Honeybees

In this overview, I discuss colony collapse disorder (CCD), biogenic amines-based-pesticides (neonicotinoids and formamidines), and their disruptive effects on biogenic amine signaling causing olfactory dysfunction in honeybees. According to my hypothesis, chronic exposure of biogenic amines-based-pesticides to honeybee foragers in hives and agricultural fields can disrupt neural cholinergic and octopaminergic signaling. Abnormality in biogenic amines-mediated neuronal signaling impairs their olfactory learning and memory, therefore foragers do not return to their hive – a possible cause of CCD. This overview is an attempt to discuss a hypothetical link among biogenic amines-based pesticides, olfactory learning and memory, and CCD.

Representatives from Syngenta and Bayer CropScience were questioned by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee last week as it seeks to establish whether the UK should follow other European countries in banning or restricting neonicotinoid insecticides. But Syngenta, which makes the systemic insecticide Thiamethoxam, is unhappy at the committee's approach. Head of public affairs Luke Gibbs told Grower it had been established to consider a single variable - the action of insecticides on pollinating insects - when the problem of pollinator decline is "multi-variable", he said. "They will only look at a narrow range of scientific papers. But the real threats to bees are the Varroa mite and habitat loss. Focusing only on pesticides could lead to recommendations that are not balanced." Gibbs added that the inquiry "has inevitably attracted groups that are ideologically opposed to pesticide use", and he noted: "Several of the committee, such as Caroline Lucas, Zac Goldsmith and Martin Caton, have a long-stated public position on this."

Of all European countries, the Netherlands has the greatest bee mortality. Conservationists are very concerned about the impact this has on our food chain. Most independent scientists and beekeepers from all over the world regard pesticides as the main cause of bee-mortality. But the pesticide companies deny any causal link. In the Netherlands, the government's chief advisers in this field, from Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), deny absolutely that pesticides are a major cause of bee mortality.
This film reveals that their judgement is affected by the massive funding that the University receives from pesticide manufacturers. Because of the vast financial interests at stake, the connection between the death of the bees and the use of pesticides is a very sensitive political issue at The Hague. Can the honeybees be saved? This video documentary by Holland's famous Zembla TV Channel explores the murky world of pesticide politics. http://omroep.vara.nl/media/175032

Vragen van het lid Ouwehand (Partij voor de Dieren) aan de staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken over de belangenverstrengeling bij de toelating van bestrijdingsmiddelen en de negatieve gevolgen daarvoor bijen en andere bestuivers (bijlage).

„Das Buch könnte ein Krimi sein“ titulierte kürzlich die Neue Rheinische Zeitung. Und das, obwohl das Buch „Das Ende der Artenvielfalt“ des holländischen Toxikologen Henk Tennekes ein Sachbuch ist. Darin belegt der Wissenschaftler den Zusammenhang zwischen dem großräumigen Einsatz von Pestiziden und dem Rückgang zahlreicher europäischer Vogel- und Insektenarten. Verantwortlich dafür sind seiner Meinung nach Neonikotinoide. Tennekes sprach auf Einladung des Instituts für Umweltwissenschaften Landau am 29. November an der Universität in Landau (Fortstraße 7, Hauptgebäude, Konferenzraum), siehe die Beilage.

It's not just domesticated bees that are in trouble. Many wild pollinators -- from the rusty patch bumblebee to the Karner blue butterfly -- are also declining in number, and some are in far worse shape. In a recent study of Midwest cornfields, University of Minnesota entomologist Karen Oberhauser linked the widespread use of Roundup and the disappearance of milkweed to an 81 percent drop in eggs of the monarch butterfly, the gaudy insect in mysterious decline across the country. The threats to these species are numerous and complicated, but biologists say the encroachment of chemical-intensive agriculture on the native prairie is certainly one of them.

Häufig werden Neonikotinoide bei der Maisbeize eingesetzt. Aufgrund ihrer Wasserlöslichkeit werden sie von der Pflanze aufgenommen und gelangen in alle Pflanzenteile einschließlich des Pollens und des Nektars. Besuchen Honigbienen Blüten von Pflanzen, die dieses Nervengift aufgenommen haben, dann nehmen sie es mit der Nahrung auf. Beim Ausbringen von gebeiztem Saatgut bleibt solches immer wieder oberflächlich liegen bzw. wird Beizstaub über die Luft weiter verfrachtet. Dieser kann sich an Blüten von benachbarten Wiesen absetzen. Dadurch kommt es auch im weiteren Umkreis der Felder zu Vergiftungen der Honigbienen mit Neonikotinoiden. Diese Nervengifte bringen nicht nur Honigbienen zum Absterben, sondern auch Wildbienen, Schmetterlinge und viele andere Kleintiere. Der Artenschwund in der Agrarlandschaft wird durch die Verwendung der Neonikotinoide weiter zunehmen. Auch Vögel sind davon betroffen. Zwar nicht durch direkte Vergiftungen, aber durch den Verlust der Nahrung.

The Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is examining the possibility of banning the controversial nerve-agent pesticides increasingly implicated in the decline of bees and other pollinating insects. Mr Paterson has asked officials of his Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to examine the practical consequences of restricting the use of neonicotinoids, which are now widely deployed across British agriculture, The Independent has learnt. He wants to know about the likely effects on farming of a ban, and what alternatives might be available. This is the first sign that the Government may shift its stance on neonicotinoids, which, it was disclosed yesterday, have been implicated in problems with bee health in more than 30 scientific research papers in the last three years alone. Mr Paterson’s action will send shockwaves through the immensely profitable agro-chemical industry.

It was disheartening to read Caroline Davies's article about the decline in British birds (Report, 19 November) without any comment on the possible cause. The Dutch toxicologist Dr Henk Tennekes, author of The Systemic Insecticides: A Disaster in the Making, blames the use of neonicotinoid insecticides. These insecticides are put inside seeds and, being water soluble, permeate the whole plant, binding irreversibly to critical receptors in the central nervous systems of insects. Bees and butterflies collecting pollen or nectar from treated crops are poisoned, and neonicotinoids have been implicated in the mass die-off of bee populations. Germany has banned seed treatment with neonicotinoids after bee colonies suffered a severe decline linked to the use of the insecticide clothianidin. Neonicotinoids also leach from the soil into waterways and groundwater, affecting marine and bird life; they can remain in the soil for 20 years. Imidacloprid has caused major contamination of Dutch surface water since 2004. The Chinese are already having to pollinate crops by hand due to the demise of pollinating insects, of which 80% were bees. It maybe too late to reverse the decline in British birds but shouldn't we try by banning the use of these insecticides? More can be found by visiting smallbluemarble.org.uk.
Peter O'Donnell
East Molesey, Surrey