Boston, MA — Two widely used neonicotinoids—a class of insecticide—appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter, particularly during colder winters, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The study replicated a 2012 finding from the same research group that found a link between low doses of imidacloprid and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which bees abandon their hives over the winter and eventually die. The new study also found that low doses of a second neonicotinoid, clothianidin, had the same negative effect.
Further, although other studies have suggested that CCD-related mortality in honey bee colonies may come from bees’ reduced resistance to mites or parasites as a result of exposure to pesticides, the new study found that bees in the hives exhibiting CCD had almost identical levels of pathogen infestation as a group of control hives, most of which survived the winter. This finding suggests that the neonicotinoids are causing some other kind of biological mechanism in bees that in turn leads to CCD.
The study appears online May 9, 2014 in the Bulletin of Insectology.
“We demonstrated again in this study that neonicotinoids are highly likely to be responsible for triggering CCD in honey bee hives that were healthy prior to the arrival of winter,” said lead author Chensheng (Alex) Lu, associate professor of environmental exposure biology at HSPH.
Since 2006, there have been significant losses of honey bees from CCD. Pinpointing the cause is crucial to mitigating this problem since bees are prime pollinators of roughly one-third of all crops worldwide. Experts have considered a number of possible causes, including pathogen infestation, beekeeping practices, and pesticide exposure. Recent findings, including a 2012 study by Lu and colleagues, suggest that CCD is related specifically to neonicotinoids, which may impair bees’ neurological functions. Imidacloprid and clothianidin both belong to this group.
Lu and his co-authors from the Worcester County Beekeepers Association studied the health of 18 bee colonies in three locations in central Massachusetts from October 2012 through April 2013. At each location, the researchers separated six colonies into three groups—one treated with imidacloprid, one with clothianidin, and one untreated.
There was a steady decline in the size of all the bee colonies through the beginning of winter—typical among hives during the colder months in New England. Beginning in January 2013, bee populations in the control colonies began to increase as expected, but populations in the neonicotinoid-treated hives continued to decline. By April 2013, 6 out of 12 of the neonicotinoid-treated colonies were lost, with abandoned hives that are typical of CCD. Only one of the control colonies was lost—thousands of dead bees were found inside the hive—with what appeared to be symptoms of a common intestinal parasite called Nosema ceranae.
While the 12 pesticide-treated hives in the current study experienced a 50% CCD mortality rate, the authors noted that, in their 2012 study, bees in pesticide-treated hives had a much higher CCD mortality rate—94%. That earlier bee die-off occurred during the particularly cold and prolonged winter of 2010-2011 in central Massachusetts, leading the authors to speculate that colder temperatures, in combination with neonicotinoids, may play a role in the severity of CCD.
“Although we have demonstrated the validity of the association between neonicotinoids and CCD in this study, future research could help elucidate the biological mechanism that is responsible for linking sub-lethal neonicotinoid exposures to CCD,” said Lu. “Hopefully we can reverse the continuing trend of honey bee loss.”
Funding for the study came from Wells Fargo Foundation and the Breck Fund at the Harvard University Center for the Environment.
“Sub-lethal exposure to neonicotinoids impaired honey bees winterization before proceeding to colony collapse disorder,” Chensheng Lu, Kenneth M. Warchol, Richard A. Callahan, Bulletin of Insectology, online Friday, May 9, 2014
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/study-strengthens-link-between-neonicotinoids-and-collapse-of-honey-bee-colonies/
Bird flu found at 4 more Minnesota turkey farms, 1st in ND; brings Midwest toll to almost 1.1M
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A deadly bird flu strain was confirmed Friday at one North Dakota turkey farm and at four more in Minnesota, raising the number of farms affected across the Midwest to 20 and the toll to almost 1.1 million birds since the outbreak was first confirmed in early March.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the new cases in Minnesota of the highly contagious H5N2 strain are in Cottonwood, Lyon, Watonwan and Stearns counties. The four new farms housed a combined 189,000 turkeys.
In North Dakota, State Veterinarian Susan Keller said the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Iowa confirmed the H5N2 strain of avian influenza in a flock of 40,000 turkeys in Dickey County. It's that state's first confirmed case of the flu strain.
Officials in both states said those turkeys not killed by the virus will be euthanized to prevent the disease from spreading.
