[ExI] Bees again

[BillK]

On Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 1:17 AM, spike wrote:
> Thanks Bill.  As I did in 2007, I am seeing a number of dying honeybees,
> staggering about on the ground.  Now I have an idea.  I will take the dying
> bee and keep it in a glass jar, to see if phorids emerge after a few days.
> In retrospect, that is a perfectly logical experiment, but I hadn't thought
> of it before.
>
>

And now
<http://www.futurity.org/earth-environment/high-insecticide-levels-in-dead-honeybees/>

Analyses of bees found dead in and around hives from several apiaries
over two years in Indiana showed the presence of neonicotinoid
insecticides, which are commonly used to coat corn and soybean seeds
before planting.

The research showed those insecticides were present at high
concentrations in waste talc that is exhausted from farm machinery
during planting, according to findings published in the journal PLoS
One.
-------------------

Note: France and Germany have already banned these insecticides to
protect their honeybees.


Spike, it would be ironic if it turned out to be your own agricultural
insecticides that were killing honeybees.


BillK