your ass in school or something......

[Dinsdale]

I only read about 0.1% of the shit he writes.

I bow to your literary fortitude...you got me beat.

[Dinsdale]

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."--Albert Einstein

Complete, total, 100% bullshit.

Oh, c'mon...Einstein was noted for his supreme knowledge of biology, right?



I was just leaving that part alone....since up until now, I didn't realize that bees were responsible for 100% of all plant pollenation on earth.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

--agri business giants like Monsanto, for example, who are directly responsible for the bee catastrophe-

I find it amazing how you have, completely on your own and without a shred of hard evidence, managed to determine that GM crops from Monsanto have caused the decimation of the bees.

Hell, even the articles I've read that involve actual scientists consider it no more than a hypothesis, one of among several that need to be checked out.

The fact that Euros are notoriously paranoid (practically to the point of being Luddite) with regard to biotechnology makes me take the German researcher's statements with a GREAT deal of salt.

Oh....and not all plants need to be pollinated...and the ones that do may find new means of being pollinated. The fact that Europeans introduced an invasive species to North America in the 17th century and that we've now become dependent upon it does not necessarily mean that we're locked into honeybee-dependent pollination forever.

As a bee expert, Einstein makes a hell of a physicist, if the apocryphal quote IS his (there's no proof that he actually ever said it...).

There'd be a shortage of honey, but I've never been a big fan of it anyway.

[Dinsdale]

The fact that Europeans introduced an invasive species to North America in the 17th century

Well, there is that.


Follows the logic of those that say that logging doesn't lead to deforestation -- fire, disease, and beavers do.

[Mikey]

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."--Albert Einstein

Complete, total, 100% bullshit.

Oh, c'mon...Einstein was noted for his supreme knowledge of biology, right?



I was just leaving that part alone....since up until now, I didn't realize that bees were responsible for 100% of all plant pollenation on earth.

There are a lot of pollenation routes besides bees, obviously. But also without bees there would be a lot of pollenation that didn't take place. Certainly many agricultural crops would be essentially wiped out (not the GM corn, or any other corn for that matter, though).

I'm not saying that I buy into the contention that bees are dying out, but do you really think that life would not be a lot different without them?

[Dinsdale]

I'm not saying that I buy into the contention that bees are dying out, but do you really think that life would not be a lot different without them?

Not saying yes, not saying no...although I could eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich every day for the rest of my life and die a happy man.


But it just seems like "sky is fallingisms" sell really well these days. Beats laying down in front of Israeli bulldozers, I suppose.


BTW -- as a honey-eater of obsessive proportions, maybe my memory(and my wallet's memory) on this subject is sharper than most...we've gone through this "the bees are all dying" bit about once every ten years, for about as long as I can remember.

[Dinsdale]

And a little further reading suggests that there were no honeybees west of the Rockies until around the mid-19th century...I guess all of those plants in the most dense biomass on the planet must have figured out another way to pollenate, eh?

[Ken]

To suggest that corn that's been genetically modified, say, to produce, I don't know...MORE CORN...would kill bees is asinine to say the least.

While I don't agree with LTS, you're missing their point regarding GMO's and killing bees. Genetic modification of ag crops ain't just for better taste or higher yields. As a matter of fact, very little of it is for higher yields. There is a very large movement towards genetically modifying ag crops for herbicide resistance... thus leading to more liberal use of herbicides. Much more liberal use. Hell, most Soybeans in field production are 'Roundup Ready'. Yeah, resistant to THAT stuff (which isn't even approaching the levels of toxicity which most people seem to think, btw). The farmer can simply broadcast spray his entire fucking 150 acres of soybeans with Roundup to kill off all weed competition.

More liberal use of Roundup = less flowering weeds = less bees

Now, I think that the premise of less flowering weeds leading to fewer bees is complete and utter horseshit. First time I've ever heard this as a matter of fact.

[RadioFan]

But it just seems like "sky is fallingisms" sell really well these days. Beats laying down in front of Israeli bulldozers, I suppose.

No shit. And the tard can't even post a link. Original story.

[Ken]

pollenate

... and seeing as how dins has been spellchecking like a mofo of late...

pollinate

[Fat Bones]

This mite be a problem.

[Ken]

To suggest that corn that's been genetically modified, say, to produce, I don't know...MORE CORN...would kill bees is asinine to say the least.

While I don't agree with LTS, you're missing their point regarding GMO's and killing bees. Genetic modification of ag crops ain't just for better taste or higher yields. As a matter of fact, very little of it is for higher yields. There is a very large movement towards genetically modifying ag crops for herbicide resistance... thus leading to more liberal use of herbicides. Much more liberal use. Hell, most Soybeans in field production are 'Roundup Ready'. Yeah, resistant to THAT stuff (which isn't even approaching the levels of toxicity which most people seem to think, btw). The farmer can simply broadcast spray his entire fucking 150 acres of soybeans with Roundup to kill off all weed competition.

