Watered down, heated, pressurized honey not real at all

Much of the honey hitting supermarket shelves is derived from an ultra filtering procedure that heats honey to high temperatures, forcing the natural substance at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen. In this way, manufacturers conceal the identity of the source of the honey, which is a technique used by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey on the U.S. market for years. The Chinese are responsible for dumping dangerous antibiotics, artificial sweeteners, and leeching copious amounts of heavy metals into imported honey products.

The Food Safety News investigation

After hearing about US grocery stores being flooded with unidentified honey, Food Safety News began an investigation into several outlets that sold foreign honey. They purchased 60 different containers of honey from 10 different states, buying from a wide range of supermarkets. They then sent the honey samples to premier melissopalynologist and professor at Texas A&M University, Vaughn Bryant. What he found was that roughly three fourths of the honey contained no pollen, making it unidentifiable and unsafe. Of that average, he found that:

• 100 percent of Winnie the Pooh sold in Walmart stores had all pollen removed.

• 100 percent of honey from individual packets from KFC and McDonald’s had all pollen removed.

• 77 percent of honey from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, and Target had no traced of pollen.

• 100 percent of honey from drugstores like Walgreen’s and CVS Pharmacy had all the pollen filtered out.

• He did find out, however, that honey purchased from co-ops, farmers markets and stores like Trader Joes contained the full amount of original pollen.

Ultra filtering of pollen has to do with concealing honey’s true source

Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, says that removing all pollen from honey “makes no sense.” He continues, “I don’t know of any US producer that would want to do that. Elimination of all pollen can only be achieved by ultra-filtering and this filtration process does nothing but cost money and diminish the quality of the honey.”

Jensen added that pollen-void honey is most likely Chinese honey that has entered the country illegally and not inspected.

Richard Adee, who produces 7 million pounds of honey each year from multiple states, explains that real honey is valued for its flavor and nutritional value and that this “is what’s being removed during the ultra filtration process.”

He says that, “It’s no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China.”

Most honey packers are worried about what is being imported and what they are pumping into their plastic bears. Much of the honey sold in the US is imported from Asian countries. Two hundred and eight million pounds of honey have been imported over the past 18 months; 60 percent of that comes from Asian countries that typically launder honey illegally for China.

By using in-house private testing, some US manufacturers have found out that their Asian imported honey is watered down with high fructose corn syrup and a myriad of illegal sweeteners and antibiotics.

This is causing many people to seek out local trustworthy supplies of honey, who leave this precious resource in its unadulterated, nutritional form.

Look around and find a local distributor of honey. Real honey is a valuable resource.

Sources for this article include

http://www.foodsafetynews.com

http://www.motherearthnews.com

http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-honey-isnt-honey/

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The June 17th Wilsonville Oregon incident resulted in over 50,000 dead bumble bees, honey bees and other pollinators. The bees literally dropped dead while feeding on the blooms of flowering Linden trees in a Target parking lot, after the pesticide “Safari” was sprayed on the blooming trees. This catastrophic event was a grim reminder of the devastating consequences of the use of deadly poisons by humans in their attempts to control nature.

Then, on June 26th, it was reported in the Ontario, Canada Post that local beekeeper David Schuit had lost nearly 40 million bees at his family’s bee yard and hives in Elmwood, Ontario. A local organic farmer and apiarist, Schuit raises and breeds buckfast honeybees for pollination and honey production. This was the second year a massive sudden death of his bees had occurred; both times within weeks of the planting of chemically treated seed corn crops in his region.

Shortly after the first incident in 2012 an article in the Toronto Sun quoted, Schuit describing the condition of the bees:

“It killed the queens, it killed my drones, it killed my worker bees,” Schuit said.

“The workers, when they’re exposed to this chemical, it paralyzes the bees. They’re still living but they’re dying, and they’re in agony. The legs kicking, the tongue sticking out. Even the stinger sticks out and venom drops out. They just can’t control their bodies.”

