bees confiscated in illinois

[bj taylor]

just reading about this today. a renowned bee keeper reportedly had bees showing resistance to Monsanto's roundup. the Illinois ag dept came onto his property without his knowledge or consent - with no warrant, and confiscated his bees and 15 years of work. they killed his queens. he doesn't know if they destroyed his bees or Monsanto has them for their own research.

as a result of this, bee keepers in Illinois are going underground with their bees and not registering them.

that's pretty crazy stuff here in this country.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Where did you read this?

 

[bj taylor]

I got this from two of my facebook links. one was heritage way farm and the other was the modern American revolution, who's source was food freedom group.

 

[seedcorn]

Round-up resistant bees? They were never bothered by it before. Round-up is a herbicide not an insecticide. IF this happened would be world wide news. UI people would never do this-would take too much risk and effort.

 

[bj taylor]

it is my understanding that bees are experiencing hive collapse at an unprecedented rate and they are beginning to suspect not only pesticides, but herbicides as well. In my post I used the word "reportedly" because I don't know it as fact. however, I do think insects/birds/reptiles are being increasingly adversely affected by these products.

as to 'world wide news', I find the news to be a very selective entity and what I consider significant often does not make headline news. the heritage farm site got their information from global research, centre for research on globalization, out of quebec Canada. this organization first started 9/9/11. their research focusses on "social, economic, strategic and environmental processes." beyond that, again, I can't state it's fact, but I consider it fairly valid.

what's UI people?

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

ok, here's the best article i could find referencing this info. http://www.pacc-news.com/5-2-12/heart_ingram5_2_12.html
seems to be direct from the source of info-the man himself Terrence Ingram who lost his hives.

 

[so lucky]

Apparently the first publisher of the information was "Prairie Advocate" and the beek's name is Ingram. Pretty interesting. Sounds like another bureaucrat overstepping their knowledge and authority. Check it out. http://www.pacc-news.com/5-2-12/heart_ingram5_2_12.html

 

[so lucky]

Chickie beat me to the punch!

 

[seedcorn]

Did I mis-understand article? He had foul brood, instructed by mail to destroy infected bees, honey, and equipment. He refused, dept. of Ag did it. What does this have to do with Monsanto?

All seems rational to me. Hive collapse has been a problem forever. With bees being transported all over, mixed and matched, surprised it isn't worse. Especially when you have people with diseased bees that refuse to do the right thing. Imagine commercial bee keepers supported this decision.

 

[Jared77]

I was thinking the same thing. The AG Dept stepped in to prevent further problems with foul brood. I don't know the protocol for dealing with foul brood but maybe he had to get rid of all his hives since they were within so many feet of the infected hive?

And considering nobody could seem to ID which hive it was, they did what was necessary by taking ALL the hives in question. Probably to test for more foul brood? I don't know I'm not with the AG Dept. Plus he was teaching classes and selling equipment that could be infested as well? They acted in the best interests of everybody.

As seedcorn mentioned if Round Up is truly an issue why is it only being identified by someone in Illinois? How many universities and private institutions have somehow missed this point yet a lone beekeeper in Illinois figured this out? That really makes me doubt what he's saying.

But once again its easy to rally behind the little guy with no research to prove his theory. I thought bees and most other insects were resistant to Round Up already. Its not some mutation that he discovered or selectively bred for.

Yet, another part of the statute states, No person shall transport a colony of bees or items of used bee equipment between counties within this State without a permit or compliance agreement which shall be issued based upon an inspection certificate from the Department. (Source: P.A. 88-138.)

No person - except that its OK for the IDofA to transport apiary equipment and bees intrastate - especially potentially contaminated equipment and bees?

Of course. They have a permit! This double standard makes no sense, especially if the disease is as contagious as they claim.

This right here is what irks me. Its not a double standard its what allows them to legally transport possibly infected material to a lab! Its not for them to just drive around willy nilly as they see fit. Its these kinds of editorials that they try to publish as honest fact posting articles that are only allowed to thrive on the internet. Anybody can write anything and publish anything they believe.

Its that Us vs Them mentality that I can't get behind on either side. Its like you have to take a side and when you point out facts or a lack of facts suddenly your the crazy one? Or your somehow tied to the other side because it can't be that someone's just wrong and failed to follow the law. Nope its easier to believe in a conspiracy than it is to believe he didn't do what he was supposed to do.