Bee's Show Signs of Virus Fungus Infection

On August 8 2007 I wrote a post suggesting that the thousands of honey bees were dying from colon collapse and not 'colony collapse'.

I have been wondering if the intestines of the bees are collapsing due to many factors: "This is not colony collapse disorder, the bees have colon collapse disorder." The moment you use anti-biotics on the bees, you destroy their healthy intestinal bacteria, leaving them vulnerable to illness, fungus and mold. Colon Collapse Disorder

I later found information from the late Dr. Hulda Clark saying the same thing, and I posted that in November 2008 .. Dying Bee Populations ..

The cells in the honeycombs are much larger than the bee would make themselves. Due to the fact that the cells in the honeycombs are both deeper and have a larger diameter the bees have to work extra hard to fill it with honey – exhausting them.

Unfortunately all kinds of pollutants such as fungus have an easier time to settle into those king-size cells. As far as we can gather, most commercial beekeepers treat the bees with an onslaught of chemicals:

• anti-fungus
• antibiotic medicines
• pesticides
• fumigation


A new study has been published by researchers at PLoS One, "Iridovirus and Microsporidian Linked to Honey Bee Colony Decline". This study was carried out through an unusual co-operation between military scientists and entomologists, carried out at the Army's Edgewood Chemical Biological Center in Maryland.

Although the research confirms that the bee's colon's are being compromised by a Bee virus, fungal pathogen .. the fact is that the colon of the bees are compromised (weak) and that is due to a number of factors stressing the bees out.

Just as in humans, stress weakens the function of the colon in animals, birds and insects. It can be a combination of ecological stress, the stress of being moved around, the stress of increasing the size of the bees to get the hive's to produce more honey, the stress of wide alterations in the climate or variations experienced when the bees get trucked around.

The colon is the number one defense of the bodies immune system. So, any animal whose probiotic bacteria are depleted will show signs of rapid fungal and/or virus growth. This can also happen in humans .. if the beneficial probiotic bacteria are destroyed through anti-biotics or other means, then fungus and bacteria grow unchecked inside the colon. It is the beneficial probiotic bacteria that keep fungus, viruses and bacteria in check.

In the background summary the researchers write: In 2010 Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), again devastated honey bee colonies in the USA, indicating that the problem is neither diminishing nor has it been resolved. Many CCD investigations, using sensitive genome-based methods, have found small RNA bee viruses and the microsporidia, Nosema apis and N. ceranae in healthy and collapsing colonies alike with no single pathogen firmly linked to honey bee losses.

The key question is: Why are different bee colonies all over America and around the world suffering from mass deaths of worker bees? It appears to be a combination of different factors in each case all resulting in the same outcome .. the deaths of hives.

It may also be the way industrial beekeepers are breeding the queens, causing either a genetic deformity or the queens are passing some kind of weakness into the hives .. and if the queens are mostly coming out of these industrial queen producing factories then it makes sense that the centralization of queen bees would increase the dangers of nationwide breeding defects.

I am not a scientist and I am not a specialist, but I have done my own research and I observe. Take Candida Albicans, for example. Candida is often passed from mother to child so that babies can be born with various degrees of this fungus growing in the gut. It has to be the same for bees. The bees inherit any defects the queens might carry with them into the hive. Nature created diversity to avoid these problems and that is why bee colonies have survived until now over millions of years.

Bee industry breeding centers are mostly breeding queen bees cos it is big business .. so that humans now breed the breeders of bees. In May 2010 it was reported that, "A Pest Threatens Hawaii Honey Bee Industry." A small hive beetle is threatening Hawaii's $6 million queen bee export and honey industries. SIX MILLION DOLLAR QUEEN BEE EXPORT INDUSTRY

Humans are doing a lot to the bees to totally stress them out and destroy their genetic strengths, and in my opinion to destroy the bees colons through damaging the probiotic bacteria that protect bee health. That means pesticides, fungicides, anti-biotics, unnatural increase in bee size, interference in natural breeding patterns and feeding bees sugar water solutions rather than the beneficial anti-bacterial honey that they produce and that humans consume to benefit their own health.

Cherbuliez on Bee Probiotics

Probiotics the cutting edge for bees

Dr. Hulda Clark - Dying Bee Populations

by Oskar Thorvaldsson

In discussion with Dr. Clark about the Bee Problem she surprised me by telling me that she was once a beekeeper and that she knew exactly why the bees were dying off in record numbers.

In her opinion the bees are dying off because farmers are pressing the bees to become larger and thereby more productive. The bees are crossbred to jumbo size. Then they are supplied with ready-made plastic honeycombs covered with wax that most likely contains various chemicals.

