THIS is a re-posting of an article added on here back in 2009, but it ties in with one that has been recently released by the Mercola site.

The Tragic Mistake That Now Threatens 1 Out of Every 3 Bites You Eat

This NEEDS passing on and letting everyone know….but yet again big business, big agri and big pharma are all so blind to what happens…

I wonder how many people saw Country File yesterday (19/04/09)? I missed it but was given the heads up and just watched it – about bees dying in their millions…..The original culprit was thought to be the veroa mite. The mite is a parasite that can cause real problems – although it’s been around for thousands of years and bees have always survived.

That clip may well not be available now – unfortunately. However, the new culprit? It’s now considered that a pesticide made with Neonicotinoids is the menace:
New research by Prof. Vincenzo Girolami of the University of Padova in Italy shows Neonicotinoids in maize kill bees via water droplets.

Highly toxic neo-nicotinoid insecticides such as Clothianidin and Imidacloprid were permitted for agricultural use in Germany, but only on the basis that bees would not be exposed to these substances. It was argued that bees would not be poisoned because these pesticides would only be used for the coating of seeds – and safely buried underground. However, current research in the wake of the massive bee deaths in Germany after maize-sowing in the spring of 2008 gives serious cause for concern.

The investigation by Country File’s John Craven took him to talk to John Shearlock of the Co-OP. The Co-OP is one of the UK’s biggest farmers and they have taken steps to ban the neonicotinoids – “there is a good scientific body of evidence which implicates these in bee losses in Europe and world wide”
John Craven responded “But they are legal in this country aren’t they?”
“They are legal that’s absolutely true, however in countries such as France, Germany and Slovenia there are bans and restrictions in place; he US environmental protection agency for example has classified some of them as highly toxic to bees.”

This is a really important story and is already out in another story on the net…

Will our government actually listen to a story like this and follow the example of France, Germany and Slovenia??

Unfortunately it’s probably like the Global warming issue – wait until the seas are boiling and “oh dear, maybe we should do something??”

I guess this will only be on the net iPlayer for a week. If you get a chance – go have a look at the full story. I actually downloaded the programme into the IPlayer. Excellent piece of kit!! Means you can catch up on all sorts of stuff!