Another Year Of Disappearing Honey Bees
Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 07:01PM 
The 2008 calendar indicates that another spring has arrived in North America and the signs of the new season are everywhere. Buds have appeared on trees, heralding the arrival of new leaves. The increased daylight and the warming sun act as harbingers for the appearance of flowering plants that will soon begin their summer cycle of growth. Nurseries and home improvement stores; such as, Home Depot and Loews, are selling plants, rakes, shovels, mulch, and fertilizer.
Indeed, the familiar signs of spring are everywhere. However, once again this year, there is a real problem in nature which is tempering agricultural enthusiasm for the upcoming growing season. It is a problem that was first identified in 2006. The problem continues to be the disappearance of the honey bee. Once again there is little progress to report from research into this mystery surrounding the honey bee called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
CCD occurs when all adult bees disappear from the hive, leaving the honey and pollen behind. Few, if any, dead bees are found around the hive. Between 50 and 90% of the commercial honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in the United States have been afflicted with CCD and the problem is making it difficult for U.S. commercial beekeepers to pollinate crops. About a quarter of beekeeping operations were affected by CCD during the 2006-2007 winter alone. It is estimated that up to 70% of honey bees in the United States have just disappeared due to Colony Collapse Disorder. The problem has continued during the winter of 2007-2008.
In addition to the ongoing problem of CCD, consider that news reports indicate significant regional problems with dying honey bees this spring in the United States. In Hawaii, a microscopic mite is devastating Oahu's honey bee population and the long term affects could wipe out much of the island's agriculture. Western Washington State has a developing agricultural crisis as bees are dying from a new pathogen called Nosema Ceranae. This fungus attacks the bee's gut, making it impossible to process food and the bee eventually starves to death.
In general, the various problems with disappearing and dying honey bees are rapidly taking a toll on the entire United States beekeeping industry. It has been reported that the number of keepers who produce more than 6,000 pounds of honey annually has declined from 2,054 in 2005, (the year before keepers started experiencing colony collapse) to about 1,100 this year.
Internationally, a lack of a sufficient number of honey bees is responsible this spring for problems in blueberry pollination in Canada. The Fraser Valley produces about one-fifth of the world's blueberries, but no longer has a sufficient number of honey bees to support its blueberry pollination, and honey bees are now being imported for pollination.
In England and Wales, proposals to protect honey bees have recently been announced by the government. However, bee keepers complain about a lack of research funding and the slow pace of governmental response since the number of honey bees continues in decline.
It is now estimated that nearly half of Italy's 50 billion bee population died last year. That bee mortality rate will have a drastic effect on the country's 25-million-euro honey industry (which could plummet by at least 50% in 2008) and wreak havoc on fruit crops. The worldwide bee epidemic has also hit France, Germany, Britain, Brazil, and Australia.
The increased cost of energy in food production and transportation has already led to a world food price inflation of 45 percent in the last nine months alone. There are serious worldwide shortages of rice, wheat, and corn. The rising cost of food has recently been responsible for deadly clashes in Egypt, Haiti, and several African states.
However, if the population of the honey bee continues to decline, worldwide events from higher prices and shortages of food will have only just begun. The pollination of the honey bee is crucial to agriculture and the world’s food supply. Without the honey bee, prices of vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs, and dairy prices will all spiral much higher.
The disappearance of the honey bee poses a threat to eating premium ice cream as well. Haagen-Dazs, (owned by General Mills) said bees are responsible for 40% of its 60 flavors, such as strawberry, toasted pecan, and banana split. The company is launching a new flavor this spring called Vanilla Honey Bee to raise consumer awareness about the problem. Proceeds from the sale of the ice cream will be used to fund CCD research.
The ramifications to our diet and lifestyle are enormous, but government's response to the developing food crisis has been limited and slow. The disappearing honey bee issue has not been discussed in any Presidential debate or in any campaign forum. In fact, both of our major political parties have been silent on the problem.
