Honeybee Die-off summary (long)

[TYASTO]

Dear friends,
 
I wonder if such a threat goes also for bumlebees and butterflies?
 
With love from Siberia,
 
Marina Tyasto
From: Simon Peter Fuller [mailto:SimonPeter at wwv.me.uk]
Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2007 4:23 AM
Subject: Honeybee Die-off summary



WHOLISTIC WORLD VISION GLOBAL NETWORKING SERVICE (PLEASE PASS ON!) 

www.wholisticworldvision.org 


Those who follow the channelled communications 'Letters from Matthew' will
remember that his recent 

guidance on this subject is that "the devic/elemental kingdom will take over
pollination duties from the bees" 

Interesting perspective - hope he is right - otherwise what Einstein said 

"that within 4 years of the end of bees, the human experiment on this planet
will be over" 

is a worrisome alternative! 




From: Richard Giles <ricgiles at powerup.com.au> 

Date: 11 May 2007 12:55:09 BST 

To: corkies6 at bigpond.com 

Cc: ketiaxbali at yahoo.com.au 

Subject: Honeybee Die-off Threatens Food Supply 


Hi All, 


A big and comprehensive roundup on the Bees and their 

disappearing disease..... 


best,     Richard 



- - - - Honeybee die-off threatens food supply (May 2) 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070502/ap_on_sc/honeybee_die_off 


BELTSVILLE, Md. - Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious
killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a
devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a
glorified bread-and-water diet. Honeybees don't just make honey; they
pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them:
apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and
cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including
citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries,
strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons.In fact, about one-third of the
human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is
responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on
bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being "stuck with grains
and water," said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA's bee
and pollination program. "This is the biggest general threat to our food
supply," Hackett said.While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting
that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems
particularly baffling and alarming.U.S. beekeepers in the past few months
have lost one-quarter of their colonies - or about five times the normal
winter losses - because of what scientists have dubbed Colony Collapse
Disorder. The problem started in November and seems to have spread to 27
states, with similar collapses reported in Brazil, Canada and parts of
Europe. CLIP 



Cell Phones Join Pesticides & GMOs as Possible Cause of Mass Disappearances
of Bees 

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4861.cfm 



COLLAPSING COLONIES - Are GM Crops Killing Bees?  (March 22, 2007) 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,473166,00.html 


A mysterious decimation of bee populations has German beekeepers worried,
while a similar phenomenon in the United States is gradually assuming
catastrophic proportions. The consequences for agriculture and the economy
could be enormous. DDPIs the mysterious decimation of bee populations in the
US and Germany a result of GM crops? Walter Haefeker is a man who is used to
painting grim scenarios. He sits on the board of directors of the German
Beekeepers Association (DBIB) and is vice president of the European
Professional Beekeepers Association. And because griping is part of a
lobbyist's trade, it is practically his professional duty to warn that "the
very existence of beekeeping is at stake."The problem, says Haefeker, has a
number of causes, one being the varroa mite, introduced from Asia, and
another is the widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers
with herbicides and practicing monoculture. Another possible cause,
according to Haefeker, is the controversial and growing use of genetic
engineering in agriculture.As far back as 2005, Haefeker ended an article he
contributed to the journal Der Kritischer Agrarbericht (Critical
Agricultural Report) with an Albert Einstein quote: "If the bee disappeared
off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life
left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no
more man." Mysterious events in recent months have suddenly made Einstein's
apocalyptic vision seem all the more topical. For unknown reasons, bee
populations throughout Germany are disappearing -- something that is so far
only harming beekeepers. But the situation is different in the United
States, where bees are dying in such dramatic numbers that the economic
consequences could soon be dire. No one knows what is causing the bees to
perish, but some experts believe that the large-scale use of genetically
modified plants in the US could be a factor. CLIP 



Honeybeeworld ... EMF exposures? 

http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3656661/ 

Honey bees navigate by observing changes as small as 0.6% in the Earth's
magnetic field 

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3662270/ 

Mobile Phones and Vanishing Bees 

http://omega.twoday.net/stories/3656399/ 



A honey trap set by phone masts 

http://freepage.twoday.net/stories/3665837/ 

FEARS that radiation from phone masts is killing bees could affect decisions
over the location of masts in Bolton. Radiation from masts has been blamed
for dwindling honey bee populations, with scientists claiming it interferes
with the insects' navigation systems and stops them finding their way back
to their hives. Research by Landau University in Germany found that 70 per
cent of bees exposed to radiation failed to find their way back to their
hive after searching for pollen and nectar. CLIP 


Do You Have Microwave Sickness? 

http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/do_you_have_microwave_sickness5[1].doc 

I've compiled the simple explanations for leaflet distribution - since
people seem to be so oblivious to the dangers this technology poses. Feel
free to make leaflets and pass it around or just forward it to everyone you
know. 



