Hope in sight

A leading scientist predicts that what’s killing the bees nationwide will be known and alleviated very soon.

Honeybees across the nation are dying and disappearing at an alarming rate, due to a lethal disease called Colony Collapse Disorder.

This has government heads and scientists scrambling for solutions, as bees are vital to our agriculture and the economy.

Now the cause and remedy for CCD is in sight.

“I’d say we are within four years of having the main causes understood,” predicted Dr. Keith Delaplane, professor of entomology at the University of Georgia.

Discovering the cause of this deadly disease and alleviating it is “a major thing,” he said. It’s “not to be understated.”

 

Massive effort

Dr. Delaplane was awarded a $4.1 million grant from the USDA, and leads a “massive coordinated” team of 19 scientists from 17 institutions across the US to combat the ill effects of CCD.

With this money and manpower, he is confident that within four years his researchers will have “a real good handle on the factors affecting CCD.”

 

Cure vs. management

Help for the bees won’t come as a cure-all, like antibiotics. The solution will be like “preventive health care, rather than cure-based health care,” Dr. Delaplane said. It is preventing health problems before they occur

This research will also produce new “honeybee genetics,” stronger bees that can fight the effects of CCD.

“We’re going to have genetic-resistant stocks identified and ready for the beekeeping industry to adopt,” he said. “That’s a crucial component”

All of this will be done in four years or less. The federal government thinks less.

 

Tighter timeline

“I’d like to give it a tighter timeline,” said Dr. Jeffery Pettis, lead bee researcher at the US Department of Agriculture. “We’re working heavily on a number of fronts.”

Officials in Washington are demanding an end to this war.

“We get this from Congress…what are you doing?” said Dr. Pettis. “Well, we’re doing quite a lot.”

There’s no exact date of victory, but “I’m more optimistic than the four-year time line,” he said. “There are some new studies that will be coming on line in the coming year.”

What brings this hope and excitement on defeating CCD is the “coordinated effort” and “new additional funding” said Dr. Pettis.

The ultimate victory in this battle may be in four years—or less.

 

Not soon enough

But some fear that is not soon enough.

 “I don’t think the beekeepers can wait four years,” said Dr. Pettis. “When they have back to back years of 40 to 60 percent losses, they need answers now.”

If this trend continues, “the biggest threat is beekeepers going out of business,” said Dr. Pettis. Beekeeping is not the kind of business anyone can step into and take over. It’s not like writing “cook books.”

 

Hope alive

The outlook is questionable. But there is hope.

Beekeepers “are a resilient lot,” said Joe Traynor, beekeeper, author and owner of Scientific Ag. Company. “I don’t see a problem that way.”

 Traynor brokers 35,000 hives for pollination in orchard fields. “It’s just a tiny fraction of over a million colonies that are rented for almonds,” he said.

Beekeepers are hanging on, waiting for answers. But researchers already know the leading suspect of CCD.

 

Varroa #1 enemy

“Varroa is still basically our number one problem,” said Dr. Pettis. “The impacts like viruses and things like that are offshoots of having Varroa in our colonies.”

Varroa mites are a parasite that attach themselves to bees in the hive and then sucks their blood and spreads viruses in the bee’s body. A large infestation can kill a whole colony.

  To battle Varroa mites, beekeepers annually put harsh chemicals into the hives. The toxins are designed to kill mites, not bees. But these contaminant treatments may be aiding the CCD problem.

 

Toxic chemicals

Since the 1980s beekeepers have used EPA-approved toxins to kill pests. “And we have found in those 20 years that chemicals and bees are a really bad mix,” said Dr. Delaplane. “It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure that out.”

For two decades “we have assumed that the benefit from treating Varroa mites exceeds the risk to the bees,” he said. “Well, a lot of us now are questioning that.”

Honey is also on the table. Researchers are looking at what the bees eat.

The idea is the chemicals beekeepers put into the hives, and the bees get while foraging in fields sprayed with pesticides, gets into the bee’s honey supply and is making them sick.

“We are studying the possibility that honey consumed during the winter may be a contributing factor in the death of some CCD colonies,” said via email Dr. Nancy Ostiguy, associate professor of entomology at Penn State University.

 

Honey for humans safe

Whether or not toxins in the bee’s honey are adversely affecting them is one thing. Another important point is the honey people eat is safe.

Honey is “safe” for humans said Dr. Pettis. “All the testing that we’ve done, and the National Honey Board and others, seems to bear that out.”

And the agricultural reality is, chemicals are exposed to all our foods—even honey.

“The fact is, every bite that we eat in modern food production has some detectable level of chemical in it,” Dr. Delaplane said. But that is no cause for: “Mayday! Mayday!”

He said a grain of perspective is in order. We’re talking parts per billion.

“You can take one grain of arsenic and drop it in an Olympic-size pool…and drink that water and not die.” It gets to “a point of dilution that it no longer has any biological meaning” be it in water or honey.

Industry producers and watchdogs keep a keen eye on honey.

Honey producers “are not going to sell something that they are worried about,” said Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine. “They don’t want any surprises in Honey Nut Cheerios.”

(Wayne Anderson, TheAndersonReport.com)