The cells in the honeycombs are much larger than the bee would make themselves. Due to the fact that the cells in the honeycombs are both deeper and have a larger diameter the bees have to work extra hard to fill it with honey – exhausting them.

Unfortunately all kinds of pollutants such as fungus have an easier time to settle into those king-size cells. As far as we can gather, most commercial beekeepers treat the bees with an onslaught of chemicals:

• anti-fungus
• antibiotic medicines
• pesticides
• fumigation

The chemicals reduce the immunity of the over worked and over-sized bees even further, Dr. Clark mentioned to me. A few months passed. When I looked into this problem again I found this headline online:

Surprise! Organic Beekeepers Reporting Zero Losses
Apparently thousands of organic beekeepers, including commercial beekeepers have healthy bees and experience no colony collapses.

Why didn't I hear about this from the mainstream media? Like with alternative medicine the mainstream media does not report but one side of the problem. Big media usually take the side of big industry that pay the advertising bills.

Should they dig deeper they would come up with headlines that read something like this: "Chemicals Used By Beekeepers Responsible for Colony Collapse Worldwide."

Here is the quote from the obscure article that I found online:
"I'm on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list." said Sharon Labchuck.

Thank you organic beekeepers for saving the world! I sure will only buy organic honey from now on! But wait there is more we can all do! Please contact your local editor of a newspaper and put them on the right track on reporting on this important problem.

Finally you can help the bees (and everyone) by reducing pollution.

*Drive less, bicycle and walk more = less air pollution
*Drive a more fuel efficient car = less air pollution
*Keep your car maintained = less air pollution 

Self-Health Resource Center

Colon Collapse Disorder

I have been wondering if the intestines of the bees are collapsing due to many factors: "This is not colony collapse disorder, the bees have colon collapse disorder." The reasons for this are the unnatural breeding of, and the long distance transportation of the queen bee's, worker bees and whole hives. The conventional bee industry is also a heavy user of anti-biotics. The moment you use anti-biotics on the bees, you destroy their healthy intestinal bacteria, leaving them vulnerable to illness, fungus and mold. The friendly intestinal bacteria are the bee's immune defence, destroy that and you destroy the bees. Destroy the bees and you destroy the colony.

The Apiary industry takes the raw, enzyme rich honey (food) from the bees and in return it feeds them denaturated sugar water. If you feed them brown sugar the bees get sick. Fungus? Mold? Therefore the bees get refined sugars devoid of essential minerals and enzymes. The so-called "Colony Collapse Disorder" is perhaps more accurately described as severe malnutrition.

Bee pollen does not harbour any pathological bacteria. It one of the richest sources of protein available. It can help to correct nutritional imbalances. People suffering from Allergies have been known to reduce the symptoms using bee pollen, which act as an antioxidant. Germs contained in pollen improve the intestinal flora. =0=

I was walking home through town, thinking about the bees Colon Collapse Disorder, when a small bee came buzzing out of nowhere to fly directly in front of me. I don't wear perfume of any kind, but I wear a small stone Hopi bear pendant. The little bee was hovering (flying) backwards in front of the Hopi stone bear pendant as I was walking. At the time I thought it was funny that I am thinking about the bees collapsing colons and this little bee appears in front of me, as though it can see my thoughts. The bee actually lands on the small hopi bear hanging around my neck.

I know that the enzymes and high potency darmflora works, because it is working for me. I am sure it would work for the bees too. That is what human beekeepers are taking away from the bee colonies. They are taking away the living enzymes and the mineral rich food the bees produce for themselves. In place of the living foods the beekeeping industry give the bees ANTI-BIOTICS. Which kill all their beneficial Darmflora. The bee colonies suffer colon collapse, because without healthy intestinal flora the bees (and humans too), have lower immune system and are more susceptible to parasites, fungus, bacteria and viruses.

The bee landing on the Hopi stone bear pendant means they are asking for respect. The bees will work with mankind as long as they get respect. The bee lands on the bear - think about it! Beekeepers are going to have to start feeding the bees colon friendly bacteria, enzymes and minerals to get the colonies back to health. Humans have to put a stop to the Bee Industry, with their bad breeding habits and abuse of the bee colonies and queen bees. If beekeepers will not change the way they work with the bees then consumers can change it for them.

Don't buy Bee Industry honey or products.
Move towards a Bee-Industry-Free standard of doing business, caring for the bees, respecting the bee colonies and feeding the bees the flora needed to bring their colons back to health. Stop drowing the bees in anti-biotics... The problem is not colony collapse, it is beekeeper induced colon collapse disorder. If the consumers knew this they would change their support for this monster industry. Go Organic - save the bee's!