More liberal use of Roundup = less flowering weeds = less bees

Now, I think that the premise of less flowering weeds leading to fewer bees is complete and utter horseshit. First time I've ever heard this as a matter of fact.

Or, I could read the entire article first and see that's NOT in fact what they were referring to.

[Wolfman]

I like how this article tosses in "experts at Cornell"
etc.---and there is no mention that they agree with this
horse shit only their estimate of the economic impact
of bee pollination !!
I worked with and know those folks--- want to name names ??

[Goober McTuber]

I worked with and know those folks--- want to name names ??

Wolfman is a Zyclone troll? Who knew?

[PSUFAN]

That may be true...but what has he offered the discussion, other than his disbelief in the findings?

He also has doubts about Word Wrap...but I would suggest that it does indeed exist...

[Wolfman]

Although I worked in Ann Hajek's lab with Asian Long
Horned Beetles--- Nick Calderone is the bee guy--you can ask him !!

http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/

http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/Facul ... LabMembers

[LTS TRN 2]

All good and well, and Ms. Hajek seems like a very nice lady...but no one has proposed JACK-SHIT as to any possible reason ('cept for bluderous greed on the part of Monsantos, etc.) for the sudden decimation of the bee population.

Oh, we have the usual Rusp Limpdick-style idiocy offered by babs and some other stooge to the effect that it's just a "cyclical" effect--much like the "fake" global warming "controversy."

Right...

Quack on.

[Dinsdale]

I've seen quite a few bees around last few days-btw. I guess I won't be dying of starvation this week.

[LTS TRN 2]

Sure, Dins, and the fact that there's LOTS of new cars on the roads, and jewelry in the stores suggests that any talk of a looming gigantic, uh, "deficit situation" as far as our national debt.

Seriously, I know it's tough, but YOU CAN DO IT!!

And of course I mean WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!

[Dinsdale]

WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!

Like to the fact there were thriving ecosytems in North America for millions of years before the first honeybee was introduced?

[Mike the Lab Rat]

All good and well, and Ms. Hajek seems like a very nice lady...but no one has proposed JACK-SHIT as to any possible reason ('cept for bluderous greed on the part of Monsantos, etc.) for the sudden decimation of the bee population.

Actually, several hypotheses HAVE been offered, including the possible impact of GM crops.

You are the ONLY individual laying the blame squarely on Monsanto.

Then again, discerning analysis of complex issues isn't exactly your forte.

Hyperbolic, unsubstantiated claims delivered in screeching tones, however, is right up your alley.

Please, resume your high-pitched Chicken Little tirade. It amuses those of us who actually have a clue.

[LTS TRN 2]

WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!

Like to the fact there were thriving ecosytems in North America for millions of years before the first honeybee was introduced?

It's happening all over the globe. But I like your "fuck 'em" approach. That same Limpdick line extends the same considerations to polar bears, whales, sharks, etc.

M-Rat, on average how many people do you suppose have any idea as to the extent of Monsantos' (they serve as an example of the mega-agribuisness conglomerates) size? The degree to which they've taken control of the world's agriculture? I'd guess about one in a thousand has any clue.

Pesticides may be as direct a cause as the GM crops themselves. But Monsantos' recklessness is at the root of both.

[Wolfman]

As always--nothing beats getting trolled by
someone who spouts unsubstantiated "science" !
We are supposed to believe that the Monsanto chemists
have set out to destroy the world for their own gain ?
And to think that the poor bees are devoid of any ability
to mutate and overcome the sinister Monsanto plot ??
Hell--we ended up with insects immune to DDT when we used so much of it that it became a selecting agent.
Whoever started this thread has no clue !
End of dsicussion.

[LTS TRN 2]

Yer walking around in a coal mine...

WAKEY WAKE

[stuckinia]

Archer Daniels Midland is a much bigger threat. Their exploitation of ethanol production had led to an artificial increase in the price of cron, thus allowing Orville Redenbacher to begin global conquest.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

WACKY WACKY

ftfy

PS....There's more people who are aware of the size and scope of Monsanto (and ConAgra) than you think. Hell, one of my friends from college works for ConAgra.

Frankly, I have absolutely NO problem with the "industrialization" of agriculture. The whole portrayal of "industrial ag" as evil, while family farms [cue sappy music] are the "heart and soul of our nation" is frigging romanticized utter bullshit. Farming is a business. Period. No inherent "nobility" or "purity" involved. There's nothing sacred or special about farming that sets it apart and above any other business. Refusing to use 21st century technology to improve efficiency and output of your business is stupid, and if a business owner (i.e., in this case the farmer) can't compete with industrial ag without taxpayer-provided subsidies, then that business should go under. Period.

Peddle your violin-theme-music Amish-wannabe horseshit someplace else.