Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Pesticides & Other Chemicals

Causes of Honey Bee Decline

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bees 4 I visited Hidcote Manor Gardens in Warwickshire earlier today. They have several honey bee hives and a notice board claiming three different reasons for the decline in honey bee colonies across the UK.

“The number of honey bee colonies in the UK has halved in recent years. This is probably due to:
1. The use of agricultural pesticides and chemicals;
2. Varroa mites, blood sucking parasite which seriously weaken or even wipe out whole colonies; and
3. Cold wet summers which prevent bees from leaving the hives to gather food.”

I wonder how much evidence there is for the three possible causes and which might be having the most impact?

Great Barrier Reef ‘Research’ – A Litany of False Claims

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WE may live in the information age, but how true are many of the scientific claims we read and hear?  For ten years the World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF, has been campaigning to ‘Save the Great Barrier Reef’. [1,2,3] When the WWF campaign was first launched in June 2001 it was claimed Diuron was killing seagrass and dioxins were killing dugongs and so both these pesticides should be banned.  Ten years on and the ban on Diuron appears imminent, but the chemical is probably no more harmful than the dioxin that was found to be natural.[4]

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Which Pesticides Should be Banned?

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NICK Heath is worried about the future of the Great Barrier Reef.  He has a Bachelor of Commerce and after ten years in business and consulting, moved into political and policy advice for government.  He’s now the national program leader for water at WWF-Australia.   He’s been spearheading the ongoing WWF campaign to ‘Save the Great Barrier Reef’. [1]

As part of this campaign WWF wants the herbicide Diuron banned.  Heath recently told journalist Brian Williams at the Courier Mail that he accepted that government would probably ban Diuron, but he was disappointed about further delays. [2]

Why does Heath want Diuron banned?

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Environmental Elements that Cause Illness: A Note from Krista Peterson

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Pesticides, plastics, and VOCs are some of the numerous chemicals that come to mind when we think about pollutants.  However, not all substances that can contaminate our air and water are manmade.   Many materials found in nature can become pollutants if we misuse them.

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Burning China’s Trash

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After surpassing the United States as the world’s largest producer of household garbage, China has embarked on a vast program to build incinerators as landfills run out of space. But these incinerators have become a growing source of toxic emissions, from dioxin to mercury, that can damage the body’s nervous system.  Read more here.  And what about GHGs?