Why would one of the largest purveyors of pesticides, genetically engineered seeds and agrochemicals want to buy a company which has been seeking solutions to the escalating threats to the world bee population?
Monsanto spokeswomen Kelly Powers says it is to give the fledgling company a helping hand. Beeologics has developed a product called Remembee, an anti-viral agent which its boosters claim will help stem the tide of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious plague which has led to the disappearance of the bees in up to a third of the commercial colonies located in the U.S. during the last decade.
The root of the problem, however, may not be the virus targeted by Remembee, a chemical agent which utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression, but the herbicides and insecticides that agro-chemical giants like Monsanto, Dow and Bayer have themselves been hawking to farmers around the world.
This is the conclusion of three recent studies which implicate a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, or "neonics" for short, which coat a massive 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy and cotton seeds in the U.S. alone. They are also a common ingredient in a wide variety of home gardening products. As I detail in an article which was published by Reuters last month, neonics are absorbed by the plants' vascular system and contaminate the pollen and nectar that bees encounter on their rounds. Neonics are a nerve poison that disorient their insect victims and appear to damage the homing ability of bees, which may help to account for their mysterious failure to make it back to the hive.
This was the conclusion of research which came out in the prestigious Journal Science during March. In another study conducted by entomologists at Purdue University the scientists found that neonic-containing dust released into the air at planting time had "lethal effects compatible with colony losses phenomena observed by beekeepers." A third study by the Harvard School of Public Health actually re-created colony collapse disorder in several honeybee hives simply by administering small doses of a popular neonic, imidacloprid.
While these studies strongly suggest that herbicides are a culprit, scientists caution that colony collapse disorder is a complex phenomenon with multiple causes, ranging from the loss of wild bee habitats to the weakening of bee immune systems as a result of poor diet (commercial bees are frequently fed pesticide-laced corn syrup instead of their own honey) and also the techniques of modern beekeeping, which include the artificial insemination of queens, and the resulting loss of genetic diversity in the bee population.
Some have also pointed the finger at the pollen from genetically modified Roundup Ready corn which bees ingest, and which contains a powerful insecticide within its genetic structure. Roundup seeds are manufactured by Monsanto, and are currently planted across wide swaths of the American Midwest and elsewhere.
So with Monsanto products themselves amongst the key suspects in Colony Collapse Disorder, one might ask: Why has the multinational bought a company which has been a key player in researching this disorder as well as Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, another scourge of bees?
"We're absolutely committed to Beeologics' existing work," said Monsanto spokesperson Kelly Powers. Yet one has to wonder if owning a firm dedicated to shedding light on the trouble with bees might not serve Monsanto's interest in allowing it to further cover up their own corporate complicity in the problem.
Let us hope that Monsanto is as good as its word and uses this newly acquired company to boldly get to the bottom of the mystery of the disappearing bees. But if history is any guide, there is little cause for optimism. The health watchdog group "Natural Society" rated Monsanto "the worst in 2011 for its ongoing work to threaten human health and the environment."
With its acquisition of Beeologic, the multinational has a chance to start improving its record -- right? My advice, however, is don't hold your breath!
Oh, how shocking. Another HuffPo blogger who speaks from am point of authority but doesnt even understand the difference in the two current types of GM technology.
"Yet one has to wonder if owning a firm dedicated to shedding light on the trouble with bees might not serve Monsanto's interest in allowing it to further cover up their own corporate complicity in the problem"
LOL. Please explain how this tactic works when there are literally thousands of independent scientists out there studying this phenomenon. This is just more anti-Ag hysteria from people who have no idea what they are talking about.
They say always go for the throat not the knee cap...Monsanto executives and board members are each suspects in a crime against humanity that involves stealing from nature, corrupting what is not "ownable" with their genome splicing projects, and then passing it off as their own unique patented product. It's nothing short of a plan for world food supply domination by a single profit engine…Monsanto Corporation. “Corporations if not growing are dying, and if the shareholder is a pig, that pig must be slopped”.
Monsanto is smart enough to market the idea that they’re "feeding the planet". They are also smart enough to make self-serving deals behind closed doors, distance themselves from the media, force political hands while buying protectionist policy for pennies on the dollar, and beat down the little guy to the point of ruin and despair…with a smile on their face. Monsanto is the worst possible combination of corporate greed married to political corruption. There is no worse example short of the factory that burns tires next to the daycare, or the arsenic plant next to your local dairy.
Literature reminds us…Soylent Green, Brave New World, 1984
Their technology does feed the planet. Id love to see you show me how that is not true.