Hopefully, American politicians on the campaign trail in the 2008 United States presidential election like Haagen- Daz products. The truth is that Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream may be the only way to bring the candidates attention to a serious, developing, agricultural crisis. A world without sufficient honey bee pollination will create a food crisis of economic, national, and international ramifications. Indeed, it is another year without a solution to the problem of disappearing honey bees.
Reader Comments (21)
Hi, I am curious have there been any studies with bees concerning all the air freshners that are out there. I have had problems more than once from the an air fresher that messed up by ability to function. An air fresher was replaced in the bathroom were I worked. The new one was so strong I felt like I was drunk or something. I had to go home twice and missed part of the third day. When I did make it back to work I had to make them remove it or I would have had to quit. Bees to me are attracted to the sweet flowers.
A room freshner that goes off every few minutes is very toxic to me. Is it possible they can be toxic to the bees to. I am concerned about the bees to.
This is an excellent and timely question. I am currently working on an article about the research behind the potential causes of the disappearing honey bee. Air fresheners are not considered a potential cause but you may not be to far off. New crop insecticides may well play a role and there are many other possibilities as well.
Thanks so much for your question.
I've noticed honey bees on my friends hummingbird feeders
I've noticed honey bees on my friends hummingbird feeders not on any flowers,they just set there,as if they are stoned.Could the red dye have a negative effect on their tiny bodies?Lynda
My wife & I are avid naturalist (natural preservation, wildlife preservation, etc.). We understand the importance the honeybee has on our environment and are proud to see them in our flower garden / pond areas. But, this morning I found a dead one, still with pollen, lying on the leaf of a "cone flower". I saved it in the refrigerator for "just-in". Is there someone or someplace that could possibly be interested in this specimen? We live in the Upstate of South Carolina.
hi i was just reading an article about a certain type of catepillar attacking some type of flowers and the flowers released a toxin that attracted wasps. If those flowers can do this maybe the flowers are relasing a toxin to frive awa the bees? is this even a good question?
Albert Einstein said if the honey bees were suddenly gone mankind would have about 4 years left to live. Well, the honey bees are going extinct now and at the present rate in another year or so there will be no more honey bees left on earth.
yea 2012
For some time I had always said humans do not deserve to live because we are killing Earth with our toxins. However, recently the dread of dying haunts me because of this message. Knowing the doom of our kind is soon unless we do something that can dramticlly change it. In our lifetime. We all have dreams, but knowing it won't come true due to the shortness of our lives is depressing. Very depressing. We need to do something that can change this and fast. What can we do?
Have you seen the movie called "The Happening". The Bees disappeared. The plants got angry and they started to control the minds of humans. The humans started killing themselves, committing suicide..Prophetic I think...Have you read your Bible lately?
Scientists say that we have until about 2018 & then it's all grasses & meat.
Is there some way to raise governmental awareness about this topic? Maybe if we all flooded our local politicians with letters and petitions, they will take advantage of the upcoming elections to be able to "please the people" so to speak. I know if I were running for some sort of public office, it would behoove me to listen to what my constituents were trying to tell me. But that's just me. It's definitely worth a try. Why not? Nothing else is being done. At least not anything grand enough to make a difference.
I am very well interested in the cause of the honey bees that we are losing. I was wondering if maybe the plants are causing this, the ones they pollinate. Possibly the plants are evolutionizing or changing and feeling attacked by the bee. Maybe its the cause of polution that is changing the plants but I have no clue all we can make is theories thats it. We might as well start looking for solutions.
i am a surfer and i always see bees when i'm in the water. i actually come across more bees in the water than on land. they fly by as i sit out there, they land on the water surface, i see them washed up along the shore line, in hawaii, in new york, in france. i understand that one of the mysteries of this disaster is that the bee's simply disappear. i think they all end up in the ocean. maybe abandoning the hives has something to do with water. is water quality faltering? are the bees loosing their bearings? are they attracted to the salt? are there any ideas on this thought? i would love to hear a scientist's view.