Are Contaminated Products Killing The Bees?

I don't know why I have a bee in my bonnet about this one? But I have this thought in my mind that the bee 'colony collapse disorder' came from spraying a contaminated beehive product onto the bees, or into the beehives. Because, the other insects and moths wont go near the honey. That means the contamination is in the hive and it is in the honey. Organic beekeepers are not effected by colony collapse...

An organic beekeeper writes:
I’m on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees. They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money with pollination services, which stresses the colonies. Rookery Rants

It is too much of a coincidence that the cats and dogs die from contaminated food poisoning, all in the same period and the same year the bees are dying mass deaths. Chinese food and product contaminations stories are crawling all over the news media, and all over the Bloggersphere. I keep thinking about the bees. I don't believe in co-incidence. Everything has a cause. No one is finding the cause, other than complete immune system collapse.

With no organic bee losses it cannot be the farmers nor GM crops killing the bees, but more likely what the beekeepers sprayed onto the bees and into the beehives. When bees get sick they leave the hive to die so as not to contaminate the rest of the hive. If they all got sprayed (effected), then they would all leave, except for the immature young bees of the colony, who probably were not so badly contaminated as the older bees. Especially if the younger bees were protected inside the wax cells.

The die-off is primarily affecting large, commercial bee-keeping operations. Why would so many commecial hives all suddenly have a fungal disease that destroys the whole colony? But not the orgainc hives? If the fungal contamination was floating around in the air, so to speak, it would float into organic bee hives too. But this is not happening. Why would commercial (pesticide using) beekeepers suddenly lose most of their bee colonies? Probably because of whatever it is they are spraying into the beehives. It could be that they sprayed something that was contaminated with a poison, in the same way the pet food and toothpaste is contaminated with poison. The only question is, where do the substances come from that get added together to make the spray cocktails that get sprayed onto the beehives?

These thoughts keep buzzing around my head.

Keywords: Bee products, beekeeping products, beekeeping equipment, beekeeping supplies, bee commerce, bee supplies, beekeeping equipment suppliers.

The Secret Lives of Beekeepers

Backyard apiarists tend to not want any buzz about their hobby.
Cindy McNatt - The Orange County Register

Who knew that the guy next door who wears a suit and designer loafers during the week, or the freshman at your neighborhood high school, or the little old lady who plants sunflowers on a Saturday could be saving the world from a fruitless future?

With news reports of bee colonies collapsing this year in the United States, Canada and Europe, with no sure cause, the small and secretive efforts of everyday backyard beekeepers could be setting the bloom that provides us a third of our food.

People don't look kindly upon backyard beekeepers, especially if they live next door. So a small and avid group of apiarists in Orange County keep their heads down and their hobby a secret. They meet at night, exchange ideas, and ask that they not be identified.

It is not that the group is not proud of their work, it is just that there is the hysteria. A single bee can cause panic for a person who is allergic to them. And who wouldn't run for the hills when a swarm of killer bees is headed your way?You wouldn't recognize a beekeeper though, if you sat next to one at Starbucks. They don't bore outsiders with talk about drones, they don't load up neighbors with honey, and they don't dash to Ralphs in their beekeeping suits. They prefer to fly, so to speak, under the radar.

There is Mr. Real Estate, who lives in a manicured community in Irvine, governed I should add, by a homeowners association. Six years ago, bees colonized a set of drawers that he put outside.

My neighbors complained for years that they had no fruit on their trees. But since I've been keeping bees, everybody has fruit. Our avocados are loaded. So are our citrus. But nobody realizes that the bees live at my house," he said.His bees are largely left to their own devices. Mr. Real Estate, who is not an expert, believes they are feral bees. Once a year they swarm as the hive grows too big for the drawers and the colony divides.

"Bees definitely need an enclosed space to set up a hive," he said, "and it's very hard for them to find a place to settle in. I am giving them somewhere to live."

Ms. Organic Gardener began keeping bees in a similar way, taking care of a swarm that settled in the roof of her Orange Park Acres home. They stayed there for six months.

"We tracked down someone who would rescue them," said Ms. Organic. "It was so funny. He had his 90-year-old mother waiting in the car and the bees were swarming her head and crawling on her hands. But it was all good. I learned how to handle bees and be around bees from him."

Her knight-in-a-beekeeping-suit removed the colony and re-established them in a proper hive box. After they were established, he brought them back. The first year Ms. Organic kept her bees she harvested 300 pounds of honey. A good return on little effort.

