No ORGANIC Bee losses

Go organic !!

Posted: Tue 08 May, 2007

This is why the bee hives are dying throughout every region in the world where GM crops are being grown. Genetically modified contamination = dead bee hives


GM crop taints honey two miles away, test reveals

The Sunday Times, September 15, 2002
[link to www.timesonline.co.uk] [you have to register for Times' sites]

EVIDENCE that genetically modified (GM) crops can contaminate food supplies for miles around has been revealed in independent tests commissioned by The Sunday Times.

The tests found alien GM material in honey from beehives two miles from a site where GM crops were being grown under government supervision. It is believed to have been carried there by bees gathering pollen in the GM test sites.

The disclosure, showing that GM organisms can enter the food chain without consumers — or even farmers — knowing they are present, will undermine assurances by Tony Blair and ministers that such crops can be tested in Britain without contaminating the food chain.

The test results come as ministers, under pressure from the American agrochemical lobby, mount a huge consultation exercise to persuade the public of the virtues of GM foods. They have previously given assurances that consumers “are not being used as guinea pigs”.

The GM material was found in honey sold from farmer David Rolfe’s hives at Newport-on-Tay in Fife, almost two miles from one of 18 sites holding trials of GM oil-seed rape.

A test carried out by GeneScan, a respected independent laboratory in Bremen, Germany, checked for traces of an NOS terminator, one of four modified genes which make the crop resistant to pesticides. This proved positive.

A second test confirmed that GM material in the honey could have come only from oil- seed rape grown at Wester Friarton, in Newport-on-Tay, by Aventis, one of the world’s biggest biotechnology firms. The fact that the GM material travelled such a distance makes a mockery of the government’s 50m-200m crop-free “buffer” zones that were created around GM sites to protect neighbouring farms. Critics have claimed that the GM crop trial sites are too close to other farms. America has buffer zones of up to 400m, Canada up to 800m, and the European Union recommends a 5km (three-mile) zone for GM oilseed rape.

When Rolfe first raised his concerns, government officials said that although it was not possible to rule out cross-pollination, they did not believe it should be “a source of concern”.

“I’m very angry and disappointed,” Rolfe said last week. “I feel I’ve been denied the right and freedom to eat my own GM-free produce. Now we can’t eat the honey or sell it.”

This weekend Defra, the ministry responsible for the crop trials, said: “We have not seen the results of the study but will treat any such findings extremely seriously.”

In the case of GM rape, like most GM products, there is no evidence that contamination poses a health risk. Concern centres on maintaining the integrity of traditionally produced products.

Tim Lang, professor of food policy at Thames Valley University, said: “The early assurances from the industry and the government that a buffer zone would allow safety and choice for consumers are falling apart. It raises environmental health worries, and what we don’t yet know is whether these warnings will translate into a risk to human health.”

Britain has imposed a moratorium on the widespread planting of GM crops until it has analysed the impact of GM crop trials at 18 farm-scale sites around Britain.

However, The Sunday Times’s tests confirm earlier work that was carried by Friends of the Earth, the environmental group, and will increase pressure on the government to scale down its support for the GM industry.

It will also come as a personal setback to Blair, who is determined that British companies will win a share of the potentially lucrative bioscience industry. In May the prime minister attacked GM protesters as part of an “anti-science fashion” in Britain.

The tests will bring pressure on Aventis, which was accused of a “serious breach” of regulations earlier this year after GM trials in 12 sites were contaminated with antibiotic genes. These are controversial because of the danger of gene transfer to bacteria in animals and humans, who could become immune to common life- saving antibiotics.

While the government tends to support the GM lobby, food retailers have been more cautious. The big supermarkets insist that such products are properly labelled and refuse to take honey from within six miles of UK test sites.

In Canada, a leading cultivator of GM crops, sales of honey have plummeted by 50% amid concern that the integrity of the product has been compromised.