Hi,
I too am very concerned about the loss of our precious bees. And YES WE CAN reach out and request that our governement do something! Go to the NRDC link (below) and once there, click the link on the right that says "Take online action now" -- which will take you to an online letter you can "sign" and send to our Dept. of Agriculture.
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees.asp?gclid=CObj2r2CiJcCFSJIagod51q79A
Thanks,
Disappear? They have to go somewhere. If only we could find where the bees have disappeared to or study the dead ones. If the surfer is right and they have been washing up on shore then someone should get samples of the dead ones washed up on shore and see what the cause of death is. Also I think that world wide we need to stop making excess food and wasting our crops on food that is thrown away and stop polluting the planet. We as a human race used to only hunt and gather what we could eat. Now we throw away perfectly good food because we are so spoiled that if we are not in the mood for certain foods, it just gets thrown in the garbage. Sometimes wonder if our obsession with getting what we want all the time is killing our connection with nature and the natural course of life. I'll be honest, I wouldn't be able to eat meat out in the wild because I can't kill an animal or gather because I was never taught what foods naturally grow in the wild around where I live. Most of us wouldn't survive if there was a world catastrophe and we had to be hunters and gatherers. I want to become a bee keeper and help pollinate the world. I hope that is something.
Has anyone looked up at the sky lately?...Man made clouds?....Chemtrails?....I live in Texas and I have seen lots of them ...Christmas day 12-25-08 ... The sky was full of them. ...
I don't know anymore than anyone else what is happening, but I just received an email with a ultra conservative website and one of their complaints was that stimulus money was going to be spent on Honey Bee research and other research about out food supply.
Below I copied and pasted that part of the email:
$150 million for honey bee insurance (Pg. 102 of Senate Appropriations Committee report: "The Secretary shall use up to $ 50,000,000 per year, and $150,000,000 in the case of 2009, from the Trust Fund to provide emergency relief to eligible producers of livestock, honey bees, and farm-raised fish to aid in the reduction of losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires, as determined by the Secretary")
It's good to know that the govt. is concerned about the problem even though the people complaining about it in the emailed website are idiots!
Yes..Human rulership is coming to a new era! Not to be left ot our own demise. With conditions of our earth home; all that is beauitiful , intelligently wise, and wonderful being so threatened without hope and promises to rely on. For your own personal well-being, peace of mind, and the promises of a future. Why not read the most anicent of Holy Writings and learn of the new rulership using terminology as of a "Kingdom". How exciting it is to realize where we are in the stream of time by just one of the many figurative visions. I'm picking just one found in the book of Daniel; Daniel chapter 2. Can you discern what that image is? Then Daniel 2:44 gives us a future we can rely on!
i GREW UP RAISING BEES FOR HONEY WE WOULD PRODUCE OVER A TON A YEAR. THE ONLY DISEASE WE HAD WAS FOUL BROOD AND WE COULD MEDACATE THE BEES FOR THAT. I DON'T UNDERSTAND THE BIG MISTERY ON WHY THE BEES ARE DYING . THE COMPANY BAYER A FEW YEARS AGO INTRODUCED A NEAT LITTLE CEMICAL FOR BREAKING DOWN THE EMUNITY OF THE GRUBS IN YOUR YARDS. IT WORKED REAL WELL SO WELL THAT THE BEES WORKING THE CLOVER IN OUR YARDS DRUG IT BACK TO THE HIVE. IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHY IT IS STILL ON THE MARKET ASK CONGRESS AND THE LOBBIEST IN WASHINGTON. MONEY TALKS AND THE BIG DRUG COMPANIES ALWAYS WIN.
Cell phones. Or rather the frequency they operate on. Would you give up your cell phone if you knew it was hurting the bees?