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<DIV> </DIV>This ezine is also available online at <A
title=http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.09.30.08.38.archive.html
href="http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.09.30.08.38.archive.html">http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2009.09.30.08.38.archive.html</A><BR><BR>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A name=1031708609114621916></A><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">This message brought to
you by </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
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style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Magazine Of American
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2009…Bee Culture Goes Digital! Watch for more information on Digital Bee
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<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT
face="Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, sans-serif" color=#ff0000 size=7>CATCH
THE BUZZ</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT
face="Lucida Sans Unicode, Lucida Grande, sans-serif" size=5>Years in the
making, Vanishing Of The Bees Debuts in UK Tommorow</FONT></SPAN>
<HR>
<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Protein feeding
pays off with better bee health, better survival, better production, and better
wintering. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
title=http://www.globalpatties.com/pages/why.html
href="http://www.globalpatties.com/pages/why.html"><SPAN
style="COLOR: purple">Learn More.</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN>
<P></P>
<P style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #29303b; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: red; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Find out What’s New At
Mann Lake right</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A
title=http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.html
href="http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catchthebuzz/index.html"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black">Here</SPAN></A> </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></P>
<P>by Alan Harman</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The world’s largest consumer-owned business calls
on the British government to commission research into the effects some
pesticides are having on honey bees.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The call by The Cooperative Ltd.
coincides with the launch of the feature film, Vanishing of the Bees, which
outlines the decline in the honey bee population</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The coop wants everyone who sees the
film to write to Environment Minister Hilary Benn MP urging him to fund research
into the neonicotinoid family of chemicals.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Some studies have linked these types
of pesticides to honey bee colony collapse.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The coop announced in January it was
was expanding its market-leading pesticide policy and prohibiting the use of all
eight of the neonicotinoid family of chemicals on its own-brand fresh
produce.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The banned pesticides are
Acetamiprid, Clothianidin, Dinotefuran, Fipronil, Imidacloprid, Nitenpyram,
Thiacloprid and Thiamethoxam.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> At the same time, it said it was
giving £150,000 ($241,480) for research into the decline of the honey bee, the
UK’s largest ever private donation for bee research.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Last spring the coop’s farms began a
three-year research project seeking to identify the optimal mix of wildflowers
that can be sown in field margins and on “set-aside” land to attract and support
honey bees.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The coop is the UK’s largest farmer
with more than 61,780 acres of land under management.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The coop’s head of social goals Paul
Monaghan says the alarming drop in the number of honey bees and in turn the
threat that has on our food supplies is very worrying and it is essential to
find out what is happening and quickly.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> “The finger of suspicion has been
pointed at some pesticides and in particular, the use of neonicotinoids,” he
says. “This family of chemicals has been linked to honey bee declines elsewhere
in Europe and that is why they have been restricted in Germany, France, Italy
and Slovenia. However, very little independent research into their effects on
bees has been carried out in the UK. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> “That is why we are calling for the
government, which earlier this year announced that it had put aside £10 million
($16 million) to be used on pollinator research, to carry out a systematic
review of the impact these pesticides are having on the well-being of honey
bees.”</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Vanishing of the Bees, the latest
film to be distributed by the coop is a new chapter in its Plan Bee campaign
designed to help halt the fall in the number of honey bees and raise awareness
of the issue. The film tells the story of the worldwide decline in bee
populations and explores the potential causes behind the losses.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> The coop, after the acquisition of
Somerfield supermarkets, is the world's largest consumer-owned business, with
more than 4.5 million members and 87,000 employees.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">. The food retail business is the
largest division of the coop. It directly operates more than 2,200 stores of
various sizes with the biggest geographical spread of any retailer.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> Filmmakers George Langworthy and
Maryam Henein say they were drawn to make the documentary because it
encapsulates grand issues about ecology, agriculture, economy and politics in a
mystery about the amazing little honey bee.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> “Beekeepers and scientists are
fascinating people and we really have been blessed with such generous access to
their homes, their travels, their laboratories and their innermost thoughts and
feelings,” they say.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<P> To find out more about this film and the film makers go visit their web
page <A title=http://vanishingbees.co.uk/
href="http://vanishingbees.co.uk/"><FONT color=#800080>here</FONT></A>
</P></SPAN></SPAN>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face="Gill Sans MT" size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>Laurie Davies Adams<BR>Executive
Director<BR><B>Pollinator Partnership </B><BR>423 Washington Street, 5th
floor<BR>San Francisco, CA
94111<BR>415-362-1137<BR>LDA@pollinator.org</FONT><FONT lang=0 face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#0000ff size=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="14"><B><A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></B></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B><BR><A
href="http://www.nappc.org/">www.nappc.org</A><BR><BR></FONT><FONT lang=0
face="Gill Sans MT" color=#000000 size=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="12"><B><I>National Pollinator Week is June 21-27, 2010. <BR>Beecome
involved at <A
href="http://www.pollinator.org/">www.pollinator.org</A></I></FONT></B></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>