This disturbing description of bees dying has been observed around the world from France to the U.S. Over the last decade beekeepers have faced accelerated losses of their bees in the wake of the expanding of the use and popularity of the class of pesticides introduced in the 1990’s known as neonicotinoids.

These pesticides, which manufacturers continue to claim are ‘not the culprit’ in the massive bee die offs, have now been linked to additional, even more serious effects from the Netherlands to California and throughout Canada and the Midwest United States.

The evidence is in and it’s far more condemning than anyone had imagined. Studies around the world have clear and distinct findings directly linking the persistent presence of neonicotinoids to serious environmental consequences. It turns out the bees are not the only ones in serious trouble.

A report published in January of 2013 issued by the American Bird Conservancy chronicles massive bird die offs in North America over the last decade, as well as a long list of failures in the permitting processes of these toxins. Co-authored by internationally renowned bird toxicologist Pierre Mineau and Cynthia Palmer, the Editor in Chief of the news service ‘Environmental Health News’, the report details specific findings of the toxicity of these chemicals to fish, invertebrates and birds. Here are just a few of the findings from the report:

“A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a songbird.”

“Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the oldest neonicotinoid, Imidacloprid, can poison a bird.”

“As little as 1/10th of a corn seed per day during egg-laying season is all that is needed to affect reproduction with any of the neonicotinoids registered to date.”

The report, which addresses the issue of neonicotinoids in aquatic environments and their effects on bird species, notes in its synopsis: “This report reviews the effects on avian species and concludes that neonicotinoids are lethal to birds as well as to the aquatic systems on which they depend.”

In the alarming, specific and highly detailed report, the authors chronicle a complete failure on the part of the U.S. EPA to accurately or effectively assess the risks of these new chemicals. Providing evidence that not only did the EPA fail in their regulation and safety analysis of the chemicals, they also  ignored their own scientists recommendations, and continued to allow expansion of the approved uses and production of these chemicals.

Chemicals which were originally approved for specific applications in agriculture have now expanded to become retail products available to homeowners and lay-persons across the U.S. and around the world.

In its condemnation of this regulatory failure, the report cites two scientific studies documenting severely declining bird populations in North America.

“The North American regulatory system needs to act rather than continue to ignore evidence of widespread environmental damage. There is evidence that US regulators waited far too long to impose needed restrictions on the toxic insecticides responsible for millions of bird deaths per year (Mineau 2004) and that this is one of the more plausible reasons for the decline of grassland/farmland birds in North America (Mineau and Whiteside, 2013).”

The American Bird Conservancy report comes two years after Dutch toxicologist Dr. Henk Tennekes published the findings of his studies chronicling the long term persistent and lethal effects of Imidacloprid to insects and birds in the Netherlands.

A systemic and persistent neonicotinoid, Imidacloprid has been found by Dr. Tennekes to build up in waterways and natural aquatic environments, to persist in those areas and to spread throughout natural habitats connected by waterways.

According to his studies, all of the waterways of the Netherlands are now contaminated and the cumulative effects of this long term toxicity are decimating bird populations. It is persistent, cumulative and lethal in these environments over time resulting in mass die offs within these eco-systems.

The Rachel Carson Council review of Dr. Tennekes’ book, A Disaster in the Making states:

“Dr. Tennekes’ findings indicate that Imidacloprid (and possibly other neonicotinoid-type insecticides) can bind irreversibly to critical receptors in an insect’s nervous system. If these receptors are permanently blocked, the insecticide would not follow a typical dose-response curve. He provides evidence that long term low-level Imidacloprid exposure can lead to neurological problems and eventual death of insects.”

He has also found that this persistence has led to a drastic reduction of insect biomass in the Netherlands, affecting the food chain.

Clearly, the toxic effects of the chemicals on birds are a major issue and must be addressed. However, this new development of massive losses of native insect populations in the estuaries and waterways where all other creatures depend on them as a food source is a frightening result never before contemplated.

