The Fox (Monsanto) Buys the Chicken Coop (Beeologics)

Why would one of the largest purveyors of pesticides, genetically engineered seeds and agrochemicals want to buy a company which has been seeking solutions to the escalating threats to the world bee population?

Monsanto spokeswomen Kelly Powers says it is to give the fledgling company a helping hand. Beeologics has developed a product called Remembee, an anti-viral agent which its boosters claim will help stem the tide of Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious plague which has led to the disappearance of the bees in up to a third of the commercial colonies located in the U.S. during the last decade.

The root of the problem, however, may not be the virus targeted by Remembee, a chemical agent which utilizes RNA interference, a mechanism that blocks gene expression, but the herbicides and insecticides that agro-chemical giants like Monsanto, Dow and Bayer have themselves been hawking to farmers around the world.

This is the conclusion of three recent studies which implicate a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, or “neonics” for short, which coat a massive 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy and cotton seeds in the U.S. alone. They are also a common ingredient in a wide variety of home gardening products. As I detail in an article which was published by Reuters last month, neonics are absorbed by the plants’ vascular system and contaminate the pollen and nectar that bees encounter on their rounds. Neonics are a nerve poison that disorient their insect victims and appear to damage the homing ability of bees, which may help to account for their mysterious failure to make it back to the hive.

This was the conclusion of research which came out in the prestigious Journal Science during March. In another study conducted by entomologists at Purdue University the scientists found that neonic-containing dust released into the air at planting time had “lethal effects compatible with colony losses phenomena observed by beekeepers.” A third study by the Harvard School of Public Health actually re-created colony collapse disorder in several honeybee hives simply by administering small doses of a popular neonic, imidacloprid.

While these studies strongly suggest that herbicides are a culprit, scientists caution that colony collapse disorder is a complex phenomenon with multiple causes, ranging from the loss of wild bee habitats to the weakening of bee immune systems as a result of poor diet (commercial bees are frequently fed pesticide-laced corn syrup instead of their own honey) and also the techniques of modern beekeeping, which include the artificial insemination of queens, and the resulting loss of genetic diversity in the bee population.

Some have also pointed the finger at the pollen from genetically modified Roundup Ready corn which bees ingest, and which contains a powerful insecticide within its genetic structure. Roundup seeds are manufactured by Monsanto, and are currently planted across wide swaths of the American Midwest and elsewhere.

So with Monsanto products themselves amongst the key suspects in Colony Collapse Disorder, one might ask: Why has the multinational bought a company which has been a key player in researching this disorder as well as Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, another scourge of bees?

“We’re absolutely committed to Beeologics’ existing work,” said Monsanto spokesperson Kelly Powers. Yet one has to wonder if owning a firm dedicated to shedding light on the trouble with bees might not serve Monsanto’s interest in allowing it to further cover up their own corporate complicity in the problem.

Let us hope that Monsanto is as good as its word and uses this newly acquired company to boldly get to the bottom of the mystery of the disappearing bees. But if history is any guide, there is little cause for optimism. The health watchdog group “Natural Society” rated Monsanto “the worst in 2011 for its ongoing work to threaten human health and the environment.”

With its acquisition of Beeologic, the multinational has a chance to start improving its record — right? My advice, however, is don’t hold your breath!

Read original here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-schiffman/the-fox-monsanto-buys-the_b_1470878.html

8 Comments on The Fox (Monsanto) Buys the Chicken Coop (Beeologics)

  1. They are also investing in technology that would make robotic bees to replace the real ones. No problem if we kill off the world population, we can replace the real ones with robots.

  2. Info you own the research then you can decide whether it gets published or not. Just look at thenGM testing (or lack of it).

  3. So Monsanto is also responsible for killing the bees?? Why am I not surprised. This evil company knows no bounds. They will not be happy until they destroy all life on the planet. Why they are not run out of town is beyond me.

  4. Why would Monsanto want to buy a Company with expertise in bees? If I put myself in the place of the executives of a company which is evil beyond the comprehension of most true humans (before we are ourselves modified by unbridled transgenic experiments on our race)- I would consider the following facts:-

    A large portion of the World’s food supply depends on pollination by bees.

    Bees are natural competitors to the seed and food industry.

    If a way can be found to protect bees from pesticides etc., by genetically engineering the bees, they can be claimed as property of Monsanto, aided and abetted by equally criminal and evil institutions of law and tyranny. Imagine a World where all bees are owned by Monsanto (with the approval of representatives who are beneficiaries of the shameful tyranny)

    Based on the success of Monsanto in prosecuting farmers who have had their crops inadvertently contaminated with GM crops, Monsanto will proceed to prosecute and sue farmers who have a GM bee among their crops which flew in from a neighboring farm.

    Don’t forget the military-industrial complex. They could, with the approval of evil corrupt government develop drone helicopters to collect insects including bees, from farms, for examination by Monsanto.

    People of America– wake up- the enemy is within- not in countries far away

  5. I guess the next Noble Prize in science could be awarded to someone able to come -up with genetically modified, MONSANTO resistant humans!

  6. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A BUSINESS SELLING OUT TO CORPORATE GREED. OF COURSE A FAKE MARKETING ATTEMPT “BUY” MONSANTO TO TRY AND GET PEOPLE WHO STILL HAVE THE CAPACITY TO USE THEIR BRAINS OFF THEIR BACK….WILL NOT WORK WITH ME…..I WILL NEVER TRUST THOSE MURDEROUS BASTARDS…..THEY BELONG IN PRISON FOR ALL THE DEATH THEY HAVE …ARE….AND WILL INCURRING WORLD WIDE. 🙁

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