Why Monsantos Cure For World Hunger Is Cursing The Global Food SupplySayer Ji The researchers found that concentrations of glyphosate (GLY) consistent with the type of exposures associated with standard spraying practices in GM agricultural and neighboring ecosystems reduced the honeybees sensitivity to nectar reward and impaired their learning abilities two behavioral consequences likely to adversely affect their survival abilities. Moreover, while sub-lethal doses were not found to overtly affect their foraging behavior, they hypothesized that because of their resilience, ..forager bees could become a source of constant inflow of nectar with GLY traces that could then be distributed among nest mates, stored in the hive and have long-term negative consequences on colony performance. A Deeper Look at the New Study: Roundup Interferes with Bee Appetite and Learning Roundup herbicide is a ubiquitous toxicant, with an accumulating body of research now showing it is a common contaminant in our air, water, rain, soil and food, and in physiologically relevant concentrations (even the part-per-trillion concentration range demonstrates endocrine disruptive and potentially carcinogenic properties) to microbial, insect, animal and human life. When Roundup herbicide was first evaluated for toxicity to the honeybee, the focus was on acute toxicity of the active ingredient and not sub-lethal and prolonged exposure effects; and certainly not the amplified toxicological synergies present in glyphosate formulations like Roundup, which when the so-called inert adjuvant ingredients (e.g. surfactants) are taken into account, have been found to be at least 125 times more toxic than glyphosate alone. By only taking into account acute toxicity as measured by the so-called LD50 (lethal dose, 50%) on the active ingredient, government regulators approved glyphosate as relatively harmless to honeybees prematurely. The researchers expanded on the topic: The authors of the new study set out to test whether doses of glyphosate bees would realistically encounter in the field (field-realistic doses) could affect their feeding behavior (appetitive behavior) in a deleterious manner. They exposed honeybees to field-realistic doses of glyphosate chronically and acutely, and observed: a reduced sensitivity to sucrose and learning performance for the groups chronically exposed to GLY concentrations within the range of recommended doses, as well as significant decrease in elemental learning, non-elemental associative learning, and short-term memory retention, when exposed to acute GLY doses. This latest study is not the first to link glyphosate to the vanishing honeybee. Extensive research on the topic performed by Dr. Don D. Huber and summarized in an article published last year titled, Is glyphosate a contributing cause of bee colony collapse disorder (CCD)?, lead him to conclude that the 880 million pounds of glyphosate released into the environment worldwide has been contributing to the collapse of the honeybee. The paper revealed the following six ways that glyphosate could contribute to CCD: Other Factors Contributing to Colony Collapse While it is now increasingly acknowledged that many agrochemicals pesticides especially neonicotinoids are toxic to honeybees, there are other factors that likely play a role as well: It should be pointed out that the last factor listed infectious organisms are likely more a symptom than a cause of honeybee morbidity and mortality. In other words, following electromagnetic, agrochemical and dietary assault, the immune system of the honeybee and the collective immunity of the hive weakens, leading to greater susceptibility to opportunistic infections. One USDA study published in 2013 discussed the role of fungicidal contaminants in pollen leading to increased probability of Nosema fungal infection in bees who consumed pollen with a higher fungicide load.[3] This linkage between chemical exposure immune suppression, opportunistic infection, is especially poignant when it comes to Roundup herbicide, which profoundly alters the makeup of the beneficial flora in exposed organisms, leading to the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. A 2012 PloS study found that lactic acid bacteria living in the crop (the part of the bees alimentary canal that stores food prior to digestion) of bees are vitally important for the health of honeybees, with some strains suggesting a history of association with bees stretching over 80,000,000 years ago. Various chemical are capable of damaging this vitally important locus for the honeybees immunity and digestion, and are likely exerting their adverse effects through sub-lethal, hard to detect mechanisms. On Sept. 28th, 2011, Monsanto announced that it was acquiring the company Beeologics, whose explicit goal is to become the guardian of the bee health worldwide, including finding ways to address CCD. Here is their mission statement: A classical problem-solution approach, Monsanto creates a problem a systemic herbicide intended to save the world from hunger as part of its GMO Roundup-ready proprietary production system that actually destroys the pollinators required to maintain our global food supply and then capitalizes on a GM solution on the backend, with patented RNA interference solutions intended to, again, save the world from hunger. Notes: [1] Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Diana Cox-Foster, Maryann Frazier, Nancy Ostiguy, and Jerry Hayes (5 January 2006). Colony Collapse Disorder Preliminary Report. Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) CCD Working Group. p. 22. Retrieved 2007-04-24. [2] Peng Han, Chang-Ying Niu, Antonio Biondi, Nicolas Desneux. Does transgenic Cry1Ac+CpTI cotton pollen affect hypopharyngeal gland development and midgut proteolytic enzyme activity in the honey bee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera, Apidae)? Ecotoxicology. 2012 Nov ;21(8):2214-21. Epub 2012 Aug 7. PMID: 22868904 [3] Jeffery S Pettis, Elinor M Lichtenberg, Michael Andree, Jennie Stitzinger, Robyn Rose, Dennis Vanengelsdorp. Crop Pollination Exposes Honey Bees to Pesticides Which Alters Their Susceptibility to the Gut Pathogen Nosema ceranae. PLoS One. 2013 ;8(7):e70182. Epub 2013 Jul 24. PMID: 23894612 This article first appeared at GreenMedInfo. Please visit to access their vast database of articles and the latest information in natural health. 