Dec 8, 2010
Today I am going to be talking with Dr Henk Tennekes, who has
published a book that is very relevant to our understanding of how
systemic insecticides pose a real danger to bees and other insects,
as well as to birds and other wild creatures. And ultimately, of
course, to us, because we too are part of this picture.
Those of you who listen regularly to this podcast and who read my
articles will know that my obsession with bees extends deep into
the wider natural environment. The lives and habits of bees are
entwined with those of flowering plants, with the flora and fauna
of the soil that supports them and the birds and other creatures
that depend on plants and insects for food.
As beekeepers, we must remind ourselves that it is neither possible
nor even desirable to separate one species out from others and to
claim to understand it in isolation: everything in nature is
interdependent and if we interfere with one part of this intricate
structure without looking at the big picture, we risk upsetting
delicate and finely-tuned ecosystems that may underpin the very
existence of some of the key species on earth.
This is the reason that I have for many years campaigned against
the genetic manipulation of crop plants such as maize, oilseed rape
and rice. They are examples of plants that are being treated as it
they are not a part of the wider environment, in attempts to
exploit certain characteristics for profit, without proper
consideration being given to the effects such interference is
likely to have on other species of plants and animals that will
inevitably come into contact with them - and that, of course,
includes bees.
This caution must also apply to the use of synthetic chemicals,
especially on our food crops. The most controversial family of
chemicals that has recently been introduced into agriculture, which
many scientists are now blaming for causing mass die-offs of
honeybees, is the neonicotinoids. You can tell from their name that
they have a similar molecular structure to nicotine - the
ingredient in tobacco that makes cigarettes so deadly. And these
synthetic chemical forms are very toxic indeed, even in microscopic
quantities - in concentrations that even the most powerful
analytical equipment available to scientists struggles to
detect.
To illustrate just how poisonous the neonicotinoids can be, imagine
- if you will - an Olympic-size swimming pool, 50 metres by 25
metres, containing two and a half million litres of water - that's
2,500 metric tonnes - or over half a million UK gallons - or about
two thirds of a million US gallons. With that picture in mind,
imagine taking just one tablespoon of a neonicotinoid insecticide -
just one tablespoon - and adding it to that Olympic-size
swimming
pool.
Once that tiny amount of chemical has dispersed into the water -
and despite the almost unimaginably small quantity of active
ingredient in any single drop, that entire swimming pool is now
toxic to bees.
That's all it takes - just a few parts per billion of one of these
synthetic neonicotinoids - to have measurable effects on bees'
ability to navigate. It may not kill them outright, but if they
can't find their way home, it may as well have been instantly
fatal.
My subject today is Dr Henk Tennekes, who was born in The
Netherlands, and after graduating from the Agricultural
University of Wageningen in 1974, he performed his Ph.D. work at
Shell Research Ltd in the UK. He later worked for 5 years at
the Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, Germany.
The culmination of Dr Tennekes' research was his recent discovery
that the way the neonicotinoid insecticides work has much in common
with that of chemical carcinogens - cancer-causing agents.
When he realized the dire consequences of environmental pollution
with these insecticides, he decided to write a book to warn the
general public about an impending environmental catastrophe.
The title of Dr Tennekes book is: The Systemic Insecticides - a
Disaster in the Making.
You can read more about his book at
http://www.disasterinthemaking.com