Experts May Have Found What's Bugging the Bees (April 26, 2007) 

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-bees26apr26,1,7929894.story 


A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia
maybe playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony
Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, UC San
Francisco researchers said Wednesday. Researchers have been struggling for
months to explain the disorder, and the new findings provide the first solid
evidence pointing to a potential cause. But the results are "highly
preliminary" and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County,
UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. "We don't want to give anybody the
impression that this thing has been solved." Other researchers said
Wednesday that they too had found the fungus, a single-celled parasite
called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from around the country - as well
as in some hives where bees had survived. Those researchers have also found
two other fungi and half a dozen viruses in the dead bees. 



Deserted Beehives, Starving Young Stun Scientists 

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050207EC.shtml 


"The bees were gone," David Hackenberg says. "The honey was still there.
There are young brood (eggs) still in the hive. Bees just don't do that." On
that November night last year in the Florida field where he wintered his
bees, Hackenberg found 400 hives empty. Another 30 hives were "disappearing,
dwindling or whatever you want to call it," and their bees were "full of a
fungus nobody's ever seen before." 


Heartwrenching Video of Dying Bees 

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2007/04/28.html#d 

Coast listener Larry shares this video of bees dying (slightly graphic) in a
grocery store parking lot. About the video Larry writes: "On April 16, Doris
and I were leaving a local grocery store, when I noticed a bee. I was glad
to see it, until Doris pointed out that all around us there were bees
trying, and failing to stay aloft. The parking lot was covered with them.
Most were struggling to crawl, or regain their feet. It was truly
heart-wrenching. On our way to our car, we noticed that there was a whole
swarm dying at our feet. I got out my video camera, squatted next to my car,
and took some footage of their struggles. To us, it seemed that the bees
were reacting to an airborne toxin." Recommended by Kathleen Roberts
(weerkhr at pacbell.net) 



Hundreds of dead seals wash up on shore (May 2) 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_sc/kazakhstan_dead_seals;_ylt=ApyR
o3Bl4qex.14MRTKSIwJxieAA 

ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Hundreds of dead seals have washed up on Kazakhstan's
Caspian Sea shoreline in the past several days, bringing the total number of
the animals found dead along the shoreline in recent weeks to 832, the
Emergencies Agency said Wednesday. Environmental officials in the Central
Asian nation were trying to determine what killed seals - most of them young
- the agency said in a statement. Preliminary tests showed some of the
animals were infected with the distemper virus, authorities said.Several
dozen dead seals were found by oil workers on the Caspian shore in western
Kazakhstan's Mangistau region about a month ago. By mid-April, the number
had risen above 500.A series of viral epidemics have killed thousands of
Caspian seals since the late 1990s.Environmentalists also have been
concerned about the effect on wildlife of increasing exploration of the
inland sea's extensive oil reserves.Last year, 350 seals and thousands of
sturgeon died as a result of a heavy metal leak from an oil field. 



Animal Extinction - the greatest threat to mankind  (April 30, 2007)
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2494659.ece 


(...) Scientists recognise that species continually disappear at a
background extinction rate estimated at about one species per million per
year, with new species replacing the lost in a sustainable fashion.
Occasional mass extinctions convulse this orderly norm, followed by
excruciatingly slow recoveries as new species emerge from the remaining
gene-pool, until the world is once again repopulated by a different
catalogue of flora and fauna. From what we understand so far, five great
extinction events have reshaped earth in cataclysmic ways in the past 439
million years, each one wiping out between 50 and 95 per cent of the life of
the day, including the dominant life forms; the most recent event killing
off the non-avian dinosaurs. Speciations followed, but an analysis published
in Nature showed that it takes 10 million years before biological diversity
even begins to approach what existed before a die-off. Today we're living
through the sixth great extinction, sometimes known as the Holocene
extinction event. We carried its seeds with us 50,000 years ago as we
migrated beyond Africa with Stone Age blades, darts, and harpoons, entering
pristine Ice Age ecosystems and changing them forever by wiping out at least
some of the unique megafauna of the times, including, perhaps, the
sabre-toothed cats and woolly mammoths. 


