A colony’s collapse
Local beekeepers help find a link between honey bee deaths and major pesticide
by
Barbara Taormina
During the break at the Worcester County Beekeepers Association’s Bee School, a seven-week course on beekeeping held in an amphitheater deep inside the maze that is UMass Medical School, Richard Callahan munches on a chocolate-chip cookie and talks bees.
As a retired entomologist, Callahan has a scientist’s affection for facts. He doesn’t speculate much, he just tells you politely what he’s observed, and what he’s learned. Callahan doesn’t look like a guy who is warming up to drop kick one of the world’s largest chemical corporations, but it could happen.
(PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeper
Ken Warchol creates smoke near honeybee hives at Harvard University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
Callahan and fellow Worcester County beekeeper Ken Warchol have been working with Chensheng (Alex) Lu, professor of environmental exposure biology at Harvard’s School of Public Health, on a study on colony collapse disorder, or CCD, the name used to describe the ongoing worldwide die off of honey bees.
Since 2006, North American beekeepers have been losing huge numbers of bee hives to CCD. Estimates of those losses range from 30 to 90 percent of hives.
In cases of CCD, bees don’t roll over and die. Worker bees abandon their hives, leaving the queen and brood unprotected and uncared for as they fly out to their deaths.
CCD represents a stunning break in the behavioral pattern of an insect of which every other nanosecond of life is genetically programmed with aweinspiring precision. And it’s been deeply troubling for beekeepers and others who respect and revere this insect.
But CCD is really everyone’s worry, even people who aren’t fascinated by bees and those who choose processed sugar over honey every time.
(PHOTO: Ken Warchol lectures at the Worcester County Beekeepers Association's Bee School. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
As Lu mentioned to the Worcester Beekeepers last February when he presented the results of the study to the group, honey bees are responsible for the pollination of more than 100 different food crops. Fewer and fewer bees means thinner and thinner yields of all sorts of fruits, vegetables, nuts and livestock feed.
“Around here, you’re talking about apples, blueberries and cranberries,” says Norman Mercier, president of the Worcester Beekeepers Association. “Some commercial farmers have gone out of business because of CCD.”
People have different ideas on what’s causing the collapse of honey bee hives. Some research has targeted mites, other studies have blamed fungus, and some suspect malnutrition, weakened immune systems and other types of stress.
But Lu, Callahan and Warchol are part of a growing group of researchers who have linked CCD to imidacloprid, one of the most commonly used pesticides in commercial agriculture, back-yard gardens, lawns and landscaping.
And while they weren’t surprised to find a convincing link between CCD and imidacloprid, what did catch them a little off guard was the way it worked.
“We used such a small amount,” explains Callahan. “It was a half milligram over a nine-week period.
Lu, Callahan and Warchol set up five hives in four different locations, including Warchol’s home in Northbridge. From July to September, four of the hives in each group were treated with different amounts of the pesticide, while the fifth was not.
(PHOTO: A honeybee is seen at a hive. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
The idea was to give the bees the amounts of pesticide they would naturally pick up from the surrounding environment as they collect nectar from different plants. The study also suggests that bees ingest imidacloprid through the high-fructose corn syrup that beekeepers often use to feed their hives. According to Lu, the corn which is treated with the pesticide retains some of the chemical’s residue even as it is processed into corn syrup.
“We kept thinking we would see some toxicity, but nothing happened,” reports Callahan.
In his presentation to the Worcester beekeepers, Lu admitted that by early December he thought the study was a bust and that they had failed to show a link between CCD and imidacloprid. But then, around Christmastime, the research team lost three hives. Then three more were abandoned.
“It was so strange to find the hives so quiet and still,” recalls Callahan.
Ultimately, 15 of the 16 hives treated with the pesticide, or 94 percent, died while only one of the four untreated or control hives was abandoned. And both Lu and Callahan say that the hives in the study were like hives that have been hot with CCD. Food and pollen was left behind with younger bees and the queen. When hives are affected by pathogens or other toxic or risky conditions, nothing survives.
