Chemical And Environmental Effects On Honey Bees

Carson clarifies that “the sprays, dust, and aerosols are now applied almost universally to farms, gardens, forests, and homes-nonselective chemicals that have the power to kill every insect, the “good” and the “bad”.” In contemporary world today many people use these mankind chemicals without understanding the effects of nature. For example, the reproduction of bees are dropping traumatically because of the pesticides effects on the insects. According to CNN “How Pesticides are killing the bees “Recent data published in science, Nature and other un journals show that bees are dying from some pesticides that are found in our food supply.” The damaged the chemicals are doing to the bees have worries many scientists. The New York Times wrote, pesticide linked to honeybee deaths, “a group of pesticide believed to contribute to mass deaths of honeybees.” Another example of the harmful chemicals affecting the good insects are by destroying favorable insects such as lady bugs and butterflies, which are another great alternative way to pollinate flower. These beneficial insects are very important for human wellbeing; therefore, we should minimize the use of

Resent ecotoxicological laboratory studies have looked into whether exposure to common pesticides might be impairing bee performance and contributing to their population decline. Neonicotinoids, which are manufactured by the company Monsanto, are a group of pesticides chemically connected to nicotine. These types of pesticide instead of being applied to the leaves are drenched in the soil and on the seeds, and in turn the poisons become part of flowering plants and gather in nectar and pollen. These systemic poisons are brought back to the hive in the form of pollen and nectar which gets stored in the honeycomb and builds up in the bee colonies.

The bees never seem to catch a break which is putting the bees under “stress” which is a factor. Furthermore, when they are pollinating all these different plants some are not nutritious as others, for example cucumbers aren’t as healthy as some of the other plants but there is still a demand for them, so the bees still have to work and eventually become unhealthy if they aren’t getting the right nutrients. Another factor is pesticides, which has many different points of view but overall it has come to decided it is not the pesticides themselves that are killing masses of bees but it is lowering their immune system and making it easier for them to get sick, for example with the common parasite Nosema. Nosema is a parasite in the digestive track of the honey bee that attacks the entire hive and can eventually wipe out the whole hive. The effects of the pesticides are ultimately never letting the hives reach their maximum potential, which in the end could render the hives weak and lethargic. There are so many pesticides out there it is hard to tell exactly what component in the pesticide is hurting the bees. It is recently found that the inert ingredients used often to boost the effectiveness of the pesticide are actually more harmful than the actual toxic ingredients

In a study conducted by Swedish researchers at Lund University—a study funded entirely by government and non-profit foundation resources—there was some evidence of adverse effects on the health of bumblebees and other wild bees, whereas honeybee colonies remained largely unscathed: “This doesn’t mean that there aren’t any negative effects on honeybees, but so far I don’t see any evidence from field studies supporting that,” says lead author Maj Rundlöf. Another study conducted in Canada in 2014 reached similar conclusions: “We are not seeing any impact on honeybees as a result of exposure to canola grown from neonic-treated seeds,” says Cynthia Scott-Dupree, a pest management specialist and toxicologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, who co-authored the study. While these studies seem promising, both were supported and the latter funded by Bayer Pharmaceuticals, a leading producer of neonicotinoids, which led to criticism for conflict of interest. As a result, the discussion surrounding the dangers of neonicotinoids has become politically polarizing. While some groups, like Greenpeace and the National Resource Defense Council, are convinced of the dangers of neonicotinoids and their role in the decline of the honeybee, some scientists believe that there is very little risk, and they blame the press and activists for stimulating unwarranted

Recently I read an article in the Hill Country Observer titled “Hives of Controversy” by Tracy Frisch (http://www.hillcountryobserver.com/2015news/Sept2015bees1.htm). The article talks about colony collapse disorder and the causes. The tests that have been done and continue to proceed mention that the insecticide neonicotinoids can be a major cause for the loss of bees. As with most if not all chemical insecticides they don't readily break

The effects of these pesticides are not killing the bees instantaneously but impairing their behavior and development. However, some pesticides are very lethal since the honey bees do not even go back to their hives and most of them die after ingesting small amounts of these chemicals from plants that have been sprayed with them. These pesticides clearly have a huge role to play in CCD, given that bee farmers in organic gardens have not reported this phenomenon. According to Timbrell (2002), the pesticides reduce the immunity of bees and are therefore susceptible to literally all kinds of pathogens. A dissection of the dead

Goulson shows a battle in whether pesticides , which are regarded as the materials that can harm crop pollinator should be forbidden.According to his research ,the chemicals in the pesticides can spread widely through pollinators , and little of the toxin may lead to the death of the bees. What's more ,if the exposure of the chemical to very low levels of neonicotinoids that are not sufficient to kill the bees but can influence the abilities and the behaviors .There are also some other researches but they are not convincing because of some obvious shortcomings.On the other hand , neonicotinoids can provide economic benefits and those are difficult to substitute. As a result, it is still a controversy should those pesticides can be