When the ice retreated, we terminated the long and biologically rich epoch
sometimes called the Edenic period with assaults from our newest weapons:
hoes, scythes, cattle, goats, and pigs. But, as harmful as our forebears may
have been, nothing compares to what's under way today. Throughout the 20th
century the causes of extinction - habitat degradation, overexploitation,
agricultural monocultures, human-borne invasive species, human-induced
climate-change - increased exponentially, until now in the 21st century the
rate is nothing short of explosive. The World Conservation Union's Red List
- a database measuring the global status of Earth's 1.5 million
scientifically named species - tells a haunting tale of unchecked,
unaddressed, and accelerating biocide.When we hear of extinction, most of us
think of the plight of the rhino, tiger, panda or blue whale. But these sad
sagas are only small pieces of the extinction puzzle. The overall numbers
are terrifying. Of the 40,168 species that the 10,000 scientists in the
World Conservation Union have assessed, one in four mammals, one in eight
birds, one in three amphibians, one in three conifers and other gymnosperms
are at risk of extinction. The peril faced by other classes of organisms is
less thoroughly analysed, but fully 40 per cent of the examined species of
planet earth are in danger, including perhaps 51 per cent of reptiles, 52
per cent of insects, and 73 per cent of flowering plants.By the most
conservative measure - based on the last century's recorded extinctions -
the current rate of extinction is 100 times the background rate. 


But the eminent Harvard biologist Edward O Wilson, and other scientists,
estimate that the true rate is more like 1,000 to 10,000 times the
background rate. The actual annual sum is only an educated guess, because no
scientist believes that the tally of life ends at the 1.5 million species
already discovered; estimates range as high as 100 million species on earth,
with 10 million as the median guess. Bracketed between best- and worst-case
scenarios, then, somewhere between 2.7 and 270 species are erased from
existence every day. Including today.We now understand that the majority of
life on Earth has never been - and will never be - known to us. In a
staggering forecast, Wilson predicts that our present course will lead to
the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100.You probably
had no idea. Few do. A poll by the American Museum of Natural History finds
that seven in 10 biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal
threat to human existence, a more serious environmental problem than even
its contributor, global warming; and that the dangers of mass extinction are
woefully underestimated by almost everyone outside science. By the end of
the century half of all species will be extinct. Does that matter? CLIP 





 - - - - - - - 



FROM:     Jean Hudon 

Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator 


Hi All, 


A comprehensive article  in some depth on the multiple roles of bees and the
new 

phenomena of CCD  (Colony Collapse Disorder). 

best,         Richard 




- - - - 



Bees - Biological Geiger Counters 

International Medical Veritas Association 


Approximately one-third of the typical American's diet (primarily the
healthiest part) is directly or indirectly the result of honey bee
pollination. 

 


On their travels, they transfer pollen from plant to plant, flower to
flower, fertilizing the blossoms and allowing them to set fruit. This
ancient partnership of pollinator and plant is essential to life as we know
it. One-third of the food we eat comes from crops that need animal
pollinators, a role often filled by bees but sometimes by butterflies,
beetles, birds, or bats. 


The New York Times and other major media sources have recently published
scary articles about a catastrophe in the making, about a disaster that will
soon have a direct impact on our collective stomachs. In 24 states
throughout the country, beekeepers are getting the shock of their lives
seeing hundreds of millions of their bees literally disappearing. Beekeepers
go out to open their hives and find them empty. Bees are flying off in
search of pollen and nectar and simply not returning to their homes, they
vanish without a trace. Researchers say the bees are dying in the fields,
perhaps becoming exhausted or simply disoriented and eventually falling
victim to the cold. Researchers have labeled this affliction “colony
collapse disorder.” 


Farmers across North America have been blitzing their fields with millions
of tons of herbicides and pesticides for decades. And since the mid to late
1990's massive numbers of genetically engineered crops have been planted. 

Greg Ciola 


Greg Ciola wrote in his book GMOs, Beware of the Coming Food Apocalypse, “In
one German study done at the University of Jena they tested bees on a field
of genetically engineered rapeseed (canola). The bees were released onto the
crop and then took the pollen back to their hive and fed it to young bees.
When scientists analyzed the bacteria in the gut of the young bees they
discovered that it contained the same gene traits as those of the modified
crops. This study is very alarming because bees are one of the most
important insects to mankind. From bees we get honey, pollen, royal jelly,
propolis, and bees wax. Irrespective of GM crops, there is already great
concern in America over the health of the honeybee. American apiaries have
been dealing with many other problems over the last few years. They can’t be
too pleased to know that altered genes from rapeseed can now be transferred
to the bee. Just think how many honeybees in America are now pollinating on
genetically modified rapeseed! Better yet, how many honeybees are now
pollinating on all genetically modified crops? When bees start dying off,
it’s only a matter of time before men does too!” 


