A study has purportedly suggested that antibiotic treatments for foulbrood and other pathogens can disrupt the gut microbiota of honeybees, increasing their susceptibility to opportunistic bacterial infections. Kasie Raymann, et al., “Antibiotic exposure perturbs the gut microbiota and elevates mortality in honeybees,” PLoS Biology, March 2017. To examine the effects of common bee antibiotics, University of Texas researchers followed specimens from a single hive that received either sugar water or tetracycline. Their results evidently showed “that honeybees treated with antibiotics and returned to the hive had decreased survivorship when compared to untreated bees.” The authors further note, “Control bees had, on average, five times more bacterial cells in their guts than bees treated with tetracycline.” Tetracycline also failed to eliminate the targeted bacterial species in the treated bees, raising questions among the researchers about antibiotic resistance in domestic bee populations. “The aim of the study was for us to better…
Tag Archives bees
U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have written a March 14, 2016, letter requesting that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) act on recommendations contained in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on bee health. Summarizing federal initiatives designed to improve bee health and protect pollinator populations, the report calls on USDA to “coordinate with other agencies to develop a plan to monitor wild, native bees, and evaluate gaps in staff expertise in conservation practices.” In particular, GAO recommends that USDA redouble its efforts with the White House Pollinator Health Task Force to “develop a mechanism, such as a federal monitoring plan, that would (1) establish roles and responsibilities of lead and support agencies, (2) establish shared outcomes and goals, and (3) obtain input from relevant stakeholders, such as states.” According to the report, USDA should also update…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a website and blog “dedicated to its work on bee health.” Dubbed the #EFSA- 4Bees campaign, the new site is part of the agency’s MUST-B project, a collaborative venture among researchers, data analysts and regulators “with the ultimate goal of developing a software tool that can assess the combined threat posed to bee colonies in their natural environment by parasites, infectious agents, pesticides and other stressors.” To start, the MUST-B project will hold a roundtable at an upcoming scientific workshop to identify research topics that could receive funding under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. “Round the table will be representatives of the European Commission’s directorategenerals for Agriculture, Health and Food Safety, and Research and Innovation; members of bee research projects funded by the European Commission, such as Smartbees, Swarmonitor and Alarm; and colleagues from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Animal…
Shareholder advocacy group As You Sow has reportedly withdrawn a shareholder resolution after General Mills Inc. agreed to “consolidate and disseminate guidance to growers of key commodities such as corn and soy on how to protect and minimize the impact of neonicotinoids and other pesticides to pollinators.” According to a July 8, 2015, press release, the company will support the White House’s Pollinator Health Task Force strategy by working with a non-profit conservation group and suppliers to craft policies meant to reverse the decline in honeybee populations. “Many of the crops that General Mills buys depend on pollinators,” said As You Sow’s Environmental Health Program Manager Austin Wilson. “By investing in supply-chain sustainability, General Mills is ensuring the future of its supply chain and its profitability.” Issue 572
The White House has issued a June 24, 2014, memorandum creating a federal strategy “to promote the health of honey bees and other pollinators.” Highlighting the critical role of pollinators in agriculture and the economy, the memorandum establishes an interagency Pollinator Health Task Force and directs members to develop a National Pollinator Health Strategy by December 21, 2014. Among other things, the strategy requires an action plan for understanding, preventing and recovering from pollinator losses through the use of longitudinal studies, expanded data collection and sharing, assessment of native pollinator populations, and development of affordable seed mixes for the maintenance of honey bees and other pollinators. Agency representatives appointed to the task force will also implement a number of policies designed to incorporate pollinator health into the management of federal land, rights-of-way, and restoration and reclamation projects. To this end, the White House has called for further education to help…
Environmental groups have brought actions in state court and before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeking action to halt the use of certain insecticides that they claim are linked to the collapse of bee colonies. In California, Pesticide Action Network North America and other groups call on the state Department of Pesticide Registration to “stop approving neonicotinoid pesticides pending its completion of a comprehensive scientific review of impact to honeybees.” Pesticide Action Network N. Am. v. Cal. Dep’t of Pesticide Regulation, No. RG14731906 (Cal. Super. Ct., Alameda Cty., filed July 8, 2014). They specifically challenge the department’s June 13, 2014, decision to expand the use of two neonicotinoid insecticides while its scientific review, begun in 2009, remains pending. Claiming violations of the California Environmental Quality Act and Food and Agricultural Code, the organizations seek a stay of the decision or a writ of mandate directing the department to vacate the decision,…
The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) has reportedly launched a new research initiative designed to monitor honey bee behavior using tiny radio frequency identification (RFI) sensors. According to a January 15, 2014, CSIRO news release, researchers have for the first time fitted 5,000 bees in Hobart, Tasmania, with 2.5-by-2.5 millimeter sensors as part of CSIRO’s efforts to improve pollination and productivity on farms as well as understand threats to hive health such as colony collapse disorder. These sensors will transmit information about each individual bee’s movements whenever it passes a data-gathering checkpoint, allowing scientists “to build a comprehensive three dimensional model and visualize how these insects move through the landscape.” “Bees are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule. Any change in their behavior indicates a change in their environment,” explained lead researcher Paulo de Souza. “If we can…
Following a request from the European Commission concerning the declining health of bees in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published new guidance for assessing the potential risks to bees from the use of pesticides. Noting that a previous risk assessment for honeybees did not fully account for risks from chronic or repeat exposure to pesticides, or the potential risks to larvae, EFSA said that the new guidance fills these gaps, adds schemes for bumble bees and solitary bees and proposes a new method for assessing whether the potential harm posed to bees from the use of a plant protection product is acceptable. “This method—which gives a more precise assessment of acceptable loss of foragers than the existing approach—should afford greater protection to honey bee colonies situated on the edge of fields treated with pesticides,” said EFSA. According to EFSA pesticide experts, the attributes to protect honey bees are…
Although a recent proposal to restrict the use of three neonicotinoids failed to gain support from the qualified majority of member states on an appeals committee, the European Commission (EC) has announced its intention to proceed with the plan as part of its bid to better protect honeybees. Basing its decision on a European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) scientific report that “identified ‘high acute risks’ for bees as regards exposure to dust in several crops such as maize, cereals and sunflower, to residue in pollen and nectar in crops like oilseed rape and sunflower and to guttation in maize,” the Commission has agreed to limit the use of clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiametoxam “for seed treatment, soil application (granules) and foliar treatment on bee- attractive plants and cereals” for a period of two years starting December 1, 2013. Under the plan, “the remaining authorized uses are available only to professionals,” with possible…
According to news sources, several U.S. beekeeping companies have filed lawsuits under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), alleging that the defendant companies illegally imported honey from China thus evading millions of dollars in anti-dumping duties and depressing the price for domestic honey. Moore v. Groeb, No. 13-2905 (N.D. Ill., filed April 17, 2013); Adee Honey Farms v. Groeb Farms, Inc., No. 13-2922 (N.D. Ill., filed April 18, 2013). Among other things, the complaint alleges that some of the imported honey contained adulterated antibiotics, was not actually honey and was falsely represented to government authorities as honey from countries other than China. The plaintiffs reportedly cite a February 2013 agreement between defendant Groeb Farms and the federal government indicating that the company’s “unlawful actions ‘caused losses to the United States of no less than $78,866,216’ in the form of unpaid antidumping duties” during a four-year period. As part…