Once those birds have been destroyed, the 20 farms in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas will have lost nearly 1.1 million turkeys. Canadian officials confirmed Wednesday that a turkey farm in southern Ontario with 44,800 birds was hit, too. The USDA has sent more than 40 experts to Minnesota to assist in the response.
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson said his state has about 450 farms that raise around 46 million turkeys annually. The losses so far work out to about 1.9 percent of the state's yearly production."For these companies, and obviously for the farmers and their families that have been impacted by the H5N2 virus, there are some really difficult times ahead," he said.
Officials stress the risk to public health is low and that there's no danger to the food supply. No human cases have been detected in the U.S., said Dr. Joni Scheftel, state public health veterinarian with the Minnesota Department of Health.
The largest farm hit was a 310,000-bird farm in Meeker County owned by Jennie-O Turkey Store, the country's No. 2 turkey processor, where the virus was confirmed Wednesday. Three of the new cases were also connected with Jennie-O, a division of Hormel Foods Corp. The company said the Watonwan County farm is company-owned, while the Cottonwood and Lyon County operations were contract growers. Altogether, seven Jennie-O owned and contact farms have lost 626,000 turkeys because of the outbreak. But the company says its losses are a small percentage of its overall production.
In North Dakota, Keller said quarantine efforts were underway Friday.
Scientists suspect migratory waterfowl such as ducks are the reservoir of the virus. They can spread it through their droppings. But Michelle Carstensen, wildlife health program supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said tests still haven't found any wild birds with the disease or any H5N2 in their droppings in Minnesota so far. Test results are expected next week on samples collected near affected farms in three counties, she said.
Officials are trying to determine how the virus has managed to evade the strict biosecurity that's standard practice at commercial turkey farms. The virus can be carried into barns by workers or by rodents and wild birds that sneak inside.
But Dr. Beth Thompson, assistant director of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, said investigators haven't determined how the virus entered any of the infected barns. She said the industry's biosecurity practices are "top notch." And Fredrickson disputed the suggestion that those measures aren't working.
Thompson said they hope the threat recedes as the weather warms and the spring migration ends. Flu viruses prefer cold, wet conditions, she said, so they're hopeful that hot, dry days will kill it off. She said that would prevent it from being tracked into barns, if that's what's happening.
Carstensen said they still don't know if this virus will be a long-term problem. It was first detected in North America in December on the West Coast, and scientists don't know much yet about how it behaves, she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/bird-flu-confirmed-1-nd-012351522.html
Got an email form a friend, figured I would pass it on to you all.
The Role of Charcoal in Caring For an Infected Wound under PAW Field Conditions.
After you have irrigated a dirty wound to clean it of visual debris and covering it with a bandage to prevent further infection and before you apply anti-infective and surface blood circulation stimulating herbs, you need to clean out the minute debris, bacteria and toxins. This is done using charcoal (preferably, but not necessarily, activated charcoal).
The highly porous carbon acts as a micro-sponge when in contact with the wound surface. The finely powered charcoal is wetted with sterile, clean (preferably distilled) water and applied directly to surface of the wound and bandaged. The charcoal is applied for several hours then gently rinsed off and fresh charcoal reapplied. The charcoal is actually absorbing the infective bacteria and the appearance of the wound will change as this is repeated. The wound will appear progressively less inflamed and a duller red as the infection is reduced. This may take days depending on the severity of the infection. The cleaned wound is now ready for treatment with anti-inflammatory and anti-infective herbs. If activated charcoal is unavailable, home made charcoal can be used but will likely take longer to achieve the desired result.
Home charring the wood for charcoal is similar to producing that used in black powder. Choose light, low ash woods like willow, alder or hazel wood, if available, but any hard wood will do. Exclude resinous woods like pine if possible.
Here is a simple charcoal making method:
Place an old pressure cooker (or similar closed vessel will a small vent hole) on the embers of a good fire. When the smoke ceases, the charcoal has reached a temperature of about 662°F. The charcoal that you want should be heated more than 842 °F in order to lose more of its flammability and open up more micro-pores. If you do not have a high temperature metal thermometer, just continue to cook it after the smoke ceases for as long as practical.
Charcoal works on wounds by absorbing non-polar molecules into a micro-sponge like surface. When charcoal comes into direct contact with infected tissue, it bonds with and absorbs dead tissue, bacteria, and toxins cleaning the surface of the wound. This makes the medicinal herbs (or antibiotic ointment, if you have it) much more effective.
Reference:
“The Herbal Medic” volume 1 by Sam Coffman
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