Safe pastures where bees can forage without being poisoned by pesticides are
becoming increasingly rare. 

In the UK, there have been "a few but significant examples" of what experts
call the "Marie Celeste phenomenon" - colonies abandoning hives altogether
leaving no evidence of what caused their disappearance. Greece, Italy,
Poland, Portugal, and Spain have also had their bouts with “colony collapse
disorder.' 


More than 90 crops in North America rely on honeybees to transport pollen
from flower to flower, effecting fertilization and allowing production of
fruit and seed. The amazing versatility of the species is worth an estimated
$14 billion a year to the United States economy. 


Honey bees are responsible for approximately one third of the United States
crop pollination including almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears,
pumpkins, cucumbers, cherries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.
Investigators are exploring a range of theories, including viruses, a fungus
and poor bee nutrition. They are also studying a group of pesticides that
were banned in some European countries to see if these are somehow affecting
the bees’ innate ability to find their way back home. It has been noted that
to give bees energy while they are pollinating, beekeepers now feed them
protein supplements and a liquid mix of sucrose and corn syrup. 


There are no tell-tale bee corpses inside colonies or out in front of hives,
where bees typically deposit their dead nest mates. 


Experts are speculating that it may be the consequence of a new infection,
or of several diseases simultaneously, leading to a fatally compromised
immune system. It is also possible that severe stress brought on by
crowding, inadequate nutrition or perhaps the combined effects of
prophylactic antibiotics and miticides sprayed by beekeepers to ward off
infections. Another particularly sad possibility is that accidental exposure
to a new pesticide may cause non-lethal behavioral changes that interfere
with the ability of honeybees to orient and navigate; brain-damaged foraging
bees may simply get lost on their way home and starve to death away from the
hive. 


Honeybees contribute to our food chain in more ways than any other animal
species. They are vital to alfalfa and clover, which is processed into hay
to feed beef and dairy cattle. 


The public does not recognize the magnitude of the threat that these
mysterious events present but we should be more than alarmed. Scientists
have been observing how one species after another is disappearing from our
planet but never before has one with such a direct bearing on food
production been threatened. Extinction of a species doesn't just affect the
group that disappears - it tends to alter much more. 


Earth's biodiversity is being overtaken by a mass extinction which, if
allowed to proceed unchecked, could well eliminate between one quarter and
one half of all species. 

Norman Myers 


Bees do make excellent biological geiger counters. They are especially
valuable perennial mobile biomonitors of the local environment. Foraging
honey bees fly and crawl into flowers and inspect many substrates and
openings. As such, they come in contact with naturally-occurring materials
in the environment as well as manmade pollutants including heavy metals and
pesticides. Pollen and these exotic materials stick to their hairy bodies
and are carried back to the nest cavity where they often become incorporated
into the beeswax, pollen and honey stores. Thus, with their wide foraging
range and collecting activities, they are natural monitoring agents for
investigating the ebb and flow of floral resources and toxic substances
within the environment. At least one researcher has effectively used honey
bees to collect pollutants including heavy metals, radionuclides and
pesticides, which are concentrated within their nests and can be
subsequently analyzed using modern chemical analytical instrumentation.[i] 


This reporting of “colony collapse disorder (CCD)” is a very interesting
lesson in science. Either scientists have lost their ability to think
intuitively[ii] or the media is again demonstrating its dishonesty by
refusing to publish essential but unpopular information that threatens
incoming advertising dollars. Though it is not reasonable to assume that any
single factor is responsible, it is a glaring error to omit from the
equation the rising tide of mercury on the land, water and air to which both
we and honey bees are exposed. Most beekeepers affected by CCD report that
they use antibiotics and miticides in their colonies, though the lack of
uniformity as to which particular chemicals are used makes it seem unlikely
that any single such chemical is involved. Yet when one chemical weakens a
biological system, another can come in with a killer blow. 

The decline of honeybee populations has brought the agricultural community
to the brink of a pollination crisis. 