The article "Disappearing Bees and Reluctant Regulators.", deals with the current struggle of the beekeepers against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) pesticide regulation. The authors believe that the extremely dangerous phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a result of the current EPA regulations. Colony collapse disorder is a recent phenomenon that is for an unknown reason, many the worker bees in a colony disappear from the hive. Therefore, leaving the queen, food supplies, larva, and the hives nurse bees behind to fend for themselves. In the end the bee hives that suffer from colony collapse disorder tend to expire shortly afterwards. This problem of colony collapse disorder has cause problems with the production of many agricultural products however, no staple food source like grain or rice has been effective. It is the agricultural foods that require pollination between flowers, cherries are a perfect example of this. In the end the authors assert that scientists blame the current EPA-approved agricultural insecticides as the major cause of colony collapse disorder. However, cases

Neonicotinoid pesticides are a group of chemicals widely used on farm crops, plants, and trees (1). The concern behind these pesticides is the harmful impact on pollinating insects such as honey bees and bumble bees (1). Neonicotinoids are sprayed onto the plant where they are absorbed by the plant and are transported to all parts of the plant including the pollen (see figure 1) (1). Bees then ingest the pesticide via the pollen; specifically, this is the point where the central nervous system of the bees becomes compromised. A large number of deaths in bees is being used as an argument against the use of neonicotinoids (1).

Debates have been that the use of neonicotinoids began to deteriorate bee hives bee keepers are dependent on. The decline in productivity may have been caused by neonic, however an explanation has yet to be confirmed. It is believed that media have

Neonicotinoids are an obvious hazard to honey bee hives, and even the EPA has come around to admit this in early 2016 after years of silence (Philpott). But no decisive action has been taken to reduce the use of these destructive pesticides. This lack of action can be attributed to agricultural and chemical giants such as Monsanto and Bayer, which have created a multi-billion-dollar industry from the sale and use of neonicotinoids. Bayer, a huge multinational chemical corporation, holds a monopoly over neonicotinoid sales, making over 1.65 billion per year. This makes up over 17% of the global agricultural market and 80% of seed coating sales alone (Suryanarayanan 73). Monsanto, America’s largest agrochemical company, makes billions of dollars

Being used worldwide, neonicontinoids which have a similar chemical structure/properties as nicotine have been used as an insecticide that attacks insect’s nervous systems for many years now. Being infused within the seed of the crop, bees can be in direct contact with the chemical from the pollen of the plant, “…neonicotinoids, or neonics, a nicotine-based pesticide that coats seeds and infuses all parts of a crop as it matures, are "a key factor in the decline of bees” (“Save the bees, save ourselves”). Experts statistically noticed that one hundred percent of corn seeds and sixty percent of soybean seeds in Ontario are treated with this chemical (“Save the bees, save ourselves”). Presence of these toxins in a bee’s system lead to weakness and eventual death themselves, or play a role in multiple disruptions to their bodies. With the chemical in their body the bee’s health begins to deteriorate as scientifically proven, “Exposure to thiamethoxam appears to impair bees’ homing ability, with consequences for colony survival” (“Save the bees, save ourselves”). Neonicotinoids amongst other chemicals have been linked to causing problems in the bee’s homing capabilities as well as introducing the possibility of the deformed wing virus. A neuroethologist at Newcastle University, discovered that the neonic-tained nectar possesses seemingly addictive

The majority of the risk of toxicity in humans revolves around the farm workers, because most the excessive exposure to chemicals is when preparing and applying them (Damalas & Elefther). Unintentional or unknown risks can also be a significant worry. According to another study, organic honey was evaluated. Samples from an organic honey bee hive were analyzed and found to have more than 150 different pesticides, accounting for the three to four mile radius of the bees' flight (Al-Waili, Salom, Al-Ghamdi, & Ansari, 2012). This would result in an unknown or unrealized toxicity, even without significant mistakes in application. When considering the availability to access of these chemicals is usually related to farm workers, it is understandable

Honey bees, feared by the misinformed and admired by the intelligent, are dying. The interest in bees from many environmentalists is not for a sudden cause, as this issue is not new to the world. Honey bees as a population have been in decline for years but have yet to reach the endangered species list anywhere in the United States except for Hawaii. Many people kill bees that buzz around joyfully, simply because they are afraid of being stung by them; however, a vast majority of bees do not sting and the others do not care. This unfortunate commonality is not even one of the top causes of the worldwide epidemic of honey bees. Although bees are jokingly idolized on the internet in pictures and videos as a result of a popular children’s movie, their population decline is in fact quite serious. Honey bees and other pollinators like birds and insects ensure the pollination of flowering plants and crops all around the globe. Not only do honey bees pollinate plants that produce the foods that humans eat, but they also pollinate trees that produce clean oxygen for Earth. Without honey bees, the world as we know it could soon end, due to carbon dioxide pollution and lack of farmable foods. The population of honeybees and other important pollinator-bee species is dwindling due to a dilemma known to scientists as colony collapse disorder (CCD) because of the use of bee-killing pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, the decrease of flower meadows in the world, and the general increase

Neonicotinoids are important pesticides. They are used to kill a variety of pests. Many researches have been done with neonicotinoids. Researchers have found that neonicotinoids have toxic effects on many non-target species, one example being insects. This results in reduced growth, insects have problems reproducing and insect populations have also been declining as a result of this. Researchers have classified the effects of the insecticides based on US Environmental Protection Agency’s ecotoxicity classification system. Three insecticides: imidacloprid, clothianidin and fipronil all showed adverse effects on insects. There have been hundreds of scientific publications over the last 20 years that have talked about the adverse effects of neonicotinoids on pollinating insects. Also very low concentrations of neonics have an effect of insects.