"I got some of my beekeeping items at a garage sale – which would never happen now. But if someone started from scratch, it would cost about $300 to get started," she said.

Mr. Old Country grew up keeping bees in Holland.

"I've been tending bees since I was 7 years old, in all, 71 years," he said. "When I came here, I found a swarm in an orange crate abandoned in a field. The field was about to be bulldozed for a shopping center. When you get beekeeping in your blood, it never goes away."

One beekeeper I call The Queen, who keeps her bees in a field in Brea and tends them full time, has been fascinated by insects for as long as she can remember. She bought her beekeeping supplies even before she had bees.

"I waited for bees to show up and when they didn't, I ended up ordering them by mail from Northern California," she said.

All in all, the secretive beekeeping community feels misunderstood. While we run for cover when we see these furry but potentially painful pollinators, beekeepers make up the group that "gets" bees.

Apiarists understand that bees are about more than honey, contributing to the critical food chain that brings us pollination-dependent carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, onions, squash, apples, cherries, peaches, blueberries, avocados, almonds, grapes, melons and alfalfa.

A big one, alfalfa could affect the food supply even further by disrupting the dairy industry if bee colonies collapse.

Backyard beekeepers rescue colonies when they hear about them and improve general bee behavior by introducing a European queen to each swarm. European queens keep Africanized bees out, and enhance the overall mood of the colony by making the bees more passive.

David Marder of BeeBusters in Laguna Beach says on his Web site that bees are dangerous only when they are defending a colony, nest, honey or brood. They are not aggressive when they are foraging for pollen, collecting water or when swarming.

Sometimes, though, even a docile bee can become a "hot" bee.

A hot bee is not a nice bee," The Queen said. "I've gotten bees in my boxes that are nice, and then the next day not so nice," she said. "Usually something has bothered them before I came along. It could be a hot day, or the end of a long day. Even nice bees get in a bad mood sometimes." Ocregister.com

Organic Bees Thriving

Organic Bees Are Thriving While Pesticide Intensive Conventional Bee Hive Colonies Are Collapsing

"Natural" beehives appear less affected by the strange new plague dubbed colony collapse disorder. - By Sharon Labchuk

We would not be so dependent on commercial non-native factory farmed honey bees if we were not killing off native pollinators. Organic agriculture does not use chemicals or crops toxic to bees and, done properly, preserves wildlife habitat in the vicinity, recognizing the intimate relationship between cultivated fields and natural areas.

While no one is certain why honey bee colonies are collapsing, factory farmed honey bees are more susceptible to stress from environmental sources than organic or feral honey bees. Most people think beekeeping is all natural but in commercial operations the bees are treated much like livestock on factory farms.

I'm on an organic beekeeping email list of about 1,000 people, mostly Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The problem with commercial operations is pesticides used in hives to fumigate for varroa mites and antibiotics are fed to the bees to prevent disease. Hives are hauled long distances by truck, often several times during the growing season, to provide pollination services to industrial agriculture crops, which further stresses the colonies and exposes them to agricultural pesticides and GMOs.

Bees have been bred for the past 100 years to be much larger than they would be if left to their own devices. If you find a feral honeybee colony in a tree, for example, the cells bees use for egg-laying will be about 4.9 mm wide. This is the size they want to build ­ the natural size.

The foundation wax that beekeepers buy have cells that are 5.4 mm wide so eggs laid in these cells produce much bigger bees. It's the same factory farm mentality we've used to produce other livestock ­ bigger is better. But the bigger bees do not fare as well as natural-size bees.

Varroa mites, a relatively new problem in North America, will multiply and gradually weaken a colony of large bees so that it dies within a few years. Mites enter a cell containing larvae just before the cell is capped over with wax. While the cell is capped, the bee transforms into an adult and varroa mites breed and multiply while feeding on the larvae.

The larvae of natural bees spend less time in this capped over stage, resulting in a significant decrease in the number of varroa mites produced. In fact, very low levels of mites are tolerated by the bees and do not affect the health of the colony. Natural-size bees, unlike large bees, detect the presence of varroa mites in capped over cells and can be observed chewing off the wax cap and killing the mites. Colonies of natural-size bees are healthier in the absence mites, which are vectors for many diseases.

It's now possible to buy small cell foundation from US suppliers, but most beekeepers in Canada have either never heard of small cell beekeeping, aren't willing to put the effort into changing or are skeptical of the benefits. This alternative is not promoted at all by the Canadian Honey Council, an organization representing the beekeeping industry, which even tells its members on their website that, "The limitations to disease control mean that losses can be high for organic beekeepers." [ref link]

Organic beekeeping, as defined by certification agencies, allows the use of less toxic chemicals. It's more an IPM approach to beekeeping than organic.

