Bee Die Offs Reversing

Jul 24, 2015

Bee Die Offs Reversing

This post has not been approved by Media Co-op editors!

A response to the article 'Good news: There is no honeybee crisis' by Margaret Wente, Wednesday, Jul. 22.

Wrapped up in a gloating misrepresentation of the bee recovery, the article is essentially a series of condescending swipes against environmentalists in general, at a point in time when environmental issues are a peak concern at the highest levels in the world community, with climate change, water pollution and deforestation featured as key topics at the United Nations.

I noticed that one of her links, the one near the end under 'UN Health Organization' was actually a link to an article on 'agprofessional.com', and is actually a press release directly from Syngenta, and that her article seems to be largely derived from this same press release. Within the Syngenta press release is a link to the UN Food And Agricultural Organization website. http://faostat3.fao.org/faostat-gateway/go/to/search/beehives/E

The statistics Canada links she gave did, indeed, show that 'Bee survival rates have rebounded, even in Ontario..." but when she linked to statistics showing massive bee die offs in Ontario over the 2013-2014 winter, after the one showing the reduction, she did not mention that in 2013 and 2014, in the wake of massive bee die-offs, which led to the various protests and petition campaigns to bring the issue to the attention of leaders and the public, the Federal Government began taking action, with Health Canada introducing new recommendations 'Best Management Practices' and also new requirements to address the issue, plus, with the publicity that environmentalists and others gave the issue, farmers being aware have been addressing the issues in different ways as they've studied the problem and worked on it because they care.

I think that the many scientists, farmers, bee-keepers, etc. deserve more credit for their successful efforts reversing the problem than claiming the problem didn't exist, and it's odd to say this, since she's a Conservative, but Health Canada Minister Rona Ambrose deserves a round of applause from environmentalists and others for her leadership in what was clearly a genuine crisis with the potential to cause an irrevocable catastrophe.
The actions they've taken appear to have worked. Here are links to the Government Of Canada's various pages showing their 'pollinator action plan'.

 http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pubs/pest/_fact-fiche/pollinator-protection-pollinisateurs/treated_seed-semences_traitees-eng.php
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/pest/agri-commerce/pollinators-pollinisateurs/index-eng.php