Are GM Crops Killing Bees ?

Well, something strange is happening in the United States. This time it is happening to honey bees. Reports point out to a strange phenomenon that is not only sweeping across the US but is also being witnessed in Germany. Honey bees are abandoning their hives, and are dying. This has left not only the scientists baffled but also worried.

Is this because of GM crops ?

This is the right time to examine the implications of GM crops, and this is also the right time for the educated and elite to understand that playing with nature can be disastrous -- not only for the bees but also for the human being.


COLLAPSING COLONIES :
Are GM Crops Killing Bees ? By Gunther Latsch, Der Spiegel (edited) -
The problem, says Haefeker, has a number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers with herbicides and practicing monoculture.
Another possible cause, according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic engineering in agriculture. As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht ( Critical Agricultural Report ) with an Albert Einstein quote : "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."

Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically modified plants in the US could be a factor.

FROM THE MAGAZINE - The scientists are also surprised that bees and other insects usually leave the abandoned hives untouched. Nearby bee populations or parasites would normally raid the honey and pollen stores of colonies that have died for other reasons, such as excessive winter cold. "This suggests that there is something toxic in the colony itself which is repelling them," says Cox-Foster. Walter Haefeker, the German beekeeping official, speculates that "besides a number of other factors," the fact that genetically modified, insect-resistant plants are now used in 40 percent of cornfields in the United States could be playing a role. The figure is much lower in Germany -- only 0.06 percent -- and most of that occurs in the eastern states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg. Haefeker recently sent a researcher at the CCD Working Group some data from a bee study that he has long felt shows a possible connection between genetic engineering and diseases in bees.

The study in question is a small research project conducted at the University of Jena from 2001 to 2004. The researchers examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called "Bt corn" on bees. A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn that enabled the plant to produce an agent that is toxic to insect pests. The study concluded that there was no evidence of a "toxic effect of Bt corn on healthy honeybee populations." But when, by sheer chance, the bees used in the experiments were infested with a parasite, something eerie happened.
According to the Jena study, a "significantly stronger decline in the number of bees" occurred among the insects that had been fed a highly concentrated Bt poison feed. According to Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a professor at the University of Halle in eastern Germany and the director of the study, the bacterial toxin in the genetically modified corn may have "altered the surface of the bee's intestines, sufficiently weakening the bees to allow the parasites to gain entry -- or perhaps it was the other way around. We don't know."

Of course, the concentration of the toxin was ten times higher in the experiments than in normal Bt corn pollen. In addition, the bee feed was administered over a relatively lengthy six-week period. Kaatz would have preferred to continue studying the phenomenon but lacked the necessary funding. "Those who have the money are not interested in this sort of research," says the professor, "and those who are interested don't have the money."

WTO - DeathKnell for Indian Farmers

Devinder Sharma, the noted Indian food policy expert has termed the ongoing WTO negotiations and Congress participation as a deathknell for Indian farmers.

People's Power Assertion - Karnataka

Karnataka hosted a 35,000 strong people's meeting comprising farmers, women and dalits.

The meeting "People's Power Assertion" was organised by Nagarika Seva Trust along with a few other NGOs/groups and peoples' movements.

The event took place on Feb 25 at Guruvayanakere, about 70 kms from Mangalore

Trade or Perish

Thanks Devinder for starting a discussion on this very important issue.
In this period of ' Trade or Perish ' I like to quote from Gandhi ( although our politicians and planners have forgotten him).
Gandhi believed that whatever is made or produced in a village must be used first and foremost by the people in the village itself. Trading should only be in what is surplus and in exchange for things that can not be produced in that village.
Today the rulers of this country force on the people just the opposite. They do not want us to produce what is needed here and they want us to produce what is needed elsewhere and this they call development!
Even while I write this farmers in this country continue to commit suicide because of this wrong policy and the associated technology. Now we hear that Reliance has started procuring agriculture products from farmers in Wayanad at prices higher than the market price! which they will sell to the IT professionals in Bangalore through their retail shop.
Apart from the private money lenders, banks and other financial agencies, these neo rich kings will take the life out of our farmers in the coming days and to facilitate this process they are getting certified officers from the public sector itself.

I would like to draw some parallels here.
While the Kerala Government is undecided on waiving of farmerss' loans they have decided yesterday to waive 60crore rupees which the Kerala Agriculture University had to give back to the government. This money was paid to the scientists of KAU in the nineties even before the government approved the UGC scale to them.
Later it was found out by the auditor and asked the university to pay back the money and the scientists were really angry about this 'injustice' done to them.
Government did bow before their strength and once again the farmers have been failed.

--- Usha S, Thanal, Kerala.