It is not hard to imagine then that any chemical which is introduced to an environment and becomes persistent in that environment, with lethal doses accumulating over time in insects, invertebrates, fish and birds, could also be responsible for the massive deaths of honey bees and other bee populations.

In fact, European studies have come to the conclusion that these chemicals impact the honeybees’ ability to forage and survive.

A Purdue University study published in the journal PLoS One in January of 2012 directly linked honeybee deaths to seed insecticide exposure (http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120111KrupkeBees.html):

“Analyses of bees found dead in and around hives from several apiaries over two years in Indiana showed the presence of neonicotinoid insecticides, which are commonly used to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting. The research showed that those insecticides were present at high concentrations in waste talc that is exhausted from farm machinery during planting.

“The insecticides clothianiodin and thiamethoxam were also consistently found at low levels in soil – up to two years after treated seed was planted – on nearby dandelion flowers and in corn pollen gathered by the bees.”

Because these chemicals bind to receptors in the nervous systems of insects, birds and mammals, and because the manufacturers and scientists developing these chemicals were convinced that they could actually map them and ‘match them’ to specific insects, there has been a great expansion in their production.

In light of the current evidence, and massive environmental impact being seen as a result of their use, the questions now become, “How quickly can we assess what we have unleashed upon the earth, and can we undo the damage it has already caused? And, how can we prevent the damage it is continuing to cause and save these natural regions, watersheds and environments?”

The answers are not easily found when most of the world has not yet even admitted there is a problem, and the people in control are profiting so vastly from the production and application of these toxins that they are not interested in the deadly consequences of their products.

But it gets worse.

Another recent study conducted by Japanese researchers sought to “determine the effects of two distinct neonicotinoids, Acetamiprid (ACE) and Imidacloprid (IMI) on specific receptor sites, (nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs)) in mammalians”.

The study was designed to shed light on the effects of these systemic toxins on mammals, as their impact on insects is established, “but the question of their effects on mammals has never been studied”.

This statement alone should raise major alarm. When combined with the knowledge that neonicotinoid insecticides are now the most widely used chemicals in the world for insect control, and have moved from fields and farms into homes and gardens across the U.S. it becomes more than frightening.

The findings: The study is the first to show that “ACE, IMI, and nicotine exert similar excitatory effects on mammalian nAChRs at concentrations greater than 1 µM. Therefore, the neonicotinoids may adversely affect human health, especially the developing brain.”

So it looks as though these chemicals are not quite as species specific, or safe, as we were led to believe.

The method of action of neonicotinoids causes disruption of the communication transmission between neurons. Massive short term, or cumulative lower level long term exposure appears to cause a permanent blocking of the neuron receptors to acetylcholine. This means the function of the transmission and reception is tricked into a permanent ‘on’ signal.

The description by David Schuit of the condition of his dying bees correlates with such a situation. The nervous system is unable to ‘shut off’ the signaling leading to a kind of massive seizuring, paralysis and death.

To contemplate such a horrific result in insects is unpleasant at best. To consider the potential that this condition can be spread inter-species to invertebrates, fish and birds is worse. The idea that this can also occur in mammals and that the toxins are now prevalent throughout many regions of the world is almost unthinkable.

In Belgium, a review of research conducted from 1985 to 2011 from Belgium’s Catholic University of Louvain determined that Parkinson’s disease was linked to occupational exposure to pesticides in farmworkers.

While these chemicals are not all identical, and their actions may vary; the clear indications are that long term exposure, whether by insects, amphibians, birds or people can be lethal.

Suddenly these neonicotinoids don’t sound like “the safest insecticides in the world,” as they were touted to be over two decades ago when they were introduced.

The pattern of discovering, by way of terrible consequences, the true lethal nature of chemical toxic insecticides and pesticides is not new.

After being promoted as the greatest safest new weapon in the war on bugs, the chemicals have turned out to be what they started as: poisons.

