NEXT TO HUMAN POPULATION; THE VERY FACT THAT THERE ARE CURRENTLY JUST TOO DAMN MANY OF US, perhaps the biggest, greatest, foreboding danger of all facing humans is the loss of the global honeybee population.

January 04, 2017: The FACTS presented in this article, originally published in March 2014 were among Global Research’s most popular articles in 2016.

 Scientists have recently reported that mass extinctions of marine animals may soon be occurring at alarmingly rapid rates than previously projected due to pollution, rising water temperatures and loss of habitat.

 Many land species also face a similar fate; for the same reasons.

NEXT TO HUMAN POPULATION; THE VERY FACT THAT THERE ARE CURRENTLY JUST TOO DAMN MANY OF US, perhaps the biggest, greatest, foreboding danger of all facing humans is the loss of the global honeybee population. The consequence of a dying bee population impacts man at the highest levels on our food chain, posing an enormously grave threat to human survival.

SINCE NO OTHER SINGLE ANIMAL SPECIES PLAYS A MORE SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN PRODUCING THE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES THAT WE HUMANS COMMONLY TAKE FOR GRANTED YET REQUIRE NEAR DAILY TO STAY ALIVE, THE GREATEST MODERN SCIENTIST ALBERT EINSTEIN ONCE PROPHETICALLY REMARKED, “MANKIND WILL NOT SURVIVE THE HONEYBEES’ DISAPPEARANCE FOR MORE THAN FIVE YEARS.”

Since before the change in millennium, beekeepers have been noticing their honeybee populations have been dying off at increasingly rapid rates. Subsequently, researchers have been scrambling to come up with an accurate explanation and an effective strategy to save the bees; and in turn save us HUMAN BEANS/Homo sapiens from extinction. Climate change, weather extremes-- recent harsh winters that stay freezing cold well into spring have been instrumental in decimating the honeybee population in Iowa by up to seventy percent.

  In Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, provinces that have regionally always produced the nation’s most honey have been severely hurt by the long harsh winters in the last couple years.

In the United States of North America, the state of Florida; the third largest honey producer; and especially California; always among the top producers; have been hit especially hard by decreasing bee colony populations. Shortly after 2000, when the problem of bee loss was first noticed, California was right up at the top; along with North Dakota producing nearly twice as much honey as the next state, South Dakota; but its bee numbers have incurred such heavy losses that in 2011, though still second, CALIFORNIA’S HONEY PRODUCTION FELL BY NEARLY HALF IN JUST SIX YEARS. Of course historically, virtually ever since irrigation made farming and orchards even really sustainably feasible; severe drought in California has become an additional factor driving both its honey yield and bee numbers down-- less rain of course means less flowers available to pollinate.

Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder; as this loss of bee phenomenon has been called; is currently recognised as such an urgent crisis that a month ago Newsweek ran an article outlining THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA’S DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT IT WILL PROVIDE A $3 MILLION SUBSIDY IN ORDER TO HELP THE ONE ANIMAL(yes, insects are animals too) ON THE PLANET THAT WILL EITHER MAKE OR BREAK FOOD PRICES. According to the latest department of agriculture industry survey, this emergency plan assistance comes after NEARLY A THIRD OF COMMERCIAL HONEYBEES DIED LAST WINTER, A WHOPPING INCREASE OF 42% FROM THE PREVIOUS YEAR. THE THREE MILLION DOLLAR GIVEAWAY PROGRAM IS DESIGNED TO ENTICE BOTH MIDWEST DAIRY FARMERS AND CATTLE RANCHERS TO RESEED THEIR FIELDS THIS SPRING WITH ECO-FRIENDLY CROPS LIKE ALFALFA AND CLOVER TO DEVELOP HEALTHIER HABITATS FOR INCREASING THE NATIONAL BEE POPULATION. Farmers and ranchers only had until March 21st, 2014 to sign up and take advantage as eligible seedling recipients.

Last month’s NEWSWEEK REPORTED THAT HONEYBEES IN TRUCKS MIGRATE TO VARIOUS REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY TO POLLINATE AN ESTIMATED $40 BILLION WORTH OF THE NATION’S AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE EACH YEAR. THIS MEANS THAT EVERY THIRD BITE OF FOOD WE EAT COMES AS THE RESULT OF BEES AND OTHER POLLINATORS.