Scientists have already studied mercury levels in the head, abdomen and
thorax of bees (Apis mellifera) from 20 bee populations coming from
industrially contaminated areas with a dominant load of mercury (10
populations) as well as from uncontaminated areas. The following mercury
levels were found in bees from the contaminated area: heads 0.029-0.385
mg/kg, thorax 0.028-0.595 mg/kg and abdomen 0.083-2.255 mg/kg. Mercury
levels in samples from uncontaminated areas ranged from 0.004 to 0.024 mg/kg
in the heads, from 0.004 to 0.008 mg/kg in the thorax and from 0.008 to
0.020 mg/kg in the abdomen. In honey samples from the contaminated and
uncontaminated areas mercury levels ranged from 0.050 to 0.212 mg/kg and
from 0.001 to 0.003 mg/kg, respectively.[iii] Researchers have also
demonstrated heavy metal accumulation in honey suggested that honey may be
useful for assessing the presence of environmental contaminants.[iv] 


Because of their experimental traceability, recently sequenced genome and
well-understood biology, honey bees are an ideal model system for
integrating molecular, genetic, physiological and socio-biological
perspectives to advance our understanding of converging environmental
stresses. Honey bees have the highest rates of flight muscle metabolism and
power output ever recorded in the animal kingdom. Researchers believe that
it is likely that changes in muscle gene expression, biochemistry,
metabolism and functional capacity may be driven primarily by behavior as
opposed to age, as is the case for changes in honey bee brains.[v] Even at
low levels of exposure, mercury can permanently damage the brain and nervous
system and cause behavioral changes in people. Mercury is a harsh
neurological poison that affects neurological tissues throughout the animal
kingdom and it is very possible that it is affecting the sensitive brains of
honey bees. 


When gilial progenitor stem cells in the brain were exposed to 5 to 6 parts
per billion (ppb) of mercury, these cells stop dividing and simply shut
down! These cells are absolutely crucial in building the brain in infancy
and beyond. 


Professor Mark Noble 

University of Rochester NY 


 Power plants are the largest unregulated source of mercury emissions,
releasing 48 tons of mercury into the air annually in the United States
alone. Oil, fertilizers, pesticides and the countless other chemicals,
byproducts and debris that enter our water, air and land continually afflict
species worldwide and produce damaging, long-lasting effects. Mercury is
however one of the most prevalent and powerful poisons, and it manages to
infiltrate everything. 


 Mercury pollution is making its way into nearly every habitat in the U.S.,
exposing countless species of wildlife to potentially harmful levels of this
neurological toxin. 

“From songbirds to alligators, turtles to bats, eagles to otters, mercury is
accumulating in nearly every corner of the food chain,' says Catherine
Bowes, Northeast Program Manager for the National Wildlife Federation and
principal author of a recent report on the issue. “This report paints a
compelling picture of mercury contamination in the U.S., and many more
species are at risk than we previously thought. Fish, long thought to be the
key species affected by mercury, are just the tip of the iceberg.' 


Global decline of amphibians has been a hot issue in recent years among both
the scientists who study them and the general public. A paper by University
of Georgia researchers in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry suggests
that atmospheric deposition of mercury in aquatic habitats has the potential
to have significant impacts on amphibians in the larval stage of
development.[vi] 


The National Wildlife Federation report, Poisoning Wildlife: The Reality of
Mercury Pollution, is a compilation of over 65 published studies finding
elevated levels of mercury in a wide range of wildlife species. The report
highlights mercury levels in fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians
living in freshwater, marine, and forest habitats from across the country.
The accumulation of mercury in fish has been well-understood for years,
leading 46 states in the U.S. to issue consumption advisories warning people
to limit or avoid eating certain species of fish. However, scientists have
recently discovered that mercury accumulates in forest soils, indicating
that wildlife that lives and feeds outside aquatic habitats are also at risk
of exposure to mercury. 

“Scientific understanding of the extent of mercury contamination in wildlife
has expanded significantly in recent years,' says Dr. David Evers of the
Biodiversity Research Institute, wildlife toxicologist and leading
researcher in this field. “We are finding mercury accumulation in far more
species, and at much higher levels, than we previously thought was
occurring. This poses a very real threat to the health of many wildlife
populations, some of which are highly endangered.' 


The scientific studies compiled in the report show mercury in a wide variety
of species: 


Freshwater Fish: Brook Trout, Walleye, Yellow Perch, Rainbow Trout, Northern
Perch, Largemouth Bass 


Birds in Aquatic Habitats: Bald Eagle, Great Egret, Wood Stork, Northern
Shoveler, Common Loon, Red-winged Blackbird, White Ibis, Common Tern, Belted
Kingfisher 


Birds in Forest Habitats: Wood Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, Louisiana
Waterthrush, Bicknell’s Thrush, Carolina Wren, Prothonotary Warbler 


Mammals: Florida Panther, Indiana Bat, Mink, River Otter, Raccoon 


Reptiles, Amphibians, Invertebrates: Two-lined Salamander, Snapping Turtle,
Crayfish, American Alligator, Bullfrog 


