An "experiment?"
Related: Honey Bees and Herbicides
Maybe we ought not be "experimenting" when bees and OTHER LIFE FORMS are at risk of being POISONED!
"In Worcester, a toxic dilemma; Beekeepers wary of pesticides to fight beetle infestation" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff | September 16, 2009
A beetle infestation in Worcester has placed scientists amid an ecological dilemma: Can they save the trees without harming the bees?
Tomorrow, federal officials will begin injecting hundreds of beetle-threatened trees and nearby soil with imidacloprid, a widely used agricultural pesticide that is known to be toxic to bees and has been linked to a worldwide die-off of honeybees.
Are you guys EFFIN' 'TOO=-PID!!!?
THIS is the THREAT to your ENVIRONMENT, readers -- not some nonexistent fart mist!
Federal and state scientists are trying to eradicate the invasive Asian longhorned beetle from the Worcester area before it can spread to the beloved hardwood forests of northern New England.
Yeah, you can also THANK GLOBALIZATION for THAT!
See: Battling the Asian Beetle in New England
In advance of the pesticide pilot program, some beekeepers are moving their hives out of the area. But they are even more worried about a plan to inject soil and trees in a 14-square-mile swath next spring with three times the amount of pesticide per acre the US Environmental Protection Agency now says should be used. That plan is to be considered today by a subcommittee of the state Pesticide Board, which regulates pesticide use.
Hey, EPA said Ground Zero was safe.
And THIS is what globalization hath wrought, 'eh?
Beekeepers say large amounts of the chemical, combined with the soil injection method, could result in more than just trees taking up the pesticide; it could expose bees to contaminated nectar and pollen of other plants. The chemical could also seep into water bodies and harm other living things, they fear.
INCLUDING ME and YOU, readers!!!!
Related: Don't Go In the Water in AmeriKa
“We understand the beetle needs to be controlled and that chemicals are going to be part of the solution . . . but we are also worried that the [soil injection] in particular will have an effect on pets, squirrels, other living creatures,’’ said Mary Duane, president of the Worcester County Beekeepers Association. “It would be safer to inject the tree. Yet that also has us concerned.’’
US Department of Agriculture officials, who are proposing the spring pesticide application, say they have few other options to halt the pest. Already, more than 20,000 infested trees have been cut down. Imidacloprid is the most effective tool to fight the insect, and the increased amount of pesticide per acre is needed to protect the large number of trees in dense woodlots, the officials say.
Similar treatments as the one proposed in Worcester have successfully mitigated infestations in New York and New Jersey. Soil injection “is more cost effective than trunk injection,’’ said Christine Markham, director of the Asian Longhorned Beetle National Program for the USDA. “We will be able to treat more trees.’’
Asian longhorned beetles have no known predators in the United States and attack many kinds of hardwood trees, from maple to birch. First discovered in 1996 in Brooklyn, they have shown up in other parts of New York, as well as in Chicago and New Jersey. The Department of Agriculture estimates the beetle has the potential to cause $41 billion worth of damage to the nation’s lumber, maple syrup, nursery, and tourism industry.
Time to stop making baseball bats?
The shiny black bug has irregular white spots, and has antennae at least as long as its 1- to 1 1/2-inch body. It kills a tree by essentially cutting off its circulation: The female beetle lays eggs in the bark and worm-like larvae then bore into the healthy tree, feeding on tissue during the fall and winter before emerging through bark holes. Tomorrow, state environmental officials are examining trees in Boston’s Public Garden as a part of an outreach campaign to encourage people to examine trees for early signs of infestation.
But as concern grows over the beetles, so do worldwide worries over imidacloprid, which is widely used in this country to control a myriad of nuisances, such as potato pests, fleas, and lawn grubs. It and similar chemicals are not allowed for certain uses in Germany and France. Beekeepers and some researchers have implicated the chemical in colony collapse disorder, the mysterious die-off of honeybees.
I heard it might be the GMOs-- something the agenda-pushing paper overlooks!
