"Nicotine Bees
The home garden supplier, Yates, advertises a handy spray-can of pesticide as ‘low toxic to beneficial insects’ and ‘soft on beneficial insects’. Lies. The pesticide is extremely toxic to the world’s most beneficial insect, the honey bee – a nerve poison 7000 times more lethal than DDT. The pesticide (Confidor) contains nicotine-based poisons which are now banned in France, Italy, Germany, and Slovenia, because of links to massive bee deaths."
Read the article from Raymond Huber here.
Monday, June 27, 2011
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6 comments:
I read recently that every third bite of food we make is dependent on pollination...and given their frightening decline in numbers of late surely we should be cosseting them! Scary shit.
Keep bees ...safe!
We've two hives. I'm concerned at the use of nicotinoids and of the approach of varroa and of the lost of wild spaces where flowering plants grow and of the clover crops through the incoming weevil - so you see, the fate of the bees concerns me greatly. I'm pushing alternative pollinators as hard as I can every where I go but honey bees are king (or queen).
Bumblebees though, are delightful too. There are ways to make your palce attractive to them.
Plant for the bees and their cousins and plant lots!
Not to mention the 'dumbing-down' effect it has on humans; "this insect poison says its safe for insects, sweet"
Yeah Bio - like lead. Not a brain food.
I'm wading into dangerous territroy here....
As a commercerial user of confidor for the control of aphids I appriciate the effects this product (and others along the same line)has on harmless insects.
Therefore we are using it in a manner we as growers deem safe and as less harmful as possible for insects such as bees.
So if we are misusing thistype of products the wider community will have something to say about it and rightly so so why are "saturday afternoon gardeners" be able to uy this off the shelf and use the product without any form of awareness or training in the effects of it?
p.s. Robert, will I see you tonight at the forum?
Hey dutchie - your industry really needs to address this issue and I'm guessing you're the guy to take it to them. The evidence seems compelling. As to the 'backyard gardener' and their access-to and use of the chemical, you'll know I'm totally opposed to its use and to its sale anywhere. Yates need to be made aware of our concerns and I'm going to do something about this, somehow.
I will be seeing you at the BG evening tonight and it'll be fun to catch up.
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