Commercial beekeeping today is just another cog in the wheel of industrial agriculture ­ necessary because pesticides and habitat loss are killing native pollinators, and vast tracks of monoculture crops aren't integrated into the natural landscape.

In an organic Canada, native pollinators would flourish and small diversified farms would keep their own natural bees for pollination and local honey sales.

The factory farm aspects of beekeeping, combined with an onslaught of negative environmental factors, puts enough stress on the colonies that they are more susceptible to dying out. Organic Consumers

Are We Importing Bee Diseases?

I am wondering if the same thing has happened to the bees that happend to the cats and the dogs in America! That the bees were poisoned by an imported product that was contaminated in some way and that the unknown substance poisoned the bees. Are beekeepers using imported substances that are introducing toxins into the bee hives - whether they know it or not? The worker bees disappear and no other insects are going near the honey, which means the moths and insects smell something... a fungus... some toxic substance. Maybe the bees did not bring the toxic substance into the hive collecting pollen. Maybe the beekeepers unwittingly sprayed it or added it to the hive, killing their own bees, in the same way the cats and dogs were poisoned by a deadly toxic substance in their food. The question is: Are beekeeping supplies polluted with fungus or other contaminants through which the beekeepers are unwittingly kiling off their bee hives?

Symptoms of a collapsing hive are:

• Too few bees to maintain a brood in a colony
• A hive composed mostly of young adult bees
• Bees are reluctant to eat food provided by a beekeeper


Centre for Ecological Apiculture
- Did you know that the Centre for Ecological Beekeeping is the only Institution in Germany where bees are being cept solely in top-bar-hives and allowed to draw out their combs themselves without frames, in contrast to bees from beekeepers who need to get along with plastic combs in plastic hives, wood frames, artificial wax or foundation and wire or even need to live in socalled "skyscaperhives" together with up to six (!) queens per colony?

- Did you know that food (meat from pork and poultry, honey) imported from China is sometimes so contaminated with ecologically harmful chemicals and animal medicine like Chloramphenicol in honey, that the EU needs to stop the import of animal produce, especially honey from time to time?

- Did you know that most beekeepers, also from certified organic apiaries (according EU-organic rule, USDA organic program, standards of most organic associations) let their queens grow up from worker larvae ("grafting") although it is senseless from the point of view of the spirit of the beecolony, for which it is selfevident that a queen is only a good queen which has grown up from the beginning in a special round queencell with special queen fodder (gelee royale)? Organic Beekeeping

The damage done by pesticides
Huang's family has been raising bees since his grandfather's time. One year, Huang's grandfather came upon a swarm of wild bees near their family orchard and began to raise the bees as his own. That same year, the orchard yielded loads of fruit. Huang said that it must have been due to the pollination by the bees that the orchard could produce such a large yield of crops. The family thus began to look upon the bee as their mascot and decided to set up their own apiary.

In Taiwan, beekeepers and orchard farmers now maintain a mutually beneficial relationship. On the surface, it seems that beekeepers, who get to collect bucket after bucket of honey, are the beneficiaries. But actually, orchard farmers have their share of the interest too because it is mainly due to the services of bees as pollinators that they can enjoy good harvests.

However, it took some time for local farmers to recognise the contributions of bees. Farmers in Taiwan used to use a lot of pesticides to kill insects. The pesticides succeeded in reducing the number of insects but also caused a decrease in yield. Farmers even found many misshapen fruits resulting from incomplete pollination. It was then that they realized the importance of insect pollination.

Bees are sensitive to any aberration in the environment. Usually they die immediately after exposure to pesticides. Even if they survive and struggle to get back to their nests, the bees that guard the entrances will drive them away. If pesticides are brought back to a hive by poisoned bees, the whole colony will be infected, causing beekeepers to lose the whole hive.

In order to minimize the damage caused by pesticides to bee colonies, Taiwan's Council of Agriculture has enacted a new regulation stating that new pesticides applied to nectar-bearing plants must undergo the Honeybee Acute Contact Toxicity test. Nevertheless, there are still farmers who use illegal pesticides on nectar plants. Sometimes harm is also done by bees visiting non-nectar plants. Since bees can fly as far as five kilometers to gather nectar, chances remain for hives to become poisoned even if they are placed in a pesticide-free location. Hence, pesticide poisoning remains a big headache for beekeepers. At present, beekeepers have nowhere to go to file complaints about losses they suffer under such circumstances.

