I’d like to thank the Co-operator for the coverage you have given to the honeybee problem. Sadly, it doesn’t make me optimistic for the future fate of these wondrous creatures.
We have let harmful chemicals insinuate themselves so completely into our lives, we can no longer separate reality from industry or government hype. For instance, in a recent letter to the editor, a government entomologist talks about “managing” insects on sunflower crops (with chemicals, of course).
It’s a single word. But it speaks volumes about how completely we have now divorced ourselves from the notion of working with nature to produce our food.
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We are so bogged down in the nuances of the debate (which products will kill bees “on contact,” as opposed to which ones will kill them later on, I guess), we can no longer see the forest for the trees.
Figures from credible sources show that, despite the chemical onslaught that has transformed agriculture since the 1930s, crops lost to pests of all kinds, have actually increased as a percentage of production.
Consider that one out of every three spoonfuls of food we eat, comes courtesy of honeybees.
Meanwhile, North American “regulators,” armed with the certain knowledge that products already out there are “very highly toxic” to bees, continue, not only to allow their continued use, but to approve ones that are even worse.
So, on whose behalf are these “regulators” acting?
Meanwhile, scientists and researchers continue to chase their tails, frantically trying to explain every last reason behind “Colony Collapse Disorder.” There probably are factors other than pesticides involved, granted. But why should that stop us from acting on the factors they already know about? Larry Powell Roblin, Man.
Please forward letters to Manitoba Co-operator, 1666 Dublin Ave., Winnipeg, R3H 0H1 or Fax: 204-954-1422 or e-mail: [email protected](subject: To the editor)
