How Do Pesticides Affect Honey Bees

There is always opposition to pesticides because of the harm that it can cause on the environment and the animals alike. Pesticides though have saved a lot of hard work for farmers over the past couple of decades because it does all the dirty work, for example, the killing of weeds and other pests. Pesticides have also saved a lot of money for farmers by preventing pests from damaging crops or taking the nutrients and water supply away from crops. (Whitford, 7) In the future we need to start to find less toxic ways to prevent pests from attacking the crops and vegetation. This would prevent a lot of the other costs associated with pesticides for example, health costs for farmers that are exposed to the toxic chemicals or the killing of the habitats in the surrounding areas.

Also in the wild, honey bees usually live in one place at a time and have a winter break to store up their food. Farmers today travel their bees around the country to help grow and pollinate their crops. When they do this they take time away from the bees resting period and this causes bees to die. Pesticides, which kill certain plants, animals, and fungi, cause another reason for the bees deaths. Even though the pesticides do not mean to kill the bees, just a small dose can cause the bee to become immobilized.

The most affected creature are the bees that are coming into contact with the insecticide. The aerial spraying in North Carolina resulted in the death of millions of honeybees. The product used, Trump, which contains the pesticide Naled, is labeled to be highly toxic to bees. Many beekeepers were not warned about the aerial spraying which resulted in the loss of their colonies. Juanita Stanley stated: “Now, I 'm going to have to destroy my hives, the honey, all

Companies have known that their pesticides and fungicides could cause cancer and birth defects, but have still used them. These companies acted to gain money without any thought given to the people who they were harming. When some of these companies were accused of not stopping the use of the harmful agents, many settled, but not many admitted or felt any guilt for the actions that they took. Corporations have no feelings other than their drive to gain profits, and many companies harm people for their own personal

But, they are valuable when it comes to the relationship of human needs and desires. Example to this is explained with the example of penguins, where DDT was damaging penguins. Many crops were also sprayed with this pesticide so it was damaging animals and human’s nutrition and thus we were getting crops for cheaper. But after looking at this problem, DDT pesticide was being stopped and was replaced with another one.

The poisons such as DDT have the greatest affect on organisms at the top of food chains . for example , the white tailed eagle would have a greater concentration of DDT in its body than fish it feeds on . Top of the food chain large concentrations of DDT may kill organisms , decline its immune system , cause deformities , or damage its ability to reproduce . DDT can also weaken the shells of bird eggs. When eggs break too soon , bird embryos die .

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the USDA’s internal research agency is leading several efforts to find the cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, and ways to stop it. The ARS has been striving to enhance honey bee regulation and health as well by improving bee management practices and studying honey bee diseases, vectors, and how to control them. Plus, a number of Federal agencies and state departments of agriculture, private companies, and universities have all started to seek the source and treatment of Colony Collapse Disorder. This is not the first time that bee population has declined drastically. There have been several periods in recent history that bees have been documented to have severe population loss, the 1880’s, 1920’s, and 1960’s.

In recent years a relatively new family of pesticides called neonicotinoids has drawn particular fire; while studies of the chemicals have had a confusing mix of results, it seems clear that at certain doses, and in combination with other, standard plant treatments, neonicotinoids can be harmful or even deadly to bees.” (7) Pesticides and the Honey Bees have had a very long history beginning when they first started using them on crops to keep the bugs off. Global Research states: “...a type of insecticide called neonicotinoids, is known to cause acute and chronic poisoning not just of one bee, but the entire colony. Bees take the contaminated nectar and pollen spread through the plant’s DNA back to the hive, creating a highly toxic living environment for all the bees. Toxicity builds up destroying the Central Nervous System, causing further disorientation and bees ultimately can neither fly nor make it back to the nest.”

By doing this some of the consumers can be easy to catch a new disease or get even sickly with the pesticide and

On a warm summer afternoon, when walking down the street, through a garden, or just outside, it is a common occurrence to see a honey bee. They startle people as they confront them with buzzing suddenly around them. In similar cases, people only consider the bees a nuisance. These people consider them a danger because their potential to sting. Those who see these bees consider nothing more than just the bees and a colony.

Pesticides likewise are utilized to execute life forms that can result in infections. Most pesticides contain chemicals that can be destructive to

Many people argue that “the global bee population has remained remarkably stable since the widespread adoption of neonics in the late 1990s” (Entine), this is true on a global scale. It’s only in more local and industrial scenarios that neonicotinoids are being used, such as the United States which is a huge supporter of industrial agriculture. Many people believe that since the world’s bee population isn’t fluxuating that there isn’t a problem. But “since the introduction of neonicotinoid-containing pesticides, honey bee loss has reached a record high” (Shepherd). There is strong evidence to support the fact that neonicotinoids are damaging bees, but not a global scale.

At this time, there is little to no evidence that these pesticides are increasing yields from plants they are applied to. However, there has been evidence of the pesticides killing bees or causing damage to their nervous systems, which impedes their ability to forage and fly. Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health preformed a study which found that 70% of pollen and honey collected from local bees contained at least trace amounts of neonicotinoids. Levels found from these samples were enough to cause detrimental health effects. In a separate study, they found that over half of plants at a major garden store contained neonicotinoids.

shows that certain bees in fields with pesticide had lower reproduction and growth rate. Kessler et al. tested in a controlled laboratory where they looked at three pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam). Feeders contained neonicotinoid-treated sugar water or untreated solution. Their results showed that the worker bees did not avoid the neonicotinoid-treated sugar water,

The scientific solution to DDT’s damaging environmental effects was to ban it, and develop better, water-soluble chemicals to replace it. However, the newly developed chemicals, though good for residual insecticide, are not as long lasting (DDT lasts twice as long), effective (DDT does not kill most of the mosquitoes, but merely repels them, lowering the risk for insecticide resistance, or cheap as DDT, which is around 25% cheaper, other insecticides cost at least 200% more than DDT, the most 2300%, in a six month house control of insects (“Cost-comparison of DDT and alternative insecticides for malaria control”). The countries that need Malaria control are not wealthy; they cannot afford to constantly spray an expensive chemical 3, or 4 times