Fortunately, since most fruit growers have come to recognize the contribution of bees, they refrain from using insecticides during blossoming season or let beekeepers know when they are going to apply pesticides so that beekeepers can move their hives away. Mutual respect between beekeepers and fruit growers is a good way to diminish the damages arising from pesticide poisoning.

The misuse of pesticides has greatly affected bee colonies globally. According to an investigation report released by the United Nations, the world is witnessing a sharp decline in the production of bee products as a result of pesticide poisoning. Actually, pesticides not only kill bees and other insect pollinators--they also destroy nectar-bearing weeds. Their impact on the environment is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

In 1989, pushed by local beekeepers, the government of Taiwan finally instructed the Silkworm and Bee Improvement Station of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry (now the Miaoli District Agricultural Improvement Station) to supervise and provide guidance to the beekeeping industry on the island. An official unit was finally assigned to be in charge of related affairs. Since 2001, local beekeepers have been able to apply to farmers' associations for membership and to enjoy the same benefits as those extended to people engaged in farming, animal husbandry, and aquaculture. Honeybees Make a Comeback

Stress and the honeybee - Vetinary Drug Residues - Chloramphenicol in bee products - Microsporidia in honey bees - Microsporea may be fungi

Keywords: Bee medication, pollen booster, pollen substitute, long burning bee smoker, liquid bee smoke, chloramphenicol, antibiotics, dumping honey, Nosema ceranae, microsporea, intestinal parasite, imported bee diseases, bee import risks.

Inside The Bees' Intestines

Genetically Engineered Crops May Produce Herbicide Inside Our Intestines By Jeffrey M. Smith

Pioneer Hi-Bred's website boasts that their genetically modified (GM) Liberty Link corn survives doses of Liberty herbicide, which would normally kill corn. The reason, they say, is that the herbicide becomes "inactive in the corn plant." They fail to reveal, however, that after you eat the GM corn, some inactive herbicide may become reactivated inside your gut and cause a toxic reaction. In addition, a gene that was inserted into the corn might transfer into the DNA of your gut bacteria, producing long-term effects. These are just a couple of the many potential side-effects of GM crops that critics say put the public at risk.

Toxicity of the herbicide
Glufosinate ammonium is structurally similar to a natural amino acid called glutamic acid, which can stimulate the central nervous system and, in excess levels, cause the death of nerve cells in the brain. The common reactions to glufosinate poisoning in humans include unconsciousness, respiratory distress and convulsions. One study also linked the herbicide with a kidney disorder. These reactions typically involve large amounts of the herbicide. It is unclear if the amount converted from GM crops would accumulate to promote such responses or if there are low dose chronic effects.

Disturbing gut bacteria
If the herbicide is regenerated inside our gut, since it is an antibiotic, it will likely kill gut bacteria. Gut microorganisms are crucial for health. They not only provide essential metabolites like certain vitamins and short fatty acids, but also help the break down and absorption of food and protect against pathogens. Disrupting the balance of gut bacteria can cause a wide range of problems.

One study on the pat gene raises all sorts of red flags. German scientist Hans-Heinrich Kaatz demonstrated that the pat gene can transfer into the DNA of gut bacteria. He found his evidence in young bees that had been fed pollen from glufosinate-tolerant canola plants. The pat gene transferred into the bacteria and yeast inside the bees' intestines. Kaatz said, "This happened rarely, but it did happen." Although no studies have looked at whether pat genes end up in human gut bacteria, the only human GM-feeding study ever conducted did show that genetic material can transfer to our gut bacteria. Non-GM Farmers

Killing The Bees

Bees, Einstein & The Future of Civilization

Scripps News: The reference librarian at the college where I work told me a few days ago that every year for at least the last 20, a hive of wild bees has swarmed behind the decorative panels outside the library's third floor, on the side facing the English building. Sometimes, he says, bees find their way through tiny cracks into the library itself to die among the stacks.

Not this year, though; the librarian reports that the bees haven't built their annual spring hive yet. I'm probably overly quick to attribute the most normal variations in the cycles of climate and the biological world to global warming. But this report was particularly foreboding in the light of comedian Bill Maher's comments on the April 27 edition of his HBO show "Real Time."

Maher said that beehives across the country and in Europe are experiencing a dramatic decline for reasons that no one understands. And he quoted Albert Einstein as having once said that if bees were to suddenly disappear, all mankind would die out in only four years, because of the role they play in pollinating much of the food that we eat.

