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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/29/news/honeybees</span></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<h1><b><font size=6 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>The
mysterious deaths of the honeybees<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>Honeybee
colony collapse drives price of honey higher and threatens fruit and
vegetable production.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>By CNN's Amy Sahba<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>March 29 2007: 5:16 PM EDT<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>WASHINGTON
(CNN) -- Beekeepers throughout the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> have been losing
between 50 and 90 percent of their honeybees over the past six months,
perplexing scientists, driving honey prices higher and threatening fruit and
vegetable production.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At a
House Agricultural Subcommittee hearing in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Washington</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">D.C.</st1:State></st1:place>
today, members of various organizations came together to share their concerns
about what they have been calling the "Colony Collapse Disorder,"
or CCD.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Beginning
in October 2006, beekeepers from 24 states reported that hundreds of
thousands of their bees were dying and their colonies were being decimated.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
December 2006 beekeepers associations, scientists and officials formed the
CCD working group, in hopes to identify the cause and solve the problem of
CCD.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Most of
the beekeepers who have recently reported heavy losses associated with CCD
are large commercial migratory beekeepers, some of who are losing 50 to 90
percent of their colonies.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Moreover,
surviving colonies are often so weak that they are not viable pollinating or
honey producing units. Losses have been reported in migratory operations in <st1:State
w:st="on">California</st1:State>, <st1:State w:st="on">Florida</st1:State>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Oklahoma</st1:State> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>,
but in February some larger non-migratory beekeepers, particularly from the
mid-Atlantic region and the Pacific Northeast reported significant losses of
more than 50 percent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Testifying
in front of the committee this morning, Caird E. Rexroad, from the
Agricultural Research Service, said that although they have a variety of
theories as to what might be causing CCD, they believe stress on the bees
might be the major motive.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"We
believe that some form of stress may be suppressing immune systems of bees,
ultimately contributing to CCD." The main four types of stresses that
Rexroad identified were migratory stresses, mites, pathogens and pesticides.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>According
to the National Agricultural Statistic Service, honey production declined by
11 percent in 2006, and honey prices per pound increased 14 percent, from
91.8 cents in 2005 to 104.2 cents in 2006. Daren Jantzy, with the National
Agricultural Statistics Service, told CNN that these statistics are based on
numbers collected mostly before the true impact of CCD was noted. Its impact
will be more noticeable when the 2007 statistics are collected.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>And the
impact goes far beyond direct bee products, like honey and wax. Three
quarters of the worlds 250,000 flowering plants - including many fruits and
vegetables - require pollination to reproduce.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Dr. May
R. Berenbaum, head of the Department of Entomology at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> of <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Illinois</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
believes the economic impact of the decline in bees could be disastrous.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>"Though
economists differ in calculating the exact dollar value of honeybee
pollination, virtually all estimates range in the billions of dollars,"
she told representatives at the House hearing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>But
this is not a new problem. Over the past two decades concern has risen around
the world about the decline of pollinators of all descriptions. During this
period in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the honeybee, the world's premier
pollinator, experienced a dramatic 40 percent decline, from nearly six
million to less than two and a half million.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In
2005, for the first time in 85 years, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> was forced to
import honeybees in order to meet its pollination demands. Berenbaum says
that "if honeybees numbers continued to decline at the rates documented
from 1989 to 1996, managed honeybees in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region> will cease to exist in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
by 2035."<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span class=fonttitle><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
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