zeitgeist

Do beekeepers need more reassurance from government bodies in the US and UK?

Here are the main responses in US government reports to Cell phone radiation and CCD

“What are examples of topics that the CCD working group is not currently investigating?
GMO crops: Some GMO crops, specifically Bt Corn have been suggested as a potential cause
of CCD. While this possibility has not been ruled out, CCD symptoms do not fit what would be expected in Bt affected organisms. For this reason GMO crops are not a “top” priority at the moment.
Radiation transmitted by cell towers: The distribution of both affected and non-affected CCD apiaries does not make this a likely cause. Also cell phone service is not available in some areas
where affected commercial apiaries are located in the west. For this reason, it is currently not a top priority.”
From http://www.agr.state.il.us/programs/bees/CCD.pdf

This answer is completely different from the USDA(US department of Agriculture)
“What about cell phones—do they have anything to do with CCD?

The short answer is no.

There was a very small study done in Germany that looked at whether a particular type of base station for cordless phones could affect honey bee homing systems. But, despite all the attention that this study has received, it has nothing to do with CCD. Stefan Kimmel, the researcher who conducted the study and wrote the paper, recently e-mailed The Associated Press to say that there is “no link between our tiny little study and the CCD-phenomenon … anything else said or written is a lie.”

This latter reply was constructively questioned on EoE here.

This leaves the question of cell phone regions. What is not clear from my own studies
is this.
“1.Waggle dances of honey-bees Apis mellifera L ) were decoded to determine where
and how far the bees foraged during the blooming of heather (Calluna vulgaris L.)
in August 1996 using a hive located in Sheffield, UK, east of the heather moors. The
median distance foraged was 6·1 km, and the mean 5·5 km. Only 10% of the bees
foraged within 0·5 km of the hive whereas 50% went more than 6 km, 25% more than
7·5 km and 10% more than 9·5 km from the hive.”
University of Sheffield

Does the CCD working group’s dismissal of Cell phone radiation take the University of Sheffield’s work into account?

Maybe they could point out on the map which hives they mean.

Another question are the hive losses there typical CCD, is there no bees found in the hive other than queen bees and immature workers?

If I was a US beekeeper, I would want these questions answered, just to put my mind at rest.

In the UK,we have the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs saying, “There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK.”

However, have a look at this from their own minutes.
“One observer remarked on the
Bee-L list that there seems to be a
remarkable similarity between the
symptoms of CCD and those of “Ma-
rie Celeste Syndrome” in the UK.

He referenced an interesting and
comprehensive set of minutes of the
annual meeting of the Department of
Environment Food and Rural Affairs
(DEFRA) with beekeeping organiza-
tions dated 9 December 2005.

This
is a must read for anyone comparing
the European and U.S. beekeeping
situations.
In that document, a Mr. Craig
reported that beekeepers in Scotland
who had been treating Varroa-in-
fested colonies (usually with Apistan)
had been finding hives empty of bees,
but not winter stores.”

The Foundation of the Preservation of Honeybees

The minutes continue “Together with these unexplained colony losses (“Marie Celeste” syndrome)
there were failures in queen mating. These events were happening particularly in
oilseed rape growing areas. Whilst acknowledging that these could possibly be
explained by the effects of viruses, for which the varroa mite provides a vector, he was
concerned that we might be observing sub-lethal behavioural effects of systemic
insecticides such as Imidacloprid,”and  there is no  convincing reason yet to suggest that it might not be cell phone radiation  that is  “causing disorientation in the bees leading to an inability to return to the hive. ”   

The latter contrary to ”no evidence”  claim as ’bees disoreintation in not

returning to the hive’ is a major symptom of CCD.
proving the DEFRA ,by reference to their own minutes, statement false.(My emphasis in bold)