Honey bees Are Dropping Dead in Brazil and Sending a Message to Humans

Beekeepers found half a billion bees dead in Brazil for just 3 months. In four Brazilian states, 500 million bees

died in the first three months of this year, according to Bloomberg. Most insects have been found to have insecticides containing neonicotinoids and fipronil, which is forbidden in Europe. According to researchers, this is due to the pesticides used in apicultures and they fear it will continue killing more bees .

Aldo Machado, beekeeper and vice president of Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul beekeeping association, told Bloomberg that within 48 hours, tens of thousands of honey bees in his colony died after falling sick.

“As soon as the healthy bees began clearing the dying bees out of the hives, they became contaminated,” Machado said. “They started dying en masse.”

The mass deaths occurred between December 2018 and March 2019, and researchers are blaming pesticides — citing Brazil’s ever-rising, excessive use of the harsh and often deadly chemicals.

Since January, Brazil has approved almost 300 new pesticides for use on crops, SciDev.Net reported. According to Greenpeace’s Unearthed investigation

, the total has reached over 1,200 in the past three years. Many of these pesticides are banned in other countries and are considered “highly hazardous.”

“The death of all these bees is a sign that we’re being poisoned,” Carlos Alberto Bastos, president of the Apiculturist Association of Brazil’s Federal District, told Bloomberg.

The outlet reported the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency found that nearly 20 percent of samples had pesticide residues higher than permitted levels. Some were even unauthorized pesticides.

source:

www.independent.co.uk

www.bloomberg.com