“It’s indisputable it is getting in the pollen and nectar [of plants] at parts per billion, and independent labs show effects on bees at those levels,’’ said Jennifer Sass, a toxicologist and senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The council and other advocacy groups have been petitioning the EPA to study the long-term effects of the pesticide more rigorously. Locally, the Toxics Action Center and a national coalition, SafeLawns.org, is protesting its soil application in Worcester.
Jack Boyne, an entomologist and spokesman for Bayer CropScience, which makes imidacloprid, said that like many pesticides, imidacloprid is toxic to bees, but that toxicity can be avoided when it is used according to label guidelines. He said the chemical is not linked in any way to colony collapse disorder.
You would expect him to say that, wouldn't you?
City Manager Michael O’Brien said Worcester has been devastated by the infestation. “In order to preserve as much of the urban forest as possible, we want to pursue these [chemical] alternatives,’’ he said, but only if they meet approval by state and federal environmental officials.
Even as the chemical is used, beekeepers in the Worcester area will be helping to figure out just how toxic the treated trees could become to bees. They, and the USDA bee lab, have placed 25 hives in the quarantined area and 25 outside of it in Framingham, to see how much of the chemical appears in hives and the bees themselves over the next three years.
“This will be a good national experiment to see if it is affecting the beehives,’’ said Kenneth Warchol of the Worcester beekeepers Association, who is helping to run the study.
And it is NOT JUST the BEES being "experimented" on -- it's ALL LIVING THINGS!
But trust them with the vaccine!
And look what I found outside:
A bear forages for food in a tree in Aspen, Colo. Nine bears have been killed by wildlife officers in that region this summer. (David Zalubowski/ Associated Press)
Is that AmeriKa's answer to everything? Kill it?
"Bears get bold in tony Colo. neighborhoods" by Colleen Slevin, Associated Press | September 13, 2009
ASPEN, Colo. - It’s nearly 2 a.m. and authorities have found the suspect in a string of break-ins into multimillion-dollar homes. His nose led him right to their trap - a cage filled with barbecue-scented cantaloupe and peaches.
It’s a 550-pound black bear and it nearly fills the cage wildlife officers set for him in the driveway of one of the homes. The bear starts huffing - a warning to give it some space. Within a few hours the bear will be dead, because officers believe he has become too bold and too dangerous.
The bear is one of nine wildlife officers in Aspen and surrounding Pitkin County have killed this summer because some bears have become more aggressive in looking for food to prepare for hibernation. One recently broke into a home through locked French doors and clawed a woman. Last week, a bear bit or scratched a woman as she slept on her deck....
A man was attacked by a large black bear in his Aspen home last week.
Randy Hampton, Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman, said the man had gone to the first floor of his home to check on his three barking dogs when the bear struck him in the head.
Maybe if they just got to know each other....
Related: Polar bears and dogs playing
Wildlife officials say plentiful rainfall this year has damaged some of the bears’ main natural food source - berries - sending them scavenging for food in this wealthy ski town.
That's the only reason the article appears: elites.
But bears are also finding that they don’t need to go foraging in the woods because they are becoming so adept at opening locked trash bins or prying open windows and raiding the fridge.
Which means those bears are smart!
Though some bears seem to have lost their fear of humans, some residents think authorities are overreacting and don’t want to see them killed. Nina Hawn Zale said the city isn’t doing enough to cite people who leave trash outside, and bears are paying the price.
I don't know; they seem to be coming in, too!
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I guess in some cases guns are truly needed, huh?
"Alaska has success with predator control" by Associated Press | September 14, 2009
ANCHORAGE - An Alaska wildlife management program in which wolves are shot from low-flying airplanes and black bears are baited and snared is helping to increase the numbers of moose and caribou, state wildlife officials say.
The program has long been the target of wildlife conservation groups that view it as state-sponsored slaughter.... Since the program began in 2003, more than 1,000 wolves and hundreds of black bears have been killed in an effort to drive down the number of predators....
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So when does hunting season open for banksters and war looters?