Even though the Einstein quote has appeared in a number of respectable media sources, it appears to be apocryphal; Einstein probably never said it. Snopes.com, which is in the business of debunking urban myths, notes that even though Einstein died in 1955, the quote didn't show up until 40 years later, first used, as far as Snopes can tell, by European beekeepers in defense of their industry against proposed changes in government policy.

At any rate, the loss of honeybee hives appears to be real. Bees have always been susceptible to weather changes, viruses, fungi and other natural calamities, but since last fall a significant number of hives have fallen prey to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD is a mysterious condition that causes worker bees to abandon their hives, leaving behind the queen and immature bees. The workers are never seen again, and within a week or two the hive is dead. Mysteriously, other animals that would ordinarily scavenge the honey in a dead hive leave CCD hives alone.

Bees are disappearing so quickly that the extent of the damage is hard to estimate. At least 27 states have been affected, and estimates of national hive loss range from around 25 percent up to 60 percent. Some beekeepers have lost 90 percent of their bees.

We can live without honey, of course, but the real damage is occurring among bees that are primarily pollinators. As much as a third of the food we eat depends at least partially on honeybee pollination.

The cause of CCD? Parasites, mites and fungi have all been suggested. Since CCD seems to affect pollinating bees more than honey producers, some have suggested that the stress of transporting thousands of hives on flatbed trucks to various agricultural areas around the country is too much for the bees. My favorite explanation is that the proliferation of cell-phone signals disrupts bees' mysterious navigation systems and prevents them from finding their way back to the hive. The bottom line: As yet, no one knows what causes CCD or how much worse it will get before it gets better.

But it probably will get better. Life on earth seems remarkably resilient. Nevertheless, while life goes on, civilizations do collapse, just like bee colonies. In these ruined hives, it's not hard to imagine echoes of the destruction of once-mighty civilizations like the Mayan or Anasazi, suddenly undone and depopulated by complicated and mysterious forces. While life may be resilient, you don't have to be Einstein to see that our particular way of living in the world is fragile and needs constant attention.

Einstein, a physicist rather than an entomologist, probably didn't say anything about our dependence on the honeybee. But my favorite Einstein quotation _ which he really did say, I think _ seems appropriate when we consider the delicate structure of our globally interrelated civilization: "With the discovery of the atom, everything changed, except for man's thinking. Because of this we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe."

John M. Crisp teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas

Adopt The Pace of Nature

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Honey bees have been around on the earth for over 80 million years, and man's relationship with bees goes back many thousands of years, to well before the Romans changed the calendar. Bee colonies have successfully populated this planet long before humans existed. To understand why bee colonies are dying all over America, you have to understand what humans are doing to these colonies. Wikipedia-Beekeeping

For example, beekepers buy in the queen bees for their hives... Wait a minute! They 'buy' the queen bees? In the natural world the hives would produce queens, but modern Apiaries buy and sell the bees and they buy or sell the queens. Potentially, you are in danger of transferring disease from one area to another area, and from one bee hive to another bee hive using these methods. This is apart from the fact that natural bee colonies usually produce their own queens. There is probably a natural reason for this.

The next problem is the beekeepers are breeding the bee colonies to make money. Everyone wants to make money. The farmers need the bees to pollinate the plants and the beekeepers need the bees to produce honey. Life for the local bee has become one of high stress. In humans stress can lead to a lowering of the immune system. The beekeepers also drive the bee hives across America, then later they drive them to another location. This can also cause the bees a lot of stress.

"You have got to be kidding right! They drive the bees all over the country?"

Yes, and that is another factor potentially leading to the spread of disease.

Then you have the high stress factor within the function of the hives as a result of human interference. The beekeepers want to produce more honey, because they can then sell more honey and make more money. Bees produce honey for the health and survival of the colony. Beekeepers take the honey and feed the bee colonies refined sugar. Over many generations the bees no longer receive the natural enzymes from the honey they produce, which is a necessary part of building a healthy bee immune system.

Most of the substances the bees produce for the health and welfare of the bee colony are taken from the hives. This includes Propolis (a natural antibiotic), Gelee-Royal and bee-pollen. The whole natural cycle of worker bees and nurse bees are being managed by humans to meet human needs, and this is no longer meeting the highly organised way of life of the bees. The colonies are being manipulated out of their natural cycle to provide humans with either breeding farms or honey production.

Most beekeepers are interested in a surplus of honey. Maximal honey production occurs when the most workers bees (both foragers and ripeners) are present at the exact same time that nectar-producing flowers (in both numbers and nectar production) are also at an optimum. For pollination, both the grower and beekeeper are looking for a surplus of foraging honey bees. Package bee and queen producers try to have as many nurse (young worker) bees as possible on hand. Queen breeders also try to manage drone population numbers.

