No bees, no food

There is a catastrophe facing humanity, staring us in the face, but we have our eyes closed. No, it is not nuclear war, not financial collapse, not a totalitarian world order. It is famine caused by ecological disruption.

“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” — Albert Einstein

“One out of every three bites of food that we consume is due to the work of honeybees, serving as crucial pollinators in agriculture and farming communities. Yet agriculture and food production may be severely impacted by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a trend documented in honey bee colonies and prominently featured in a New York Times story (1). Beekeepers are reporting estimates as high as 80% loss of their honey bee colonies. Such a huge loss of the services of bees is extremely serious and beekeepers report it’s a growing trend.” — Sierra Club

Since 2007 there has been growing concern about the worrying problem of honey bees dying off. There has been much speculation, but few answers, about the cause. One explanation however does stand out and has some vociferous proponents.

It is being widely suggested now that bee problems in North America and Europe are directly related to the planting of genetically modified plants that have embedded DNA from a bacteria called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt for short) — notably GM corn, soy, canola (rapeseed) and cotton.

Bt engineered plants are designed to kill caterpillars and larvae of all sorts. So Bt kills butterflies (which was its original use) and moths. It kills mosquitoes and caddisflies. And it kills many other things. What it does not kill directly it kills indirectly by damaging the digestive system, immune system, and/or causing general health problems.

“It has been reported that exposure to corn pollen containing genes for Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) production may weaken the bees’ defense against Nosema[5]. In this study, it is stated that in relation to feeding a group of bees with Bt corn pollen and a control group with non-Bt corn pollen, that: “in the first year the bee colonies happened to be infested with parasites (microsporidia). This infestation led to a reduction in the number of bees and subsequently to reduced broods in the Bt-fed colonies as well as in the colonies fed on Bt-toxin-free pollen. The trial was therefore discontinued at an early stage.This effect was significantly more marked in the Bt-fed colonies. (The significant differences indicate an interaction of toxin and pathogen on the epithelial cells of the honeybee intestine. The underlying mechanism which causes this effect is unknown.)” — Wikipedia – Diseases of the Honey Bee

There is so much information on the web about Bt causing the disappearance of honeybees, that I practically don’t need to write this article. Just google “bt kills bees” and you will get more information that I could ever write.

There are also stories from India that the growing of Bt cotton is killing off soil bacteria at an alarming rate. This is not very surprising, considering that Bt endotoxins kill so many things. For details Google “bt cotton kills soil“.

See also:
• Bt Cotton: weaving a web of infertility
• Monsanto’s Bt Cotton Kills the Soil as Well as Farmers

All of the above is about the effect of Bt DNA that has been engineered by Monsanto into plants. What has not been noticed much is the effect of Bt when it is released into the environment as live bacteria and spores.

Of particular interest is a recent realization that plant material from Bt engineered corn, when washed into bodies of water, causes damage to aquatic ecosystems. It does what Bt spraying for West Nile virus does. What this suggests is that Bt in the wild and Bt endotoxins from genetically engineered plants constitute one and the same problem.

Over the past decade, as there has been a huge increase in the acreage of GMO crops grown (especially corn, soy, rapeseed and cotton), there has also been an exponential increase in the use of Bt larviciding for mosquito control, mainly in an effort to control West Nile virus. But very little effort has gone into studying the potential dangers of such a bacterial insecticide. Bt is presumed to be ’safe’ because it is a naturally occurring soil baterium — originally rare but now common.

But Bt is not safe for humans. It is closely related to Bacillus anthracis, the cause of anthrax. It causes similar, though less severe, symptoms in humans.

Bt is almost as indestructible as B. anthracis. It colonizes soils and cannot be eliminated. And its endotoxins kill soil bacteria. Once it takes over an area of soil that soil ecosystem will be destroyed — the soil will die.

So spraying Bt for a trivial health risk like West Nile virus not only puts human health at risk, but has a far more serious consequence — the elimination of places for humans to grow food and the elimination of pollinating insects, without which agriculture is an exercise in futility.

Given the serious impact of Bt on both soils and pollinators, it becomes painfully obvious that if we do not immediately eliminate both these genetically engineered crops and Bt spraying, humanity will almost certainly face massive famines in just a few short years.

In other words, this is not a trivial concern. It is of overriding importance to everyone.

CVNews related links:

• Documentary: The World According To Monsanto
• Google search: “bt kills bees“
• If Bees Disappear, We’ll All Be Stung
• Monsanto, are you Killing Our Bees?
• Link Between Disappearing Bees and GM Crops?
• European Bees Also Taking a Nosedive – Perhaps GM Crops?
• Could genetically modified crops be killing bees?
• Ecological Apocalypse: Why Are All The Bees Dying?
• Bees dying possible cause
• GE and bee Colony Collapse Disorder — science needed!