“The result is very convincing,” Lu told the Worcester beekeepers. “It’s really obvious that it is really just the pesticide that is killing the bees.”
But even if they had set up a hundred hives and recorded the same results, it may still be difficult to save the bees.
“We are fighting against a giant pesticide manufacturer with billions of dollars on the line,” says Lu.
PICK YOUR POISON
The study of Worcester County bees is slated to be published in the June issue of the Bulletin of Insectology. However, earlier this month the Harvard School of Public Health issued a press release announcing the results.
And the giant pesticide manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, didn’t waste any time with its response.
Bayer called the study “seriously flawed” and “factually inaccurate.” Among the company’s complaints are the amounts of pesticide that Lu, Callahan and Warchol used to treat the hives, amounts Bayer CropScience argues are much higher than what bees would encounter in nature.
According to Lu, however, the study involved amounts below those normally found in the environment.
The company’s quick reaction is surprising considering this is the fourth study this year to link this type of pesticide to CCD.
Imidacloprid is part of a family of pesticides called neonicotinoids. Chemically similar to nicotine, neonicotinoids ravage the central nervous systems of insects causing paralysis and death.
Neonicotinoids are systemic. They are absorbed by the entire plant and the residue of the chemical lingers. But neonicotinoids are considered far less toxic to mammals than earlier types of pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates neonicotinoids as class II or class III for toxicity, which means products that contain these chemicals do not have to be packaged with decorative skulls and crossbones.
Instead manufacturers of chemicals that fall into class II and class III only have to inform consumers that their products are moderately toxic. They may be harmful or fatal if swallowed, but then again they may not be.
Neonicotinoids have not raised any major or direct concerns for human health, and Callahan stressed that point at a recent Bee School class.
“Our data isn’t alarming as far as humans are concerned,” he points outs.
But bees are another matter. In January, a research team at Purdue University found neonicotinoid pesticides were present in dead and dying bees in hives in Indiana. High levels of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, two neonicotinoid pesticides that are used to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting, were found in waste dust in fields.
“We know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees,” reports Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology at Purdue University, in a press release announcing the results of the study.
In March, a French research team released the results of their study which involved gluing tiny radio transmitters on the backs of honey bees and then feeding some of them nonlethal doses of the neonicotinoid pesticide, thiamethoxam.
(PHOTO: Honeybees on a hive at Harvard University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
Researchers then released the bees one kilometer away from the hive. A significant number of bees who were fed the neonicotinoid were unable to find their way back to the hive.
Last month, a British study published in Science offered evidence of a link between imidacloprid and slow colony growth among bumble bees.
And that’s just 2012. With the mounting evidence linking CCD to neonicotinoids, it’s difficult to understand why the EPA would approve and then register these chemicals for such widespread use.
Or maybe it’s not so difficult. On the EPA website, in the section that describes pesticides, is a link for frequently asked questions. One of the questions listed is: “Why does EPA rely on studies submitted from pesticide companies when the Agency is considering whether or not to register a pesticide? Shouldn’t the government be performing independent studies?”
According to the EPA, it comes down to resources. But the agency says it issues guidelines to companies testing their own products, and it also carefully reviews the submitted studies.
No doubt; but in 2003, when EPA conditionally approved clothianidin, a newer sister pesticide to the one tested in the Worcester county study, it was with the understanding that Bayer CropScience would conduct additional testing. And it did.
But when the EPA’s own scientists generated a memo, declaring that Bayer’s follow-up study was poorly designed, and that they believed clothianidin was a dangerous toxin for honey bees, the memo was ignored.
And sadly for the EPA, it was also leaked to the public. Last month more than one million bee keepers and environmental groups petitioned the EPA to suspend the sale and use of clothianidin.
PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeper
Ken Warchol, left, and retired entomologist Richard Callahan examine honeybee hives at Harvard
University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
Since CCD has emerged as a global concern, the enrollment at Bee School has soared. Mercier, who was a member of the beekeepers association for just six years before stepping into the role of president, says more than 200 individuals and couples are enrolled in this year’s course. And the group encompasses all ages, all occupations and all levels of education.
