Re: SC38

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?ex=1330232400&en=3d5500b8a37b8976&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril

VISALIA, Calif., - David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.

In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable.

“I have never seen anything like it,” Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. “Box after box after box are just empty. There’s nobody home.”

The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country.

Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction.

Now, in a mystery worthy of Agatha Christie, bees are flying off in search of pollen and nectar and simply never returning to their colonies. And nobody knows why...........

Some suggested causes: ...Along with the strong potential for pesticide poisonings, there is also the possibility that GMO plants, which have been genetically engineered for insect resistence, are detrimental to honeybees....

'Systemic pesticides' are pesticides which rather than sitting on the surface of a plant, are absorbed and continue acting long after spraying. Some poison nectar and pollen......

....Man's meddling with natural systems, continues to produce un-expected consequences like these...............

Albert Einstein once said "If bees were to disappear, man would only have a few years to live.".