Are GM Crops Killing The
Humble Bumble Bees?
by Gunther Latsch
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe,
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.
And no more profits. Fraser Clark.
WHEN DID U LAST HEAR A BEE BUZZING AROUND?
A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers
worried, while a similar phenomenon in the U.S. is gradually assuming
catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the
economy could be enormous.
Walter Haefeker sits on the board of directors of the German
Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European
Professional Beekeepers Association. He warns that "the very
existence of beekeeping is at stake."
The problem, he says, has a number of causes:
1 is the varroa mite - introduced from Asia.
2 is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers
with herbicides and practicing monoculture.
3 is the controversial & growing use of genetic engineering in
agriculture.
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.
r u ready? expect to hear this soon: no connection has yet been
proved. geddit?
Felix Kriechbaum, an official with a regional beekeepers' association
in Bavaria, recently reported a decline of almost 12% 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.
Almost simultaneously, Manfred Hederer, the president of the German
Beekeepers Association, reported a 25% drop in bee populations
throughout Germany. In isolated cases, he says, declines of up to 80%
have been reported. He speculates that "a particular toxin, some agent
with which we are not familiar," is killing the bees.
lets call it the Blind Corporate Greed Toxin ok?
Politicians, until now, have shown little concern for such warnings.
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 organisations 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 complain
that they have lost more than 70% of their stock since late last
year, while the west coast has seen a decline of up to 60%.
In an article in the business section of the New York Times in
February, experts at Cornell University calculated the damage US
agriculture would suffer if bees died out and estimated the value
bees generate -- by pollinating fruit and vegetable plants, almond
trees and animal feed like clover -- more than $14 billion.
think how many iraqis they coulda bommed with that!!!
"Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD)
Thats what scientists call the mysterious phenomenon, and its fast
turning into a national catastrophe of sorts. A number of
universities and government agencies have formed a "CCD Working
Group" to search for causes, but have so far come up empty-handed.
But, like Dennis van Engelsdorp, 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, says
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 that the few surviving bees
found in the hives show evidence of almost all known bee viruses,
some with 5 or 6 different infections at the same time, and also
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.
Genetically Modified Morality, eh Mortality
Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that the
fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used
in 40% of cornfields in the U.S. could be playing a role. The figure
is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06% -- 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 on bees of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant
called "Bt Corn". A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into
the corn to enable 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 which had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed.
According to Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, 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 10 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 wanted to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the
necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in
this sort of research," he says.
did they tell him to buzz off, or just not answer his messages YOU
decide.
UP!
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Get UP! Stand Up For Your Rights! (and everybody elses too of
course! :)
u cant understand the world without innerstanding yourself
UP! 246 27 03 07
LA- LA- LA- LAP-TOPPLING DA SYSTEM!
u cant innerstand yourself without understanding the world
Get UP! And Dont Give Up The Fight! (only we dont mean violence,
ok? :)
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FEATURING exclusive re-writes, -takes &-productions of da freshest
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UP!
.. contents...
Targeting Tumours The Natural Way
By mimicking Nature's way of distinguishing one type of cell from
another, University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists now report they
can more effectively seek out and kill cancer cells while sparing
healthy ones.
In a series of cell-based experiments, the researchers' system
recognised and killed only those cells displaying high levels of
receptors known as integrins. These molecules, which tend to bedeck
the surfaces of cancer cells and tumour vasculature in large numbers,
have become important targets in cancer research.
In contrast, an established tumour-homing agent linked to the cell
toxin doxorubicin destroyed cells even when they expressed very
little integrin, indicating this strategy has the potential to
indiscriminately kill cancerous and healthy cells.
UP!
Catalyst Could Help Turn CO2 Into Fuel
from the atmosphere as a fuel source in a similar way to plants.
[NewScientist.com news service, March 15, 2007]
UP!
)))))/
______,,,,_{ô¿ô}_,,,,__ fraser
id like very much to apologise to all africans everywhere for the
greatest holocaust ever perpetrated on any people by another in human
history - the slave trade. it makes me deeply ashamed to be a member
of the human species, and i do NOT think that much, besides outward
behaviour/thinking, has changed. a line spoken by an old african in
some documentary rings in my ears: it was very uncivilised
behaviour. am quite sure that 90% of westerners, even today, have
never in their entire lives stopped for a moment and considered
whether their lifelong assumption of cultural superiority might not
be the case.
(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o
the UP! is a global edutainment round-up, broadcast weekly to
=[14,611]=
Alternative// Activist// Zippy// Trance// New Age// Peace folks
recommended to the Parallel YOUniversity// Megatripolis Dance Dept as
"showing signs of life". Since recipients forward it widely to their
own lists & sites
we conservatively estimate 50,000+ direct recipients.