“When CCD appeared, it made people aware of how important bees really are,” says Mercier.
But once they discover bees, beekeepers stick with them for a variety of reasons. Stephanie Stanton, a new beekeeper from Clinton, likes the pace of tending bees.
“It really makes you slow down,” she explains. “You can’t do it quickly. You have to be persistent and patient.”
Others find beekeeping makes them more observant and more tuned into changes in the environment. And for others like Roger Trahan, beekeeping and launching a small honey business was something he found he could share and enjoy with his daughter.
Holden resident Barbara MacPhee, secretary for the Worcester County Beekeepers, has lived through a lot of changes in the beekeeping community.
“When I first started 36 years ago, bee keeping was a man’s world,” recalls MacPhee. “Now it’s everybody from all walks of life.”
Like other beekeepers, MacPhee is fascinated by the order of a hive and the commitment of the bees.
“I am in awe of how they know exactly what to do and exactly when to do it,” she notes. “I’m just there to manage them and to keep them happy.”
(PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeper
Ken Warchol, left, and retired
entomologist Richard Callahan examines honeybee hives at Harvard
University.)
MacPhee also says there’s a kindness and camaraderie among beekeepers that’s not often seen among other groups of hobbyists.
“Beekeepers are very caring toward one another,” she shares. “They will go to any extent to help out another beekeeper.”
Although MacPhee doesn’t doubt that pesticides are responsible for CCD, her bees are involved in yet another study by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Mercier says because the Worcester County Beekeepers Association is the oldest and largest county beekeeping organization in the United States, national experts come to Worcester to research problems and issues with bees. And the group is convinced their members have cracked the case of CCD, if people would just pay attention.
But MacPhee, who has been part of the push to educate people about the value of bees, has seen a lot of positive change already.
“About 10 years ago, I started bringing beekeeping into the schools. Kids were just like their parents; they saw a bee and their first reaction was to kill it,” she remembers. But, MacPhee reports, because of this education through the media and schools, that attitude has totally changed.
“Today, children really understand the importance of bees and the role they play,” she says.
From Worcester Mag
As a retired entomologist, Callahan has a scientist’s affection for facts. He doesn’t speculate much, he just tells you politely what he’s observed, and what he’s learned. Callahan doesn’t look like a guy who is warming up to drop kick one of the world’s largest chemical corporations, but it could happen.
(PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeperKen Warchol creates smoke near honeybee hives at Harvard University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
Callahan and fellow Worcester County beekeeper Ken Warchol have been working with Chensheng (Alex) Lu, professor of environmental exposure biology at Harvard’s School of Public Health, on a study on colony collapse disorder, or CCD, the name used to describe the ongoing worldwide die off of honey bees.
Since 2006, North American beekeepers have been losing huge numbers of bee hives to CCD. Estimates of those losses range from 30 to 90 percent of hives.
In cases of CCD, bees don’t roll over and die. Worker bees abandon their hives, leaving the queen and brood unprotected and uncared for as they fly out to their deaths.
CCD represents a stunning break in the behavioral pattern of an insect of which every other nanosecond of life is genetically programmed with aweinspiring precision. And it’s been deeply troubling for beekeepers and others who respect and revere this insect.
But CCD is really everyone’s worry, even people who aren’t fascinated by bees and those who choose processed sugar over honey every time.
(PHOTO: Ken Warchol lectures at the Worcester County Beekeepers Association's Bee School. Steven King/Worcester Mag)As Lu mentioned to the Worcester Beekeepers last February when he presented the results of the study to the group, honey bees are responsible for the pollination of more than 100 different food crops. Fewer and fewer bees means thinner and thinner yields of all sorts of fruits, vegetables, nuts and livestock feed.
“Around here, you’re talking about apples, blueberries and cranberries,” says Norman Mercier, president of the Worcester Beekeepers Association. “Some commercial farmers have gone out of business because of CCD.”
People have different ideas on what’s causing the collapse of honey bee hives. Some research has targeted mites, other studies have blamed fungus, and some suspect malnutrition, weakened immune systems and other types of stress.