Marine Life: Tiger Shark, Sperm Whale, Striped Bass, Loggerhead Sea Turtle,
Narwhal, Polar Bear, Beluga Whale, Ringed Seal 


It is understandable that those who are at the helm of our system do not
want to create a massive scare by creating an association between a disaster
in agriculture (via the collapse in bee colonies) and the tremendous rise in
mercury that the government is trying to suppress. This book, The Rising
Tide of Mercury and Other Toxic Chemicals, (coming at the end of 2007 from
IMVA Publications), will clearly demonstrate the threat of mercury which is
now taking on gigantic proportions, and how virtually no one is effectively
dealing with the crisis. What good is it for Europe to eliminate the use of
mercury from the continent when it is being spilled into the environment in
huge amounts by the United States, China and India? Mercury circles the
globe just as radiation from nuclear accidents and the use of deleted
uranium weapons does. 


It is very possible that the honey bees are being affected in advance of
other species in a massive way but it has already been demonstrated by
scientists that humans, especially children, are also being seriously
affected neurologically by mercury in the air. (See Chapter on Mercury in
the Air and rising rates of autism.) The United States is being hit
simultaneously by two increasing waves of mercury pollution: one could be
responsible for triggering the collapse in bee populations, and the other
long-standing issue of constant large tonnage being released each and every
day.   


The increasing occurrence and intensity of wildfires due to climate change
is worsening mercury pollution in North America according to a new study
from researchers at Michigan State University, the U.S. Geological Survey,
and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Canadian Forest
Service. Wildfires are releasing mercury long since sequestered in Northern
wetlands and will without doubt add to health problems in both humans and
animals. 

Industry puts out more than carbon monoxide into the air, tons of mercury
are put out into the air each and everyday. 


 A 2002 study from the University of Santa Cruz, California illuminates the
mechanisms of a second pathway where mercury is increasing. This study found
that mercury from coal emissions in China ends up in rainwater on the
California coast.[vii] Atmospheric mercury travels around the globe as a gas
and must be oxidized into charged ions that will attach themselves to water
molecules before they are washed out as rain. Ozone, abundant in industrial
and urban smog, plays a key role in this oxidative process. When the gaseous
mercury blows into San Francisco Bay from Asia, the local smog is there
waiting to "enrich" it and set in motion the process of introducing more
mercury into the food chain via rain onto surface waters. With China and
India putting up new dirty coal fired plants at a furious rate it is
literally raining mercury in the United States and all over the world. By
2020, the United States will emit almost one-fifth more gases that lead to
global warming than it did in 2000, increasing the risks of drought and
scarce water supplies, and of course, though no one is talking about it,
mercury emissions will continue to rise. 


  Scientists from the University of Quebec who have been studying the Amazon
basin since 1992, measured riverbank sediments for mercury levels in small
increasing increments and discovered that the most recent sediments
contained 1.5 to 3 times the amount of mercury compared to those of 40 years
earlier. The timing of the mercury increases fits well with the huge
colonization of the area initiated during the 1960s by Brazil's National
Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform. Through this program, tens of
thousands of families relocated from the poorer regions of northeastern
Brazil to the Amazon basin. Most of these families turned to farming, and
cleared more than 2.5 million hectares of Amazon forest using "slash and
burn" methods. While most people are aware of the perils of deforestation in
terms of global warming and depletion of protective ozone, only now are
scientists beginning to understand that the consequent erosion of soils
contributes to worldwide mercury contamination. "When you have forest cover,
this mercury is extremely stable in the soils," explains one of the
researchers. "There is hardly any release to the aquatic ecosystem. The
mercury is bound to clay, organic matter, humic acids, and so on."[viii]
Without the forest cover, exposed soil is washed into waterways as regularly
as it rains. Once in contact with bacteria in the rivers, inorganic mercury
is converted to methyl mercury and thereby introduced into the food chain. 


Mercury continues to appear in places and via means that scientists could
not have predicted. Two studies in the March 15, 2002 issue of Environmental
Science and Technology describe the phenomenon of "mercury sunrise," an
event first described in 1998 in the Arctic north. During a span of only
five months during the polar spring each year, the northern-most coast of
Alaska receives more than twice the amount of mercury that would usually
fall during an entire year on the northeastern coast of the US. This
phenomenon also occurs on the southern polar region, and researchers
estimate that as much as a hundred tons of mercury are dumped on both poles
annually.[ix] 


It has been clear since the infamous 1950s case of women in Minimata, Japan
who gave birth to children with severe birth defects because of
mercury-tainted fish in their diet, that exposure to high levels of mercury
can be harmful. Subsequent studies have revealed that even low-level mercury
exposure threatens normal development of the fetus. Problems with vision,
hearing, language and motor skills are typical of mercury-related
neurological damage. Some recent studies indicate that men with elevated
mercury levels may suffer more heart attacks. Animal studies suggest that
low-level mercury exposure produces autoimmune diseases and other immune
system anomalies.[x] The mercury is there but the recent publicity about
this issue is centered on how safe it is to eat mercury contaminated fish! 