A further 40,000 read it on the YOUniversity's site.
And, because of its 'mix' of 'specialist' & 'general' content,
it's increasingly being posted on a variety of sites worldwide,
making an estimated total weekly readership of =[275,000]=
(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o/)(o
hey good people,
thank you for many years of sending UP! to me.
however, i have not gotten it for some months (help!), and today i
went to youniversity.com and found that the writing in the latest UP!
is fresher than ever.
i often read or try to read your take on 2 things i would like to
lump together as the same thing and that is the big bang and black
holes. Since you seem interested in discussing these things, my two
cents worth would be to say that big bangs are local phenomena,
galactic in size. You can see it if you look at the different types
of star systems... there are all stages of this occurring at all
times. If you can conceive of different densities occurring side by
side and overlapping then you can see different "universes" or what
has been referred to as different densities colliding or interacting.
The image i've been shown is that of a glass of water with ice in it.
Same material; different densities, interacting to a degree and
separate to a degree. Another image i can think of is a waterfall,
it's a river as well as a waterfall. From an abstract perspective of
single planes it is quite an anomaly if you had no concept of the 3rd
dimension. The other detail is that of course big bangs oscillate
between expansion and contraction, like a yo-yo in space, like a
wave, like your breath, like a hindu god creating universes and
destroying them with hir breath. i'm not sure where the problem is
understanding this. Please help me; where are people stuck?
Yes, and thank you for considering my take on this!!!!
Best from 5 degrees north,
mark laplume, nottingham, uk.
hi mark i been having tekkie probs galore and so i may have taken
a load of time getting back to you on this but i just read it this
minute ... and LOVED it. the reason u haven't been getting the UP! is
again tekkie probs - which i still haven't finally solved. u r not the
only one, indeed i think most readers haven't been getting it since i
went broadband 5 weeks ago.
anyway i LOVE what u say and, indeed, it's because of insights like
yours (from i presume a non 'scientist') that i cover this stuff.
stealing it back from the 'scientists' (paid) to real Scientists
(people like us who are naturally curious & intelligent & somewhat
thorough).
i get your idea of adjacent or even overlapping/intermingling density
dimensions and hadn't quite spotted this before. i knew kinda that the
youniverse isn't some long endless stretch of empty space but i hadn't
quite seen what u imply. in other words it might not take a million
light years to get to another dimension, it's more likely to require
a lateral move. that has felt obvious to me for a LONG time :)
on the big bang as breath yes, i've seen that. a crucial point,
however, and why it MATTERS, is that if u think it's all an accident
and for no reason then this has a fundamentally alienating effect on
one's whole life - and more western people today see themselves as
kinda sensitive brainless slugs accidentally alive and going nowhere
by definition. sounds like psychopathy to me, cosmic psychopathy if u
like. sorry this response is such a rush and unthought through but i
got many other emails i can now get round to.
UP!
CPR: Mouth-to-Mouth Not Much Help
For adults who suddenly collapse, CPR is more effective if rescuers
focus on chest compression over mouth-to-mouth ventilation. By
interrupting lifesaving chest compressions, mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation may do more harm than good.
[WebMD March 16, 2007]
UP!
Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South Pole
Mars has enough water ice at its south pole to blanket the entire
planet in more than 30 feet of water if everything thawed out.
Astronomers have solid evidence that billions of years ago water
flowed over the Martian surface. And recently, evidence has pointed
to a warming trend as Mars emerges from an "Ice Age.
[Space.com March 15, 2007]
and i continue to be utterly flabbergasted at how wrong well paid
scientists got it for so long!
UP!
Is The Universe Actually A Fractal
- if its not a holgram?
Written across the sky is a secret, a hidden blueprint detailing the
original design of the universe itself.
The spread of matter throughout space follows a pattern laid out at
the beginning of time and scaled up to incredible proportions by
nearly 14 billion years of cosmic expansion. Today that pattern is
gradually being decoded by analysing maps of the distribution of the
stars. What has been uncovered could shake modern cosmology to its
foundations.
New Scientist, Mar. 9, 2007
UP!
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TEXT JOCKEY // TJ PHRASER (Fraser Clark) & THE MEDIA EVOLUTION
MIXING THE TRACTS LIVE ON THE KEYBOARD
@ A MEDIA-MEME RATE OF 160 IPP * * Ideas Per Paragraph
TO SUBSCRIBE SOMEONE, WRITE I wanna get UP! TO
TO UNSUBSCRIBE, HIT REPLY WITH REMOVE IN THE SUBJECT BOX
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UP!
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