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Harris County Beekeepers Association |
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UC Davis bee researcher enhancing honey bee stock to help troubled industry Oct 13, 2008 10:02 AM It’s about bee-ing all they can be. An enhanced-line honey bee stock developed by University of California, Davis Bee Breeder-Geneticist Susan Cobey, that crosses her bee line “New World Carnolians” with “Old World” Carnolians from Germany, shows genetic promise in aiding the troubled bee industry, research reveals. “I'm really pleased with the stock,” said Cobey, project leader of a honey bee stock improvement grant, funded by the California State Beekeepers’ Association and the California Almond Board. “The bees are very gentle, very hygienic and very productive, and hopefully will confer increased resistance to pests and disease.” For full story, click here. |
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Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee deaths May 23, 2008 Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn. The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin. "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." For the full story, click here. |
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Mysterious Bee Disorder Could Sting at the Supermarket June 27, 2008 Honeybees are vanishing at alarming rates across the United States and researchers are struggling to pinpoint the exact cause of the decline, experts told a Congressional panel Thursday. U.S. beekeepers have lost a record 36 percent of their colonies this year, about twice the amount lost during a typical winter, and they warn that the mysterious disorder afflicting the bees could have serious environmental and economic consequences. "This is more than just a beekeeping problem," said David Mendes, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. "There is something in the environment that is making our bees sick."
For full story, click here. |
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Disappearing bees threaten ice cream sellers February 20, 2008 Haagen-Dazs is warning that a creature as small as a honeybee could become a big problem for the premium ice cream maker's business. At issue are the disappearing bee colonies in the United States, a situation that continues to mystify scientists and frighten food makers. That's because, according to Haagen-Dazs, one-third of the U.S. food supply - including a variety of fruits, vegetables and even nuts - depends on pollination from bees. For full story, click here. |
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Honey Helps Problem Wounds: "Medihoney" Is Often More Effective Than Antibiotics July 31, 2006
A household remedy millennia old is being reinstated: honey helps the treatment of some wounds better than the most modern antibiotics. For several years now medical experts from the University of Bonn have been clocking up largely positive experience with what is known as medihoney. Even chronic wounds infected with multi-resistant bacteria often healed within a few weeks. In conjunction with colleagues from Dusseldorf, Homburg and Berlin they now want to test the experience gained in a large-scale study, as objective data on the curative properties of honey are thin on the ground. For full story, click here. |
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Thieves Stealing Bee Hives in California March 7, 2008
As if the disease that has cut down on the bee population in California isn’t enough, now beekeepers are facing another challenge to their industry- the thefts of entire hives. For full story, click here. |
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Colony Collapse Disorder—A Complete Buzz June, 2008
In the fall of 2006, a loud, new buzz began among beekeepers in a number of countries when managed honey bee colonies began to disappear in large numbers without known reason. By February 2007, the syndrome, which is characterized by the disappearance of all adult honey bees in a hive while immature bees and honey remain, had been christened “colony collapse disorder” (CCD). Some beekeepers reported losses of 30-90 percent of their hives during the 2006 winter. While colony losses are not unexpected during winter weather, the magnitude of loss suffered by these beekeepers was highly unusual. Because honey bees are critical for agricultural pollination—adding more than $15 billion in value to about 130 crops—especially high-value specialty crops like berries, nuts, fruits, and vegetables, the unexplained disappearance of so many managed colonies was not a matter to take lightly. For full story, click here. |
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Mysterious Honey Bee Disorder Buzzes Into Court August, 2008
WASHINGTON, DC -- The nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Washington DC to force the federal government to disclose studies on the effect of a new pesticide on honey bees. Studies on the pesticide, clothianidin, were ordered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from the pesticide's manufacturer, Bayer CropScience, in 2003 when the federal agency granted the company a registration for the chemical. An NRDC bee researcher and the organization's attorneys believe that the EPA has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country called "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, that it has not made public. For full story, click here. |
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Penn Researchers Use Honeybee Venom Toxin to Develop a New Tool to Study Hypertension September, 2008
Potassium channels can be studied with a specific inhibitor derived from a honeybee venom toxin PHILADELPHIA - Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have modified a honeybee venom toxin so that it can be used as a tool to study the inner workings of ion channels that control heart rate and the recycling of salt in kidneys. In general, ion channels selectively allow the passage of small ions such as sodium, potassium, or calcium into and out of the cell. For full story, click here. |
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The Healing Power of Honey In diabetes, wounds that won’t heal are a big problem, and honeybees may have the answer By Adam Voiland Posted October 7, 2008 Wound care is problematic for people with diabetes. A mere nick from an ill-fitting shoe or hangnail haphazardly cut can fester for months and develop into a gaping ulcer teeming with bacteria. Foot ulcers, in fact, are the most common reason people with diabetes are hospitalized, and studies show that an alarming 1 out of 5 people with an infected ulcer ends up undergoing amputation. Recently, however, researchers have started to find that an ancient and affordable remedy—a dab of a certain type of honey with potent antimicrobial properties—is a worthy weapon against an ulcer that refuses to heal. For full story, click here. |