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MYTHS REPLACE FACTS IN HONEYBEE DECLINE
Associated Press
May 2, 2007

http://www.startribune.com/789/story/1158855.html

BELTSVILLE, Md. - The answer to what happened to America's vanishing
honeybees is simple, a caller told entomologist May Berenbaum: Bee rapture.
They were called away to heaven.

No, wait, it's Earth's magnetic field, another caller told the University of
Illinois professor.

And when Berenbaum went on the Internet, she found a parody news site that
quoted her as blaming rapper Kevin Federline and his concerts for the
disappearance of the bees. Berenbaum loved it.

The sudden disappearance of one-quarter of America's honeybees has brought
out some strange ideas and downright myths.

"I just can't get any work done," Berenbaum said. "I'm overwhelmed by
e-mails. I can't keep up."

A couple of bee myths are big on the Internet.

A small German scientific study looking at a specific type of cordless
phones and homing systems of bees exploded over the Internet and late night
television shows. It morphed into erroneous reports blaming cell phones for
the honeybee die-off, which scientists are calling Colony Collapse Disorder.

The scientist who wrote the paper, Stefan Kimmel, e-mailed The Associated
Press to say that there is "no link between our tiny little study and the
CCD-phenomenon ... anything else said or written is a lie." And U.S.
Department of Agriculture top bee researcher Jeff Pettis laughs at the idea,
because whenever he goes out to investigate dead bees, he cannot get a
signal on his cell phone because the hives are in such remote areas.

Also on the Internet is a quote attributed to Albert Einstein on how humans
would die off in four years if not for honeybees. It's wrong on two counts.

First, Einstein probably never said it, according to Alice Calaprice, author
of "The Quotable Einstein" and five other books on the physicist.

"I've never come across it in anything Einstein has written," Calaprice
said. "it could be that someone had made it up and put Einstein's name on
it."

Second, it's incorrect scientifically, Pettis said. There would be food left
for humans because some food is wind-pollinated.

For his part, Pettis jokes that the bees are out creating crop circles "and
it's working them to death."

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IMPORTANT RESOURCES:

WIKIPEDIA ON COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder

MAAREC COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER WEBSITE:
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html

MAP OF U.S. STATES REPORTING COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER:
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/pressReleases/CCDMap07FebRev1-.jpg

THE WAY BACK TO BIOLOGICAL BEEKEEPING (DEE LUSBY):
http://www.beesource.com/pov/lusby/index.htm

GENERAL BEE ARTICLES & REPORTS:
http://www.beesource.com/news/index.htm

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PREVIOUS NHNE NEWS LIST ARTICLES:

BEES VANISH, & SCIENTISTS RACE FOR REASONS (4/25/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12895

ORGANIC & KILLER BEES SEEM RESISTANT TO 'COLONY COLLAPSE DISORDER'
(4/24/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12889

HONEY BEE DIE-OFF ALARMS BEEKEEPERS, CROP GROWERS & RESEARCHERS (4/24/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12888

HONEY BEE EXPERTS GATHER TO POOL KNOWLEDGE (4/22/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12880

HONEY BEE DIE-OFF RESOURCES (4/17/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12857

ARE MOBILE PHONES WIPING OUT OUR BEES? (4/15/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12851

BEE COLONIES ACROSS U.S. CONTINUE TO DIE (4/7/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12825

ARE GM CROPS KILLING BEES? (3/23/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12754

HONEYBEES VANISH, LEAVING KEEPERS IN PERIL (2/27/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12647

U.S. BEE COLONIES DECIMATED BY MYSTERIOUS AILMENT (2/14/2007):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/12588

PARASITE DEVASTATES U.S. BEES (5/2/2005):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/9104

MAD BEE DISEASE (2/20/2001):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nhnenews/message/1181

...........

NHNE Factory Farming Resource Page:
http://www.nhne.org/tabid/451/Default.aspx

NHNE Factory Farming (& Cruelty To Animals) News Stories:
http://tinyurl.com/hmy5k

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Published by David Sunfellow
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
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