Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. "It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."
Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/23/wildlife.endangeredspecies
Bayer = I.G. Farben http://profitoverlife.org
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Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world's crop production, increasing the output of 87 of the lead
ing food crops worldwide.Out of the 115 crops studied, 87 depend to some degree upon animal pollination, accounting for one-third of crop production globally. Of those crops, 13 are entirely reliant upon animal pollinators, 30 are greatly dependent and 27 are moderately dependent. The crops that did not rely upon animal pollination were mainly staple crops such as wheat, corn and rice.
Strawberries, Fragaria x annanasa Duch.,
after open insect-pollination (left), passive self-pollination (middle)
and passive self-pollination and wind-pollination (right)
and passive self-pollination and wind-pollination (right)
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