10/9/12

Disappearing Honeybees: What’s Happening and Are We at Risk Too?

          Colony collapse disorder, or CCD, struck the United States during 2006-2007 and other countries soon after.  Characterized by the sudden disappearance of honeybees from their otherwise healthy beehives, CCD emerged as an unexpected and highly alarming phenomenon.  Before long, CCD was making headlines as beekeepers in 24 U.S. states were reporting honeybee losses of up to 80%, occurring sometimes overnight!  The importance of honeybees stretches well beyond preservation for the sake of preservation or even for the sake of honey production.  Rather, because they can pollinate a wide variety of crops, can persist throughout the growing season, and can be concentrated in large numbers when needed, honeybees have become the dominate pollinators of a number of major crops including apples, avocados, almonds, pears, sunflowers, melons, etcetera, and are therefore critical to the agriculture industry. 
            Though stressors such as pathogens, malnutrition due to monoculture food sources, insecticide exposure, and stress due to commercial migration have been identified as potential causes of CCD, these are unsound explanations as such stressors existed long before widespread colony collapse was observed.  In the last year, however, a key study conducted by Dr. Lu and colleagues at Harvard University finally succeeded in not simply identifying the likely culprit of CCD, but in fact demonstrating its impact on bee populations.  The implicated culprit, imidacloprid (IMD), is a pesticide introduced by Monsanto some years ago.  To understand how this pesticide is suddenly affecting bees, one must first understand that for cost-effectiveness, bee keepers have in recent years been replacing the honey within bee hives with high-fructose corn syrup.  This allows keepers to profit from the honey while still keeping their pollinators alive throughout the year. 
         

          Though IMD as well as corn syrup substitution has existed for some years, historically IMD application consisted of spraying the chemical over corn fields, in which case the corn itself was protected by the corn husk from direct contact with the pesticide.  As of 2005, however Monsanto introduced a new method of integrating IMD into corn production.  Rather than spraying the chemical, the industry now soaks these corn seeds in highly concentrated solutions of IMD such that the chemical is dispersed throughout the entire corn plant during the growing process.  This means that the corn itself contains a considerable amount of IMD.  It is when this corn is made into corn syrup and subsequently fed to honeybees that bees are ultimately exposed.  Through Lu’s study in which 20 hives spanning 4 locations were fed IMD-dosed corn syrup, the phenomenon of CCD was demonstrated to occur, and to occur increasingly in hives containing higher doses of IMD.
            If you’re wondering if IMD is present in corn products served to humans, the answer is "yes."  If you’re wondering what impact this might have on human health, the answer is far less certain.  Having said that, France has suspended the growing of seeds soaked in a pesticide similar to IMD so as to avoid continuing losses of honeybees, potential human health effects, and agricultural repercussions. The U.S. has yet to take such action.  To avoid the negative publicity associated with IMD, the agriculture industry has reassured the public that over 90% of its corn crops are not treated with this pesticide.  However, this is only because the industry has cleverly defined the term “treatment” so as to include spraying, but not to include seed soaking.  I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Lu about his study and experience in dealing with reps of the agricultural sector.  Not surprisingly, there appears to be tremendous resistance by industry to accept anything from health scientists that would damage company profits. 

To read Dr. Lu's study, visit:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty/chensheng-lu/files/in-situ-replication-of-honey-bee-colony-collapse-disorder.pdf 

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                                                                                                -Shahir Masri, MS
 

8 comments:

  1. It is very unfortunate what people will do to make a buck! I didn't realize the importance a bee has on our food chain. (Interesting!!) I would like to know if many of the environmental policies are truly effective at all, especially when there are intentional loop holes put in place regardless of the impact it has on people. Have you noticed any new policies that have "cleverly" defined health hazards that should not be ignored?

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  2. Hello Professor Masri,

    I had no idea that bees aided in the production of other foods such as avocado's (My favorite next to gala apples). This is a great example that proves my theory, that everything in this world has a very important place and the loss/destruction of even the smallest species known to man can have detrimental effects, not only on humans but the world!

    One question, why have the various agencies such as the EPA, not intervened and stopped this detrimental act? Are those agencies not around to protect the environment and the various species?

    -Phadra Buckle

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Hello Dr.Masri,


    Wow I had no clue bees were so busy and that we depend on them so much for pollinating apples, avocados, almonds, pears, sunflowers, melons, and etc. What I found interesting is the fact that an entity would prefer to sock our food in a solution like IMD and think or not care about the ramifications it may have on anything living that would consume this pestiside.I have seen the half honey half corn syrup in the super markets and I never buy it. Also what I found interesting is that I didn't know bees eat the honey or corn syrup.
    My question is this problem still occurring and if so what is being done about it?

    C.Jones COH 608

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  5. Hello Dr.Masri,


    Wow I had no clue bees were so busy and that we depend on them so much for pollinating apples, avocados, almonds, pears, sunflowers, melons, and etc. What I found interesting is the fact that an entity would prefer to sock our food in a solution like IMD and think or not care about the ramifications it may have on anything living that would consume this pestiside.I have seen the half honey half corn syrup in the super markets and I never buy it. Also what I found interesting is that I didn't know bees eat the honey or corn syrup.
    My question is this problem still occurring and if so what is being done about it?

    C.Jones COH 608

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello Professor Masri,
    Bees are so important, so it is horrible to see that the populations have been reduced by such means. I did not know that bee keepers used corn syrup in the hive, that seems very deceiving. I was very surprised that seeds would be soaked in the pesticide. I didn't think that could be done to crops used for human consumption. I have a fews questions, 1) Is there any information on the long term health effects of consuming the pesticide? 2) What impact have GMOs had on the bee population? 3) Is there anything being done currently to stop the practice of soaking seeds in the pesticide?
    Thank you.
    Danielle COH 608

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    1. I will answer your first question which states: Is there any information on the long term health effects of consuming the pesticide? I read an interesting article that discussed how honeybees that received 40 mg/L of imidacloprid doses experienced lower perception of a predator, causing them to enter a predators’ domain because they no longer had the ability to sense danger. In addition, they were less likely to participate in foraging behaviors and gather nectar from a plant. There is not much other information regarding the long-term health effects of pesticides on honeybees, however, this bit of information is enough to reflect that the imidacloprid is dangerous, reduces the honeybees’ ability to pollinate and lowers their perception of nearby predators. Given this this information that reveals the negative health effects on honeybees who consumed the pesticide directly, it makes me wonder what the detrimental health effects are for humans who consume honey from these honeybees? There needs to be more research in this area, although, the information given in this article, and other research should enforce regulations that that restrict the use of pesticide soaking.

      Reference:
      Tan K, Chen W, Dong S, Liu X, Wang Y, et al. (2014) Imidacloprid Alters Foraging and Decreases Bee Avoidance of Predators. PLoS ONE 9(7): e102725. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102725

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  7. I did not realize how important honeybees are to our society and how their sudden disappearance significantly affects our agricultural products. Also, it is highly disappointing that the agriculture industry is being dishonest concerning their IMD use in soaking corn husks, and it seems that their mindset is that monetary gain is more important than human welfare. My question after reading this article is what are the health implications of using high fructose corn syrup as opposed to honey, to feed the honeybees?

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