Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumUS rejects EU claim of insecticide as prime reason for bee colony collapse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/02/us-bee-report-pesticide-euResearchers said it was not clear whether a certain class of pesticides was a major cause of the bee collapse.. Photograph: Julian Stratenschulte/EPA
A government report blamed a combination of factors for the disappearance of America's honeybees on Thursday and did not join Europe in singling out pesticides as a prime suspect.
The report, by the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency, blamed a parasitic mite, viruses, bacteria, poor nutritions and genetics as well as pesticides for the rapid decline of honey bees since 2006.
Researchers said it was not clear whether a certain class of pesticides was a major cause of the colony collapse.
Environmental groups described the lapse as a missed opportunity to respond swiftly to a situation that has decimated the country's bee population.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)will say anything its corporate masters order it to say.
Heaven forbid anything should happen to the profits of the pesticide manufacturers.
prairierose
(2,145 posts)when the bees in Europe have recovered enough to measure and more bees are dead here?
chervilant
(8,267 posts)And, the MSM water carriers for the makers of the neonicotinoids are trumpeting these "findings" to the gullible sheeple, hoping to avert a ban on these deadly chemicals. Since honeybees are the primary pollinators of our ecosystem, you'd think these foolish "researchers" would put out an honest report!
Nihil
(13,508 posts)"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
> Environmental groups described the lapse as a missed opportunity
Yet another one to add to the list. With the frequency (and impact) of them,
one would almost think that such "missed opportunities" were a desired goal
of the Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency.