Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist
Randy Oliver Dave Hackenberg once quipped that “”Beekeepers have become the ugly stepchild of agriculture.” Despite their general disregard for us, perhaps there are lessons that we can learn from our agricultural stepparents. Pest Resistance Management Beekeepers worldwide, in their exuberant use of every miticide available, have accelerated the development of mites resistant to (surprise)… Read More »
The EPA needs to know if pesticides are causing “incidents” involving honey bee mortality. It is important for beekeepers to bring such incidents to the EPA’s attention, or they won’t know that there are problems! If your colonies experience a pesticide incident, please rule out any other possible causes first! In many suspected pesticide kills,… Read More »
Randy OliverScientificBeekeeping.com We call on you to vote to stop production and sale of neonicotinoid pesticides until and unless new independent scientific studies prove they are safe. The catastrophic demise of bee colonies could put our whole food chain in danger. If you act urgently with precaution now, we could save bees from extinction [1]…. Read More »
Randy Oliver and Brett Adee The process for approving a new pesticide is similar to that of approving a new drug. In the case of a drug, randomized controlled clinical trials are run to demonstrate efficacy and safety. Then once the drug is approved for use, it essentially undergoes a more extensive “uncontrolled trial,” in… Read More »
Trying to Make Sense of It All Look and You Shall Find It Looking at Both Sides of the Issue The Regulatory Gauntlet A Balancing Act Who Does the Testing? Academic versus Field Applicable Field Relevance Problems in Methodology and Interpretation Recent Studies References Randy Oliver Science is all about trying to understand things. When… Read More »
Eric Mussen1 and Randy Oliver2 The widespread adoption of the systemic neonicotinoid insecticides has led a number of beekeepers to question whether the commercially available corn, beet, or cane sugar syrups might be contaminated with residues of those insecticides. Introduction Beekeepers often feed some form of sugar syrup to colonies for either buildup or winter… Read More »
“Scientists have largely remained silent when the public discussion turns to the trade-off of benefits and risks from chemicals. They are often unwilling to engage controversial issues that could endanger their funding and research…The public interprets the unwillingness of scientists to engage those who campaign against chemicals as an implicit validation of their dangers. Those… Read More »
Randy OliverScientificBeekeeping.com Pesticides A Bit of History Nailing Down the Guilty Party Keep ‘em Honest! Pesticides and CCD Making the Link Acknowledgements References As long as I’ve been keeping bees, one of our worst fears has been that we might suffer a serious pesticide kill. Pesticides (especially insecticides) have always been, and will continue to… Read More »
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