Because mercury is everywhere - in our water, foods, air, soil, vaccines and
dental amalgam - it needs to be factored into ALL disease etiologies. 


Are we next? Will humans start to fall like the bees? It is very possible,
more likely than not, that top federal health officials have already
previewed the looming disaster but cruelly refuse to face the public with
the truth. It is either that or they are the most ignorant medical
scientists in the universe. Instead of warning humanity and directing the
government’s efforts to reduce and even eliminate mercury, as the European
Union is setting out to do with earnest, health officials each and every
year, at an increasingly frantic pace, are warning of hundreds of millions
of deaths from influenza and the bird flu. Never once will you hear them
quote research that indicates that mercury toxicity increases the frequency
and intensity of influenza symptoms and could be one of the root causes of
death from the flu. We know that mercury is rising in threatening
concentrations, it is a scientific fact. Yet the United States government is
doing practically nothing to stop mercury pollution. To the contrary, a
hundred and fifty new coal fire plants are on the drawing board. 


The unprecedented human pressure on the Earth's ecosystems threatens our
future as a species. We confront problems more intractable than any previous
generation, some of them at the moment apparently insoluble. 

BBC News 


Mercury is an inherent insanity in the medical and dental communities.
Doctors, dentists and health officials will not admit the dangers of
mercury. If a physicist denied the basic laws of physics we would find that
more than ridiculous but we allow doctors and dentists to shame themselves
in front of medical history every day. With what we might call intellectual
barbarism or chemical terrorism, they insist on exposing people and children
to its dangers in clinical practice. Thus the medical and dental professions
cannot be trusted with anything when it comes to mercury and its dangers. 


There is no way to ignore the fact that we all share one earth, one
biosphere in which our transgressions against nature, either from ignorance
or greed or malice, eventually affect us all. 


Humanity is beset by stresses covering every aspect of reality. We do now,
and will continue to, receive signs and symptoms of massive but hidden
forces in motion that the public media will not report on. Finally there has
been a turn around when it comes to climate change. Unfortunately, with
something as huge as the weather, the information is coming too late for us
to change the course of destiny. With mercury it is much the same. Instead
of decreasing mercury pollution, it is increasing through rapid expansion of
the use of coal for the creation of electricity. 


Treatments for Mercury Toxicity 


The BBC reports that hazardous chemicals are now found in the bodies of all
new-born babies, and an estimated one in four people worldwide are exposed
to unhealthy concentrations of air pollutants. But this vastly understates
the problem because it does not include the invisible almost radioactive
cloud of mercury that is virtually everywhere, even in the most pristine
environments thousands of miles distant from the nearest point of mercury
pollution. When it comes to mercury everyone is exposed and is at risk
though in the southern hemisphere we would expect to find much less exposure
than in the industrial north. 


Instead of highly toxic vaccines containing even more mercury or drugs like
Tamiflu, the public needs to be given a crash course in mercury
detoxification and chelation. Again doctors fail us here, because they can
only come up with more toxic substances to get rid of other toxic substances
and a dwindling percentage of the population can afford these drugs and the
doctors that prescribe them. Fees are as high as $900 an hour for
consultations with certain doctors who specialize in this type of work.
Because we live in a heavily polluted world, our exposure is not only
constant but increasing year by year so there is a need for safe non-toxic
substances that we can use safely throughout our lifetime. Instead of using
toxic substances, we can use natural items that not only sweep the chemical
toxins from our bodies but also provide basic nutrition that strengthens us
in many ways. 


According to the Marine Technology Society, brown seaweeds, such as kelp,
contain fucoidan and algin, which have been shown to remove lead, mercury,
cadmium, barium, tin and other heavy metals from tissues. Seaweeds also help
remove radioactive isotopes from the body. Using seaweeds both as a
condiment and at least several times a week as a vegetable (so that you
consume a half-cup serving) is necessary for chelating action to take
place.[xi]  Iodine also concentrates in seaweed and is another chelator of
mercury.  Ninety percent of the population is deficient in
iodine.[xii],[xiii]  Spirulina and chlorella have also been used widely in
this regard. 