More than one hundred thirty fruits and vegetables, vegetables that are mandatory in the make up a nutritious diet are cross pollinated by honeybees. Commercial bees, raised on farms; and then shipped to other farms in the country used for pollination purposes, along with wild bees are responsible for pollination of an estimated 80% of all food crops in the entire world. However,in the last half decade alone, thirty percent of the world bee population has disappeared and nearly a third of all bee colonies in Canada and the United States of North America have perished. The rate of bee depopulation is growing each year; forty two percent more last year than the year before.

 At the current annual rate the estimated monetary loss is a colossal 30 billion dollars a year, in Canada and the United States of North America alone..

 With such an enormous loss in revenue, last month’s the United States of North America’s Department of Agriculture announcement of JUST a three million dollar investment in farmer aid in comparison to the formidable challenge seems like a paltry drop in the bucket—COMPARED TO ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING; MAKING ANY REAL DENT IN THE EPIDEMIC.

SUPPOSIDLY???with so much at stake, efforts to investigate and uncover reasons for this sudden GLOBAL PANDEMIC have been robust. A new government study blames a combination of factors for the mysterious and dramatic loss of honeybees, including increased use of pesticides especially in the the United States of North America, shrinking habitats, multiple viruses, poor nutrition and genetics, and even cell phone towers. HOWEVER, (according to last year’s joint EPA-USDA study), THE BIGGEST CAUSE IS THE PARASITE CALLED THE VARROA DESTRUCTOR-- A TYPE OF MITE FOUND TO BE HIGHLY RESISTANT TO THE INSECTICIDES-- THAT UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICAN BEEKEEPERS HAVE USED IN ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL THE MITES FROM INSIDE THE BEEHIVES. Moreover, new virus species have been found in the United States of North America and several of these have been associated with Colony Collapse Disorder.

IN A VICIOUS CYCLE, SINCE 1987 WHEN THE VARROA MITE WAS FIRST DISCOVERED IN THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA; MONSANTO, DOW, BAYER AND OTHER UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA BASED, INTERNATIONAL, CAPITALIST BACKED, LARGE CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS AGGRESSIVELY GLOMMED ONTO THE BEE INDUSTRY SELLING GENETICALLY MODIFIED INSECTICIDES AND HERBICIDES AS THE QUICK AND EASY FIX TO REMEDY THE PARASITIC INVASION, ONLY TO WEAKEN THE BEES’ NATURAL GENETIC DEFENCES TO FIGHT OFF THE PARASITE. In an article from the Guardian earlier this month, Monsanto’s contribution to the vanishing bee population is detailed. From genetically altered corn, Monsanto produced an insecticide called Bacillus thuringiensis, which once ingested by bees, binds to receptors within the bee’s stomach lining that keeps the bee from eating. OF COURSE, this weakens the bee, causing the breakdown of the inner stomach wall, which in turn makes the bee susceptible to spores and bacteria.

 To further compound the problem, for years the lobbying power of the chemical giant denied causing damage to the bee’s internal immune capacity for resistance to parasites, which only continued to kill off the bee population worldwide. Thus, continued chemical use, especially in the United States of North America, (sound familiar?), only exacerbates this growing problem.

On Greenpeace’s Save the Bees page, a type of insecticide called neonicotinoids, is known to cause acute and chronic poisoning not just of one bee, but the entire colony.

Bees take the contaminated nectar and pollen spread through the plant’s DNA back to the hive, creating a highly toxic living environment for all the bees. Toxicity builds up destroying the Central Nervous System, causing further disorientation and bees ultimately can neither fly nor make it back to the nest. Meanwhile, unlike the US, in Europe and Australia where the health of insects and humans is deemed more important than corporate profit, laws banning insecticide use have been passed, which in large part has largely saved the bee populations from being so decimated there.

A study last year found 35 pesticides and fungicides, some at lethal doses, in the pollen collected from bees that were used to pollinate food crops in five United States of North America states. In another research study, bees that contacted pollen contaminated with fungicides ended up three times more likely to get infected by a parasite closely associated with Colony Collapse Disorder.