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<DIV><EM>Thanks to Chip Taylor for this from Kim Flottum's The Buzz</EM></DIV>
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From: chip@ku.edu<BR>To: Ladadams@aol.com<BR>Sent: 5/15/2012 5:08:08 A.M.
Pacific Daylight Time<BR>Subj: Fwd: CATCH THE BUZZ - Corn Planting Killing
Bees. Help Stop This Now.<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000
size=2 face=Arial>>Date: Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40:34 -0500<BR>>To:
<chip@ku.edu><BR>>From: Kim Flottum
<Kim@BeeCulture.com><BR>>Subject: CATCH THE BUZZ - Corn Planting
Killing Bees. Help Stop This Now.<BR>>X-Ezezine:
(1636.24385.4009)<BR>><BR>>This ezine is also available online at
<BR>><http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2012.05.11.14.40.archive.html>http://home.ezezine.com/1636/1636-2012.05.11.14.40.archive.html<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>CATCH
THE BUZZ<BR>><BR>>Corn Planting Drift is Killing Honey Bees. You Can
Help. Here's How.<BR>><BR>>The number of beekills this spring due to
<BR>>poisoning by pesticides has skyrocketed. In Ohio <BR>>just this
spring we have seen more beekills than <BR>>I can remember total in the
past 25 years <BR>>combined. Reports from many, many states have
<BR>>been coming into this office in the past couple <BR>>of weeks. At
first they seemed isolated and <BR>>unsupported. Beekeepers are wary of
reporting <BR>>incidents, and seldom sure of how to proceed or <BR>>what
to do.<BR>><BR>>The incidents this spring are not the symptoms
<BR>>reported commonly as Colony Collapse Disorder, <BR>>where bees
disappear and a beekeeper returns to <BR>>what had been a strong healthy
hive only weeks <BR>>before and what's left is simply lots of brood,
<BR>>a handful of young bees and a queenŠif anybody <BR>>is home at
all.<BR>><BR>>No, the incidents this spring are differentŠthey
<BR>>harken back to the days of massive beekills, <BR>>when plants in
bloom were sprayed on a routine <BR>>basis, when beekeepers would find
entire <BR>>apiaries wiped out, with pounds and pounds of <BR>>dead
bees, twisting, writhing and dying in front <BR>>of their hives. Piles of
dead, stinking bees <BR>>were common then, but with the advent of more
<BR>>restrictive regulations and safer-to-use <BR>>pesticides, much, but
not all, of that <BR>>death-by-pesticide era has gone
away.<BR>><BR>>Until now. This spring the ugly past has
<BR>>returned. We were warned though. Purdue <BR>>researchers saw this
problem last year and <BR>>brought it to everybody's attention. Then they
<BR>>looked deeper and further and saw that it wasn't <BR>>just a flook,
an accident, an anomaly, but <BR>>rather it has turned into an epidemic.
And they <BR>>brought that to our attention too.<BR>><BR>>Simply,
pesticides, those troublesome <BR>>neonicotinoids, are applied to corn
seeds before <BR>>they are planted so when the corn begins to grow
<BR>>the pesticide on the seed is absorbed by the new <BR>>roots and
fills the plant with poison for the <BR>>rest of its life. But the stuff is
sticky and <BR>>doesn't come out of the planters very well so
<BR>>farmers supply a slippery additive in the form <BR>>of talcum
powder to make those seeds, in <BR>>airblast seed planters, simply fly
right out of <BR>>the drop chute and into the ground. But there's
<BR>>the rub. That airblast planter is blowing all <BR>>that talcum
powder and loose pesticide dust <BR>>everywhereŠup into the air to travel
where ever <BR>>something as light weight as talcum powder can
<BR>>travelŠfeet and yards and yards certainly, maybe <BR>>milesŠnobody
knows.<BR>><BR>>But birds are dying. Robins and crows. And one
<BR>>observer says that wildlife eating the seeds are <BR>>dyingŠthree
seeds will kill a quail is what I'm <BR>>hearing, but I don't know for
sure. I wouldn't <BR>>be surprised. But for beekeepers, what's
<BR>>happening is that this poisonous dust is landing <BR>>on everything
downwindŠdandelions, flowers, <BR>>water surfaces, everywhere a honey bee
can go, <BR>>that's where this stuff is landing.<BR>><BR>>How much of
it is going airborne? I don't have a <BR>>clue, but every seed is coated
with it, and you <BR>>know how big corn seeds are and there are about
<BR>>30,000 seeds planted in an acreŠand there are, <BR>>this year,
96,000,000 acres of corn planted in <BR>>the U. S. And what I read is, is
that almost all <BR>>of those seeds are coated with something that
<BR>>protects the plants. Know how big 96,000,000 <BR>>acres isŠ.? It's
all of North Dakota and South <BR>>Dakota, combined. All of
that.<BR>><BR>>But of course all those acres are spread out all
<BR>>over the place. There are few places in this <BR>>country that are
not within drift distance from <BR>>these airborne poisons. Very, very few.
For <BR>>instanceŠNorth Dakota plans on 3.4 million acres <BR>>of corn
this yearŠthat's 5% of the entire state. <BR>>And recall, North Dakota is
the biggest honey <BR>>producer in the U. S. I'm thinking there's no
<BR>>place to hide in that large, very flat state.<BR>><BR>>If you
experience a beekill in your apiary this <BR>>spring DO NOT simply shrug
your shoulders and <BR>>feel there's nothing to be done. There is
<BR>>something to be done.<BR>><BR>>First, take picturesŠwith today's
newspaper <BR>>showing so you have a date. Get a witness in the
<BR>>photo so you have someone else to verify your <BR>>incident. Video
a person collecting samples and <BR>>filling to half a plastic bag and
sealing the <BR>>bag. Freeze the sample as soon as possible. Call
<BR>>you state apiary inspector and report the <BR>>incident. If your
state has a pesticide incident <BR>>reporting system in place, report it
there, too. <BR>>And tell the feds. There's two places to go.
<BR>>First, do a direct to EPA email. They have a <BR>>system in place
to document these when reported. <BR>>The email
is<BR>><BR>><mailto:beekill@EPA.gov>beekill@EPA.gov<BR>><BR>>Tell
them what, where and when you found the <BR>>incident, attach a couple of
photos of the <BR>>scene, record the number of hives affected, the
<BR>>date the incident occurred and any other <BR>>pertinent data you
can include. Tell them you <BR>>have taken samples, and that you have
reported <BR>>it to your state authorities. And tell them you <BR>>want
something done!<BR>><BR>>When you finish that, go to this web
site<BR>><BR>><http://npic.orst.edu/reportprob.html#env>http://npic.orst.edu/reportprob.html#env<BR>><BR>>the
National Pesticide Information Center's page <BR>>to report a pesticide
incident. And do it again.<BR>><BR>>And then, one more
thing.<BR>><BR>>Send this information to your local beekeeping
<BR>>group, and to your state beekeeping association <BR>>and tell them
to put it on their web page, to <BR>>send out emails, to put it in
newsletters, to <BR>>get every beekeeper in this country up to speed
<BR>>on what is killing our honey bees (heck, send it <BR>>to every
beekeeper you know and tell them to do <BR>>the same thing. Let EVERY
BEEKEEPER EVERYWHERE <BR>>KNOW!). This is something YOU CAN DO, whether
<BR>>you never, ever have a problem or not. Help <BR>>protect honey
bees, and beekeepers from this, <BR>>and any other Pesticide
Incident.<BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>><BR>>You
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