Don’t Mention the Petrochemicals

The Climate Change narrative is being hijacked by several “special interests”, or rather “corporate public relations operations”, I have decided.

Let me take you round the loop one time to show you my logic on their warez. Note the dates of the pieces – Evidence A was quickly followed everywhere by Evidence B :-

Evidence A : Recent Research links Bee Death to Pesticides

https://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/43568

“Aug 27, 2010 : Insecticide implicated in bee decline : Honeybees, bumblebees and many other insects are being slowly poisoned to death by persistent insecticides used to protect agricultural crops. Small doses of the toxic chemicals accumulate over time, meaning that there is no safe level of exposure. That’s the conclusion from recent research looking at the long-term effects of a commonly used class of insecticides. As they buzz from flower to flower, bees, moths and hoverflies carry out a vital job. Around one third of agricultural crops are pollinated by these busy insects, a service that is worth £440 m a year to the UK economy alone. But in recent years these valuable pollinators have been struggling, with populations plummeting worldwide. Honeybees in particular have been suffering, with colony collapse disorder (CCD) – a phenomenon where the bees desert the hive – becoming more common in Europe and North America. Controversy has swirled around the issue, and everything from mobile phones to GM crops have been blamed. Now new studies indicate that insecticides are playing a significant role. The most recent studies have exposed a variety of insects to varying doses of neonicotinoid insecticides over long time periods – 12 months or more. Neonicotinoid insecticides are widely used worldwide; they work by acting on the central nervous system of the insect…”

https://www.apinews.com/en/news/item/11739-usa-pesticides-have-a-negative-effect-on-wild-bee-populations-says-a-michigan-entomologist

“USA- PESTICIDES HAVE A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON WILD-BEE POPULATIONS, SAYS A MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGIST : Saturday, 04 September 2010 : Written by Analia Manriquez : Rufus Isaacs, a berry-crops entomologist for Michigan State University, said his latest research suggests increased efforts by crop farmers in pest management — like pesticides — have a negative affect on wild-bee populations. In a three-year study of Michigan’s blueberry crop — which is pollinated almost entirely by bees and is a $120 million industry in the state — Isaacs and fellow entomologist Julianna Tuell determined that increased insecticide use translated to a decline in bee abundance and species richness. “These results indicate that wild bee communities are negatively affected by increasingly intensive chemical pest-management activities in crop fields,” Tuell said…”

https://www.theecologist.org

“‘Growing body of evidence’ links pesticides to bee decline : Ecologist : 5th August, 2010 : Government and retailers, including B&Q and Wyevale, under pressure to impose a ban on sale of pesticides linked to bee population decline following new research : Environmental groups including the Soil Association and Buglife are making a renewed call for an end to the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which are among the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, after a new study linked them to a decline in bee in bee populations…”

From the archives :-

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/6157395/Pesticides-blamed-for-killing-bees.html

“Pesticides blamed for killing bees : The collapse in Britain’s bee population is being made worse by pesticides that are banned in much of EU, according to a new study. : By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent : Published: 09 Sep 2009…”

Evidence B : Recent Media Reports of Climate Change affecting Bee Survival

https://news.ca.msn.com/canada/cp-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25488130&vv=800

“By The Canadian Press, thecanadianpress.com, Updated: September 7, 2010 : Bee pollination decline has scientist buzzing : The dissappearance of bees, and the fear of a decline in bee pollination may be due to climate change, a new Canadian study suggests.THE CANADIAN PRESS/ HO- David Inouye : TORONTO – Scientists have been buzzing for years about the dwindling number of bees and linking that to less pollination, but a new Canadian study suggests the decline could also be blamed on climate change. James Thomson, a scientist with the University of Toronto, has spent 17 years studying the wild lily from his log cabin in a remote plot of land in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. He’s discovered that the flowers have been blooming earlier. “Everyone tends to jump to the conclusion that if my lilies are having a decline in their pollination rate, it must be that the bee populations are dying off, but … I’m not at all sure that that’s happening,” said Thomson. “The plants are now blooming earlier than they used to and I don’t think the bees are very active in the early spring,” he explained. He has called the discovery a “climate-driven” mismatch between when flowers bloom and when bees emerge from hibernation…”

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727770.301-bees-and-climate-change-cleared-in-pollination-mystery.html

“Bees and climate change cleared in pollination mystery : 08 September 2010 by Michael Marshall : Magazine issue 2777 : EVEN without climate change and even without the decline of bees, pollination is in a downward spiral. And nobody knows why. James Thomson of the University of Toronto in Canada has studied yellow avalanche lilies growing high in the Rocky mountains in Colorado since 1993. Bumblebees are their main pollinators. Each year he pollinates some plants by hand to ensure they produce fruit, and compares them with plants that fend for themselves. At first the two groups did equally well, but from 1999 onwards the unassisted plants did consistently worse, suggesting that they were not getting enough pollen (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, vol 365, p 3187)…”

https://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/365/1555/3187

https://www.theecologist.org

“Bees stung by ‘climate change-linked’ early pollination : Ecologist : 7th September, 2010 : Climate change may be causing flowers to open before bees emerge from hibernation leading to declines in pollination, new research suggests : Climate change could be affecting pollination by disrupting the synchronised timing of flower opening and bee emergence from hibernation, suggests new US-based research…”

https://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/08/bees-climate-change-pollination

https://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-09/07/pollination-decline-proven

“Dropping bee pollination levels linked to climate change : By Mark Brown : 07 September 2010 : A recent study from the University of Toronto has offered the first long-term evidence to prove that pollination is indeed on a radical decline. Plus, the results show that climate change may be to blame for the steep pollination drop. Since the end of the twentieth century, as widespread accounts of the declining bee population were reported, researchers and scientists have tried to pinpoint a specific cause for the honey bee’s collapse. Environmental factors such as viruses, parasites, misused pesticides, pollution and even mobile phone radiation were to blame, but the exact explanation has continued to stump scientists.

https://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/09/seasonal-shifts-could-be-confusing-bees.php

“Seasonal Shifts Could Be Confusing Bees : by David DeFranza on 09. 7.10 : Everything from fungus to parasites, pesticides to disease, pollution to habitat loss, has been blamed for the startling—often sudden—declines in bee populations worldwide. Though a wide range of possible causes have been identified, a reliable solution has yet to be implemented. Now, another possible factor has been identified: Shifting seasonal changes brought on by climate change…”

Evidence C : Where Do Pesticides Come From ?