Queens can live for as long as five years but most commercial beekeepers replace them every two years, often yearly. That means the beekeepers kill the queens. This is done to exerting control over the hive, to prevent swarming, aggression and to keep honey production at a maximum. Queens come from commercial queen suppliers. This human behaviour is seriously messing up the natural breeding patterns of the bee colonies.

Requeening
Many queens live five years and some up to nine years, but vitality decreases with age. The aging process is hastened by a high demand to lay eggs. Most beekeepers prefer to replace the queen before she begins to fail. This can be a yearly process, but most requeen every other year. Requeening is relatively inexpensive, especially when you consider the production loss and generally weakened colony due to a failing queen.

The beekeepers take the honey from the hives and feed the bees sugar over the winter, and the bees get lowered immune systems - because honey is a complete food. Honey has antibiotic properties, it is full of enzymes, it has minerals the bees require for health... The best bee food is ripe honey. Beekeepers often set aside dark, strong flavored, or other low-value honey to feed bees during emergencies. If you do not have honey reserves, make a syrup from equal volumes of pure cane sugar and water. Bring the water to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves.

as a substitute to combat the many deadly infestations facing the bee colonies the beekeepers feed the bees an assortment of human made antibiotics. Many organic beekeepers consider that bacterial and mite infestations effecting bee colonies are due to a lowering of the immune defences of the bees. It is even possible that the mites and the bacteria are becoming immune to the range of antibiotics beekeepers use on the hives. Add to this the coctail of pesticides sprayed annually on the plants, crops and trees...

The natural system is not breaking down, humans are actively killing it.

The most important requirements for organic beekeeping:
*-Organic bee colonies must be situated such that within a radius of 3 km from the apiary site, nectar and pollen sources consist essentially of of organically or very extensively produced crops and/or natural vegetation.

*-The hives must be basically made of natural materials, without synthetic paints, varnishes, preservatives. Agents for pest control as well as cleaning& disinfection are limited to a few permitted agents (annex 2B and Annex E).

*-The bee wax for new foundations must in principle originate from organic production units and must not be treated with unallowed pest control agents. Normally, the wax has to be replaced by certified organic wax during the conversion year.

*-At end of production season the hives must be left with reserves of honey and pollen sufficiently abundant to survive the period without nectar/honeydew. Artificial feeding of colonies is only allowed as exception and on with certified organic honey or otherwise organically produced sugar products.

*-Diseases must be prevented as far as possible. If in spite of preventions the colonies become sick or infested, legally permitted phytotherapeutic and homeopathic products shall be used in preference to allopathic products. Use of allopathic medication for preventive treatment is prohibited. For treatment of Varroa jacobsoni only the following products are permitted: formic acid, lactic acid, acetic acid, oxalic acid or menthol, thymol, eucalythus, camphor.

*-Appropriate breed shall be chosen with regard to optimal adaptation to local conditions and disease resistance. NO genetically altered bee species may be used. In principle bees for organic apiaries must originate from certified organic apiaries. For first certification, all colonies (not certified organic yet) will undergo one year conversion period.

*-Use of synthetic repellents during harvest is prohibited. Destruction of bees in the combs as a method associated with the harvesting of beekeeping products is prohibited. Removal of supers and the honey extraction must be duly documented. All handling activities must assure that the organic products are not commingled with other products and not contaminated.

*-All apiaries in the same area must be managed organically. imo.ch

With all things and in all things, we are relatives. - Sioux
Effective Microorganism was developed by Professor Dr. Teruo Higa, at the University of Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan in 1970’s. The fundamental principle of this technology was the introduction of a group of beneficial microorganisms to improve the efficacy of organic matter utilization by crops.

Bee Pollen is among the oldest known dietary supplements. Its use as a rejuvenator and medicine date back to the early Egyptians and ancient Chinese. It has been called many things, from a fountain of youth to an "ambrosia of the gods." The Greek physician Hippocrates, sometimes called the father of modern medicine, used it as a healing substance 2,500 years ago. It is rich in vitamins, especially B vitamins, and contains trace amounts of minerals, elements, amino acids, and enzymes.

Colony collapse disorder, is when flourishing hives are suddenly depopulated leaving few, surviving bees in that colony. The queen bee is found with just a small number of young worker bees. No dead bees are found either inside or outside the hive.

The fact that other bees or parasites seem to shun the emptied hives raises suspicions that some kind of toxin or chemical is keeping the insects away, Cox-Foster said. Bees found in devastated colonies all seem to be infected with multiple micro-organisms, which cause stress-related illness in bees.