“While Lovett says a disease being carried by the Varrao is a likely cause of the disappearing bees, he can’t be absolutely sure. “Nobody has carried out the work to see if it is these mites,” he says.”
This statement is completely untrue. Here is how VanEngelsdorp, acting apiarist for the state of Pennsylvania was reported on the varroa hypothesis:
“VanEngelsdorp, a sandy-bearded 37-year-old, quickly eliminated the most obvious suspects: Varroa and tracheal mites, which have occasionally wrought damage on hives since the 1980s.
At the state lab in Harrisburg, Pa., VanEngelsdorp checked bee samples from Pennsylvania and Georgia. He washed bees with soapy water to dislodge Varroa mites and cut the thorax of the bees to look for tracheal mites; he found that the number of mites was not unusually high.”
Here is the German scientist Ulrich Warnke:
“The disturbing phenomenon is presently predominantly attributed to the Varroa mite in newspapers and periodicals. It remains uncontested that there are such connections. Yet plausible arguments have been put forward explaining that the mite attack also occurs as a result of previous damage to the bees’ immune system due to electromagnetic fields. ”
He goes on to point out that bees affected by Varroa would be found dead just outside the hive rather than disappearing as in the case of CCD.
Last years much-vaunted Penn State University investigation under Diane Cox-Foster also appears to have ruled out Varroa:
“In the course of the investigation all previous hypothesis had been ruled out. As one of the investigators put it: “the only candidate left standing was, in fact, IAPV.”(5)
“Other viruses and Nosema parasites had been suggested as the cause of CCD, but the researchers found that those pathogens appear in both CCD and non-CCD samples.”https://inthesenewtimes.com/2008/05/15/the-disappearing-bees-ccd-and-electromagnetic-radiation/
Varroa is also inconsistent with CCD’s status as a mystery since as HESE have pointed out
“Infestations such as the varroa mite can be tested for quickly and easily, and could confirm this as the current cause, but this has not been reported this time.”
We can conclude that we don’t need £8 million to find out whether or not it is Varroa.
Rachel Oliver
With rising energy prices and the global biofuel rush already putting pressure on food prices, more news that some countries’ food supplies are being threatened from other corners is never welcome. But new research from the British Beekeeping Association (BBKA) released last week seemed to promise exactly that.
In These New Times 