The most important thing appears to be : don’t mention the petrochemicals !

Media reports and even material from campaign organisations seem to always gloss over the fact that most insecticides and pesticides are made from petrochemicals, and that this is a huge industry worldwide :-

https://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Pesticide.html

“A pesticide consists of an active ingredient coupled with inert ingredients. The active ingredient kills the pests, while the inert ingredients facilitate spraying and coating the target plant; they can also contribute other advantages that are not conferred by the active ingredient alone. Active ingredients were once distilled from natural substances; now they are largely synthesized in a laboratory. Almost all are hydrocarbons derived from petroleum…”

What is an insectide ? And what is it for ?

https://www.soci.org/News/BioResources-Innovation-crop-prot

“Innovation in crop production for productivity and biodiversity : Insecticide discovery : …the number of insect biochemical target sites of real economic importance is rather limited…the latest version of the Mode of Action Classification scheme of the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC, www.irac-online.org) lists 26 insecticidal target-sites, including 11 nerve and muscle targets, 7 growth and development targets, 6 respiration targets, one midgut target and 8 compounds with unknown or uncertain mode of action. This is worse because at least 80% of global insecticide sales account from compounds binding to just four different target-sites, all involved in insect neurotransmission. The latest chemical class of insecticides with outstanding economic impact in the agrochemicals industry comprises the neonicotinoid insecticides, acting agonistically and with high selectivity on insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and introduced in 1991…The major challenge in modern applied entomology is the management of insecticide resistance. Whereas some of the world’s most destructive insect and mite pests have developed resistance to many established chemical classes of insecticides, newer classes of insecticides introduced for their control usually provide good activity…”

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pesticides/pestwhatrhow.htm

Further Discussion

And so it seems possible that a coordinated Press Release was conducted to re-emphasise the message that Climate Change is contributing to bee death – presumably to displace the evidence for the notion that industrial agricultural chemicals are causing bee death.

Climate Change is not only being used as a smokescreen to disguise petrochemical bee massacre – the public mind is also being nudged and shuffled towards the idea that Genetic Engineering might save the planet – Climate Change is widely cited to justify GM crops.

Companies that produce insecticides, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are rather fond of promoting their “Life Sciences” – genetic engineering and genetic modification known by other names.

They claim that they can manufacture crop genomes that can survive drought or salty water, or bump up vitamin content, so will be excellent in the “fight against Climate Change”.

Many research-corporate partnerships exist to develop new GMOs, genetically modified organisms to use as crops. Yet there is little positive evidence from tests to corroborate the “Climate Change-proof” claims of the GM technologists.

This is a huge ideological heist, but let’s look at the poor bees a little more.

It has been suggested that GMO crops might produce unhealthy pollen, adding to bees’ woes – possibly a whole new chapter in the story of Unintended Industrial Consequences :-

https://bbe-tech.com/bees/?p=747

https://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/pesticides-frogs-bees-0903

“How Pesticides Can Be Safe for Bees and Frogs, and Still Kill Them
Two stories of unintended consequences. : September 3, 2010 by Kim Flottum : …another Unintended Consequence that is occurring in the food producing fields of the world that is having a direct and deadly affect on the bees I keep and the food you eat. Plants, like animals, are plagued by all manner of pests. Bacteria, fungi, viruses, pests and predators all have some role. Everything is something else’s lunch. For food crops, if the bad guys win there’s no food, or at least a lot less of it. So farmers strive to protect their crops anyway they can. And, as you would imagine, as inexpensively as they can… Food production is a very, very thin margin business. Lots of crops are attacked by fungi and bacteria. These organisms aren’t all that aggressive so they need to find a plant’s most vulnerable spot, and for a lot of plants that spot is the flower. Flowers are fragile and susceptible to damage from the weather, from animals eating them, and from invaders at the microscopic level. So farmers have to protect flowers… and to do that they have to spray pesticides directly on the flowers themselves. Sprays that attack and kill the invaders. Sprays that are absorbed by the flowers to protect them all during bloom. Here’s where the Unintended Consequences come in. It seems that the new generation of chemicals the farmers are using (called fungicides because they kill fungi) are very effective at handling the pests that are invading the flowers. But, they are also very effective at killing the pollen grains that are trying to fertilize the flowers so the fruit and nuts can grow. That’s not good. The protective agent is actually killing the host it’s supposed to protect. But there’s more. The pollen that my bees collect from these blossoms has the residue of these chemicals on and in it. Bees collect the pollen as a protein source in their diet, and in the process spread pollen amongst the flowers they are visiting and the flowers get pollinated. Well, they did… until this stuff was sprayed on them. But the collected pollen is contaminated with this stuff too, and bees eat it. And then…The chemicals effectively kill all the micro-organisms in the bees’ guts that help digest all the food bees eat. Just like when you take an antibiotic, you have digestion problems… so do the bees. In fact, they can’t digest food at all. And then they feed this stuff to their young back home, and guess what? They actually starve to death, trying to eat more and more and more food that they can’t digest. There’s an Unintended Consequence for you…”