But Lu, Callahan and Warchol are part of a growing group of researchers who have linked CCD to imidacloprid, one of the most commonly used pesticides in commercial agriculture, back-yard gardens, lawns and landscaping.
And while they weren’t surprised to find a convincing link between CCD and imidacloprid, what did catch them a little off guard was the way it worked.
“We used such a small amount,” explains Callahan. “It was a half milligram over a nine-week period.
Lu, Callahan and Warchol set up five hives in four different locations, including Warchol’s home in Northbridge. From July to September, four of the hives in each group were treated with different amounts of the pesticide, while the fifth was not.
(PHOTO: A honeybee is seen at a hive. Steven King/Worcester Mag)The idea was to give the bees the amounts of pesticide they would naturally pick up from the surrounding environment as they collect nectar from different plants. The study also suggests that bees ingest imidacloprid through the high-fructose corn syrup that beekeepers often use to feed their hives. According to Lu, the corn which is treated with the pesticide retains some of the chemical’s residue even as it is processed into corn syrup.
“We kept thinking we would see some toxicity, but nothing happened,” reports Callahan.
In his presentation to the Worcester beekeepers, Lu admitted that by early December he thought the study was a bust and that they had failed to show a link between CCD and imidacloprid. But then, around Christmastime, the research team lost three hives. Then three more were abandoned.
“It was so strange to find the hives so quiet and still,” recalls Callahan.
Ultimately, 15 of the 16 hives treated with the pesticide, or 94 percent, died while only one of the four untreated or control hives was abandoned. And both Lu and Callahan say that the hives in the study were like hives that have been hot with CCD. Food and pollen was left behind with younger bees and the queen. When hives are affected by pathogens or other toxic or risky conditions, nothing survives.
“The result is very convincing,” Lu told the Worcester beekeepers. “It’s really obvious that it is really just the pesticide that is killing the bees.”
But even if they had set up a hundred hives and recorded the same results, it may still be difficult to save the bees.
“We are fighting against a giant pesticide manufacturer with billions of dollars on the line,” says Lu.
PICK YOUR POISON
The study of Worcester County bees is slated to be published in the June issue of the Bulletin of Insectology. However, earlier this month the Harvard School of Public Health issued a press release announcing the results.
And the giant pesticide manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, didn’t waste any time with its response.
Bayer called the study “seriously flawed” and “factually inaccurate.” Among the company’s complaints are the amounts of pesticide that Lu, Callahan and Warchol used to treat the hives, amounts Bayer CropScience argues are much higher than what bees would encounter in nature.
According to Lu, however, the study involved amounts below those normally found in the environment.
The company’s quick reaction is surprising considering this is the fourth study this year to link this type of pesticide to CCD.
Imidacloprid is part of a family of pesticides called neonicotinoids. Chemically similar to nicotine, neonicotinoids ravage the central nervous systems of insects causing paralysis and death.
Neonicotinoids are systemic. They are absorbed by the entire plant and the residue of the chemical lingers. But neonicotinoids are considered far less toxic to mammals than earlier types of pesticides. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates neonicotinoids as class II or class III for toxicity, which means products that contain these chemicals do not have to be packaged with decorative skulls and crossbones.
Instead manufacturers of chemicals that fall into class II and class III only have to inform consumers that their products are moderately toxic. They may be harmful or fatal if swallowed, but then again they may not be.
Neonicotinoids have not raised any major or direct concerns for human health, and Callahan stressed that point at a recent Bee School class.
“Our data isn’t alarming as far as humans are concerned,” he points outs.
But bees are another matter. In January, a research team at Purdue University found neonicotinoid pesticides were present in dead and dying bees in hives in Indiana. High levels of clothianidin and thiamethoxam, two neonicotinoid pesticides that are used to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting, were found in waste dust in fields.
“We know that these insecticides are highly toxic to bees; we found them in each sample of dead and dying bees,” reports Christian Krupke, associate professor of entomology at Purdue University, in a press release announcing the results of the study.