Several years ago a researcher studying a possible connection between
chronic bacterial infections and heavy metals in the body found that some
patients released mercury into their urine after eating Vietnamese soup
containing cilantro (Coriandrum sativum).[xiv] This effect has been
replicated in other studies, although scientists have not yet determined
exactly which constituents in cilantro have mercury-chelating effects. As a
preventive, then, cilantro can be eaten, fresh and raw, as a regular part of
the diet to orally chelate not only mercury but lead and aluminum as well. 


Several doctors have paid attention and have created chelation formulas that
are safe and effective to use without medical supervision. Dr. Georgiou,
after 3 years of research settled on a golden triangle of natural chelation
using Chlorella Growth Factor, Cilantro leaf tincture and Homeopathic
energized cell-decimated chlorella vulgaris. He calls his product HMD (Heavy
Metal Detox). 


Dr. Allan Greenburg’s golden triangle uses cilantro, chlorella and ALA and
his formula provides important support substances: selenium, magnesium,
zinc, vitamin C, E, MSM (Methysulfonylmethane), NAC (N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine),
L-Glutamine and Taurine, which turns Chelorex into an effective and complete
nutritionally-driven chelation prescription tested for the removal of 16
toxic metals. This is crucial because the higher the level of intra-body
toxins, the more that an individual's detox nutrients are utilized, and the
greater the likelihood of adverse effects from toxins. (Important news for
the medical community is that Chelorex is now available in a liquid form and
this is very good news for children who are mercury toxic.) 


The International Medical Veritas Association promotes the heavy use of
transdermal magnesium therapy as a crucial element in any detoxification and
chelation program. Experimentation with transdermal iodine therapy is now
also beginning. We have been heavily involved in creating awareness of
childhood immunization and the gigantic epidemic in autism and other
neurological disorders, so we favor transdermal and liquid formulations that
are much easier to administer to children. 


Mark Sircus Ac., OMD 

Director International Medical Veritas Association 

http://www.imva.info 

http://www.magnesiumforlife.com 



[i] Bromenshenk, et al. 1995 


[ii] Albert Einstein said, “I think with intuition.” Intuition is different
than conceptual or intellectual thought process as it is different from the
imaginative level of consciousness. It is a special perceptual ability to
sense from a distance, to literally feel the totality of a situation. See
HeartHealth by IMVA Publications available end of 2007/early 2008. 


[iii] Toporcak J, Legath J, Kul'kova J. Univerzita veterinarskeho lekarstva,
Kosice. 


[iv] Environ Monit Assess. 2005 Oct;109(1-3):181-7.  Determination of heavy
metals in honey in Kahramanmaras City, Turkey.Erbilir F, Erdogrul O.
Department of Food Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of
Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. 


[v] J Exp Biol. 2005 Nov;208(Pt 22):4193-8. Muscle biochemistry and the
ontogeny of flight capacity during behavioral development in the honey bee,
Apis mellifera.Roberts SP, Elekonich MM. Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4004, USA. 


[vi] http://www.uga.edu/aboutUGA/research-frogs.html 


[vii] Mercury in California Rainwater Linked to Industrial Emissions in
Asia; Media Alerts Archive, December 19, 2002;
www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/2002/2002121911028.html 


[viii] R.C.Willis, Mercury Rising: Deforestation and gold mining in the
Amazon basin cause the release of toxic metal, Today's Chemist at Work,
March 2001, vol. 10, No. 3, pp 30-36 


[ix] T. Steele, "Mercury sunrise" effect found in Antarctica, EurekaAlert!;
www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/acs-sp031902.php 


[x] N. Shute, Heavy Metal Fish, U.S. News & World Report, March 17, 2003 


[xi] S. Weed, Healing Wise, Ash Tree Publishing, 1989, p.223. 


[xii] Iodine; Why you need it, Why you can’t Live without it; David
Brownstein MD; 


[xiii] Seaweed sold in the United States has a tremendous variation in the
amount of iodine content. In Japan, the average Japanese eats around 13.8 mg
of iodine per day with the vast majority of that iodine coming from seaweed
that has been specifically grown and cultured to maximize iodine trapping in
the seaweed. To my knowledge, this particular type of seaweed is not being
sold in the United States at the present time. Gupta: Consequences of Iodine
Deficiency
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/01/31/consequences_of_iodine_defi
ciency.htm 


[xiv] D. Williams, Poor Man's Chelation Therapy, on-line version,
www.home.earthlink.net/~jedcline/cilantro.html 


             

International Medical Veritas Association 

Copyright 2007 All rights reserved. 




*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20070514/4285849a/attachment-0015.htm>