Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years in the UK

Honeybees will die out in Britain within a decade as virulent diseases and parasites spread through the nation's hives, experts have warned.

Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem.

Disease is killing off Britain’s honeybees

SNIP

Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out, although losses were higher in some areas.

In London, about 4,000 hives - two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital - were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so far this year, all have been wiped out.

The losses are being blamed on Colony Collapse Disorder, a disease that has severely affected bee populations in America and Europe, and a resistant form of Varroa destructor, a parasitic mite that affects bees.

The decline in honeybees is risking the sustainability of home-grown food. They pollinate more than 90 of the flowering crops we rely on for food. They are estimated to contribute more than £1 billion a year to the national economy yet the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spends an average of only £200,000 a year on research to protect them...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/20/eabees120.xml

the disease is a result of more fundamental problems

They rely on one kind of bee. That bee develops a problem of any kind, and the colonies start collapsing.

There are plenty of pollinating, flying insects around. An intelligent approach to managing the commercially available ones would have been prudent.

but that's the way capitalist agriculture goes

like, when was the last time you could find a jonathan apple in the store?

years ago

longer than humans
but genetic engineering has just happened in the past decades

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YiMB-9wt8ko

I'll never forget some Brits gave me trouble talking about the death of their Bees and now they will be extinct in 10 years

We are so screwed

The bees will be extinct only if those commercial beekeepers continue with their foolish practices.

There is absolutely ZERO scientific evidence that the culprit here is genetic engineering. In fact, there is plenty of evidence for other sources of the problem, all of which gets ignored every time this topic is posted -- which is about once every two weeks.

I know the truthiness of this situation. Dick Cheney hates bees because he got stung as a child so he has been working with Halliburton, Dow, and Monsanto to genetically attack bees by using chemtrails. It's TRUE and anyone who denies it is a Bush-supporting, government-trusting, chemical-loving, freedom-hating SHILL!

;-)

isn't doing anything about this

and one wonders why when its such an important part of agriculture

http://www.vanishingbees.com /


Imagine half a million adults skipping town and leaving their children behind. Picture an opened suitcase filled with bundles of cash at a bus stop and yet no robber wants to snatch it. The apiary science mystery known as "Colony Collapse Disorder" displays these very symptoms. Not only do the bees abandon their hive, but the queen and the brood as well. Unnatural. Unheard of. Even the predators that usually rad the hive for the honey stay far away. At first, this occurrence sounds like an urban legend or an exaggerated tale. Except it's not. The situation is both dire and all too real. Bees are disappearing all over the planet and no one knows why.

Albert Einstein once said : "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Hey, maybe Albert Einstein was wrong...

there is a whole world out there!

I am extremely interested in this subject and try to follow it as best I can -- I hadn't seen anything written lately. Any word on when this film will come out? I just watched the trailer. :scared:

I love bees. This is so sad...