In March, a French research team released the results of their study which involved gluing tiny radio transmitters on the backs of honey bees and then feeding some of them nonlethal doses of the neonicotinoid pesticide, thiamethoxam.
(PHOTO: Honeybees on a hive at Harvard University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)Researchers then released the bees one kilometer away from the hive. A significant number of bees who were fed the neonicotinoid were unable to find their way back to the hive.
Last month, a British study published in Science offered evidence of a link between imidacloprid and slow colony growth among bumble bees.
And that’s just 2012. With the mounting evidence linking CCD to neonicotinoids, it’s difficult to understand why the EPA would approve and then register these chemicals for such widespread use.
Or maybe it’s not so difficult. On the EPA website, in the section that describes pesticides, is a link for frequently asked questions. One of the questions listed is: “Why does EPA rely on studies submitted from pesticide companies when the Agency is considering whether or not to register a pesticide? Shouldn’t the government be performing independent studies?”
According to the EPA, it comes down to resources. But the agency says it issues guidelines to companies testing their own products, and it also carefully reviews the submitted studies.
No doubt; but in 2003, when EPA conditionally approved clothianidin, a newer sister pesticide to the one tested in the Worcester county study, it was with the understanding that Bayer CropScience would conduct additional testing. And it did.
But when the EPA’s own scientists generated a memo, declaring that Bayer’s follow-up study was poorly designed, and that they believed clothianidin was a dangerous toxin for honey bees, the memo was ignored.
And sadly for the EPA, it was also leaked to the public. Last month more than one million bee keepers and environmental groups petitioned the EPA to suspend the sale and use of clothianidin.
PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeperKen Warchol, left, and retired entomologist Richard Callahan examine honeybee hives at Harvard
University. Steven King/Worcester Mag)
Since CCD has emerged as a global concern, the enrollment at Bee School has soared. Mercier, who was a member of the beekeepers association for just six years before stepping into the role of president, says more than 200 individuals and couples are enrolled in this year’s course. And the group encompasses all ages, all occupations and all levels of education.
“When CCD appeared, it made people aware of how important bees really are,” says Mercier.
But once they discover bees, beekeepers stick with them for a variety of reasons. Stephanie Stanton, a new beekeeper from Clinton, likes the pace of tending bees.
“It really makes you slow down,” she explains. “You can’t do it quickly. You have to be persistent and patient.”
Others find beekeeping makes them more observant and more tuned into changes in the environment. And for others like Roger Trahan, beekeeping and launching a small honey business was something he found he could share and enjoy with his daughter.
Holden resident Barbara MacPhee, secretary for the Worcester County Beekeepers, has lived through a lot of changes in the beekeeping community.
“When I first started 36 years ago, bee keeping was a man’s world,” recalls MacPhee. “Now it’s everybody from all walks of life.”
Like other beekeepers, MacPhee is fascinated by the order of a hive and the commitment of the bees.
“I am in awe of how they know exactly what to do and exactly when to do it,” she notes. “I’m just there to manage them and to keep them happy.”
(PHOTO: Worcester County beekeeperKen Warchol, left, and retired
entomologist Richard Callahan examines honeybee hives at Harvard
University.)
MacPhee also says there’s a kindness and camaraderie among beekeepers that’s not often seen among other groups of hobbyists.
“Beekeepers are very caring toward one another,” she shares. “They will go to any extent to help out another beekeeper.”
Although MacPhee doesn’t doubt that pesticides are responsible for CCD, her bees are involved in yet another study by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
Mercier says because the Worcester County Beekeepers Association is the oldest and largest county beekeeping organization in the United States, national experts come to Worcester to research problems and issues with bees. And the group is convinced their members have cracked the case of CCD, if people would just pay attention.
But MacPhee, who has been part of the push to educate people about the value of bees, has seen a lot of positive change already.
“About 10 years ago, I started bringing beekeeping into the schools. Kids were just like their parents; they saw a bee and their first reaction was to kill it,” she remembers. But, MacPhee reports, because of this education through the media and schools, that attitude has totally changed.
“Today, children really understand the importance of bees and the role they play,” she says.
From Worcester Mag
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