A spokesmen for Aventis said: “We would be very interested in looking at both the origin of the honey sample and how the tests were carried out. We would like to look at this further

Source: Norfolk Genetic Information Network (ngin),
[link to www.ngin.org.uk]


SEE ALSO [link to worldvisionportal.org]

[link to worldvisionportal.org]

I started to make half of my food purchases organic a few months ago (on very limited fixed income). The amount of energy I have & how much better I feel is quite noticeable. Now about 3/4 of my food purchases are organic. It costs a little bit more, but it is well worth it. If its good for the bees imagine what it can do for you.

In an indirect sense, buying organic (any amount), can help save the bees.

Not only they contaminate our food with pesticides and genetically altered produce, they made the bees grow LARGER! conpletely UNNATURAL! why the heck are they SURPRISE! we need to go back to basics if we want to try to fix this mess! dont be quiet, voice your concern and try to buy organic! go to your nearest family home grown market,help them ,help us,help the bees.peace.

Going organic is wonderful, and I recommend it, but make certain that your organic foods are not from GM seed stock.

I wonder how the bees that pollinate organic crops fare? I have a feeling it has to do with pesticides. Really why is it so important to have a green lawn, and to kill every single weed? Why doesn everybody have to be so narcissistic? It's going to kill them in the end (The narcissistic need to be more special than anybody else).

Are birds dying from GM seed too or is it just a coincidence that they are dropping out of the sky at the same time bees are disappearing?

good Q.

the FDA needs need some house keeping, fuc* the corporatist that thought we could use modified food without through testing, that is why we have testing procedures in the first place......

Very comforting post. Thank you AC.

yep

Care to point to an INORGANIC bee?

.........> INORGANIC bee The Commentator <............

hee hee...inorganic Bee---- [link to www.musclecarclub.com]

har

organic... or move to Mex... we have this cute bazzars on st where people bring their good from their own ranch and plantations ...not the big multinational procesed food of USA

My neighbors apple tree was just buzzing with little bees (we are in Colorado front range). Perhaps the little guys just got smart and escaped from Alcatraz...

I hear they're taking their fight to City Hall

It's true, food production in the US has gone from bazar to bizarre. The agricultural and distribution system in the US can't be very efficient, economical or healthy.

In the produce section of every grocery store in the US you'll see fruit from countries thousands of miles away, picked unripe and then frozen. It will never ripen, it will never be edible. What's the point in this trade?

My bees are organic and they are fine so far.

Glad to hear this for sure!!! Thanks for the post!

Globally a substantial portion of land now is farmed organically (an area about the size of two Texas's... globally). Still much more room for improvement, but organic farming is growing rapidly, and that's very good news for the environment, and for people's health.

1. Go organic.

2. Use absolutely no genetically modified seed or stock.

3. Buy and sell from local producers who utilize 1 and 2 exclusively.

4. Learn to eat local seasonal foods when they are in season. If you want fancy, grow your own.

organic is the natural way

More retailers are offering organically grown cotton products... cotton being one of the most pesticided crops, that goes a long way to reversing some of the damage chemical farming has done. Maybe the bees, frogs and us humans will begin to see the tide turn within a decade if not sooner. Had we continued blindly on the previous path, mass extinctions may have been a common early 21st century occurence.

Much has been done, but much more is needed.

some of the bees have gone to protest at city hall [link to www.godlikeproductions.com]

Has anyone mentioned the savings in gas?? Which saves the environment, or even better when buying locally? Much WIN WIN here . .

Bump...lol...trying to find my first post.

why!? who does this?!

It's bee season here since the cherries are in full blossom. Plus bees have been in the news as of late. ANd bees rock. Due to cross border restrictions, the importation of bees which are vital to the Canadian economy, is being hindered. It's never a wrong time to ponder the humble bee. In fact, it might be a good time to start looking at hosting your own.


If you don't remember who you were, you probally have no idea where you are going. Good enough for you AC?

Last Edited by The Oddity on 04/12/2021 09:59 PM