And please post the hilarious .org blog that you derived the rest of your conspiratorial diatribe from.
Oh, where to start...
Genetically modified organisms have *unknown* side effects. There in lies the rub. The USA pushes out product w/inadequate testing. Vastly inadequate. And then there is the "patented organism" issue and Monsanto's monopolistic practice of crushing the life out of farmers who are trying to keep their crops "clean" of market limiting seed (difficult). Monsanto, of all these companies, needs to be driven out of business for that practice alone. It's utterly unethical. Sadly, our laws are broken. Poor patent law combined with business people with no moral compass have combined to create a monster.
But this article is focused on herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides specifically.
Bees are declining at an alarming rate. Not just honey bees. How many studies have been done on, for example, Chemlawn's chemical cocktail effect on squash bees? None. We just shove the products out. And the studies that do happen are 95% done by the companies themselves.
Organic foods that are contaminated: Folks *do* get outraged when, for example, spinach is contaminated with E. Coli (organic or otherwise). But that is not specific to organics. All food is vulnerable, though industrial agriculturally produced foods do have a higher rate of poisoning people.
We know we are poisoning pollinators, waterways, amphibians, birds, and ultimately people. The fertility of our soils are piss poor compared to centuries past and full of heavy metals and poisons. And the end product is diminished.
[Part 1 of 2]
Some people only care about themselves, right here and now. They lack the ability to think about others, or the future. Rational dialoge will not change them.
Hey Tawster, I like the part of your rant where you decide not to post any credible evidence to back up any of your claims. You must consider yourself quite the expert LOL
This is not rocket science.
We don't need these chemicals. That's the humorous part. They are utterly unneeded. But many many farmers bought into the marketing. Chemical free agricultural practices have "modernized" as well. No one is asking anyone to go back to practices from 100 years ago. There are creative ways to manage pests, and the fertilization options are vastly superior (shit works!).
Monsanto (and other chemical companies) created products that were never really needed to solve problems that could have been solved other ways. And then they market the piss out of them, buy all the seed companies, remove competitive seeds, and sue farmers that use something else and have their fields contaminated.
Yes, it is easy to hate Monsanto. For poisoning our world and unethical business practice. They need to go. Bayer and the rest, they just need to face the music and clean up their act.
[Part 2 of 2]
Can you grow a crop efficiently while ignoring weed competition? No. Can you physically remove weeds on a large scale without burning fossil fuels, causing erosion, or invoking back-breaking hand-labor? No. Did the introduction of crops engineered to be resistant to Roundup herbicide, displace more toxic chemicals that persist longer in the environment? Yes. Are farmers stupid, such they buy cropping systems that lower their production costs and increase their risk?
If you oppose genetic engineering of plants on moral or philosophical or religious grounds, can you avoid them by buying foods labelled "organic". Yes. Are farmers who are found to have "adventitious presence" of GMO plants in their fields, sued by Monsanto? No. Is someone with a different view than yours irrational? Only if you're a tyrant, a terrorist, or a fanatic. Nobody can put fear in me, as long as I have an inquiring mind, and access to the truth. The risks/rewards of gmo foods isn't, ultimately, arguable since they've become an article of faith for some. Believe what you want to believe, of course. But don't impose your beliefs on me. I support scientific progress, despite the fact all technology carries inherent risk.
hahahahaha
" Chemical free agricultural practices have "modernized" as well."
Oh, then please do list just one.
" Bayer and the rest, they just need to face the music and clean up their act."
Wait, how does Bayer exist if Monsanto " buy all the seed companies, remove competitive seeds, and sue farmers that use something else and have their fields contaminated."?
LOL> You cant even keep your story straight for an entire sentence.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
OMG WHERE DOES IT STOP?
This is very disturbing. Monsanto is hardly altruistic. They're not supporting, they're suppressing. Got to squeeze that last dime of profit out before everything collapses. They don't realize you can't eat money. The lesson of Soylent Green is that sure, first the peasants will die but eventually so will the elite.
Monsanto, Dow and Bayer are killing this planet. But Monsanto is the gangleader.
Re: Monstano - the company that exposed millions of people to Agent Orange, DDT, PCB's, GMO's, rGBH and a myriad of other synthetic substances, without testing them, is all of a sudden interested in solving CCD? They have a solid history of hiding the truth, raking in profits, and taking a risk of paying a small fine someday in the future. Their acquisition will undoubtedly allow them to have more control over the issue. Perhaps they will develop a new GMO bee to solve the problem..