Vanishing bees? "Pshaw!" you might be thinking about a mysterious killer that is wiping out America's population of honeybees. "So we won't have honey for our tea. Big deal!" you say.Not so fast. Honeybees don't just make honey. If we lose bees, we lose the cross-pollination of all flowering crops, like fruits from trees, nuts, and other foods. In fact, with about 1/3 of the human diet coming from pollinated plants,and honeybees accounting for the majority of that pollination, vanishing bees could be "the biggest general threat to our food supply." SInce cattle also feed on alfalfa, the beef supply could be affected, too.
No word yet on what exactly the problem is, but bee experts are working on it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-07-2007 @ 9:19AM
Greywolf said...
Latest I heard that it is a possible viral infection.
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5-07-2007 @ 2:06PM
Eric said...
Actually, most plants and crops are pollinated by carpenter bees, which haven't been affected.
Reply
5-07-2007 @ 5:13PM
dan said...
Eric's comment caused me to want to do some research... tossing his comment out without any reference point to the uninformed reader...
wikipedia was not a great source of info...
but this was...
everything you wanted to know about pollination...
http://www.ebeehoney.com/Pollination.html
Reply
5-08-2007 @ 2:02AM
Eric said...
So, you counter with a honey company's site? How exactly do you think crops got pollinated in the western hemisphere before Europeans brought honeybees over?
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5-10-2007 @ 3:44PM
A.Tintera said...
I think it is interesting when the bees are well cared for there tends to be less of a loss. Another problem that just I have been going over in my mind is that beekeepers too are disappearing. Less and less people are interesting in raising bees. It is a lot of work. This problem will not have an easy answer. I hope it does have an answer though.
Pixie
http://green-mamas.blogspot.com/
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5-11-2007 @ 9:21PM
philly said...
According to the Second Opinion Newsletter, Dr. Robert J. Rowan, May 07 reports that most beekeepers feed their bees "sugar water" which means high fructose corn syrup. Nearly 100% non-organic corn is genetically modified. One beekeeper he spoke with did not use this sugar water and is not experiencing the same bee loss. The article goes on to quote a German Zoologist who had conducted a 4 year study on bees picking up pollen from GMO rapeseed....suffice it to say, the news wasn't good. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! DO NOT PURCHASE GMO ANYTHING! Thanks.
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