Perhaps it is time for us to wake up and realize that using the services of those companies who excelled at chemical weaponry and warfare to provide the tools for raising our food is just a bad idea.

It is time to stop trying to solve our problems by poisoning the earth. Hopefully, it is not too late to make that choice.
###

Additional Sources:

OregonLive
Bee Deaths a Result of Pesticide ‘Safari’ Count upped to 50,000 Insects
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2013/06/pesticide_confirmed_in_bee_dea.html

Post, Ontario Canada
Bees dying by the millions
http://www.thepost.on.ca/2013/06/19/bees-dying-by-the-millions

Toronto Sun Article 2012:
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/08/beekeepers-blame-pesticides-for-bee-deaths

June 20th 2010 letter to the President requesting suspension of neonicotinoids.
Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides
http://www.pesticide.org/the-buzz/letter-to-the-white-house-urging-suspension-of-neonicotinoid-pesticides

American Bird Conservancy Report on Neonicotinoids
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/toxins/Neonic_FINAL.pdf

Source

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More than 25,000 bumblebees fall from Oregon sky due to insecticide poisoning

Shoppers at a local Target store in Wilsonville, Oregon, just outside of Portland were shocked recently to step outside the big box depot into a sea of already dead and dying bumblebees. As reported by KATU.com news, more than 25,000 dead bumblebees were found littered around the store’s parking lot during National Pollinator Week, a direct result of European Linden trees located in planters throughout the same parking lot having been sprayed with a highly toxic insecticide known as Safari.

European Linden trees produce luscious flowers that are rich in both nectar and pollen, which is a major draw for bumblebees and other pollinating bees during bloom season. And these same trees, which are plenteous in the Wilsonville Target’s parking lot, are a major destination for local bumblebees who feed on their nutrients and help pollinate other plants.

But the property manager of the strip mall where the Wilsonville Target is located apparently had other plans for these bees, as he or she reportedly ordered that all the trees be sprayed with an insecticide chemical known as Safari, even though it is currently bloom season. According to the information page created for Safari by its manufacturer, Valent Professional Products, Safari is a broad-spectrum insecticide that kills all sorts of insects, including bees.

“To our knowledge, this is one of the largest documented bumblebee deaths in the Western U.S.,” Rich Hatfield, a conservation biologist at the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (XSIC), is quoted as saying in a recent press release. “It was heartbreaking to watch. They were literally falling out of the trees.”

European Linden trees improperly sprayed with chemicals during pollination season

Hatfield and his colleagues collected bee samples from the Target parking lot on June 19, and later analyzed them to determine their cause of death. According to XSIC Executive Director Scott Hoffan Black, indiscriminate use of Safari was clearly to blame, as the chemical is never supposed to be sprayed during pollination season.

“It seems a landscape company did not follow label directions as [Safari] is not supposed to be sprayed during bloom,” Dan Hilburn, Director of Plant Programs at the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is quoted as saying by RT.com. “We now assume this is the cause of the massive bee die-offs. Lots of bees still dying — almost all bumblebees.”

Reports indicate that ODA has also collected its own bee samples to test for pesticide exposure. ODA officials have since stated that they have never seen anything like this as far as bee deaths are concerned, and that the event is particularly ominous as it occurred during National Pollinator Week, a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiative that takes place annually from June 17-23.

“I’ve never encountered anything quite like [this] in 30 years in the business,” added Hilburn.

Some local residents claim bees were deliberately murdered

Meanwhile, many local residents are outraged about the incident. Even though ODA is in the process of determining the next appropriate course of action to protect the remaining bees, which may include covering the trees with nets or applying bee repellant, some in the community are demanding answers, including an explanation from the property manager about the sprayings.

“This was not a ‘die-off’; it was a mass murder,” commented Rozzell Medina on the KATU.com article. “If anyone is interested in helping others to organize an onsite memorial for these murdered bees in the next couple of weeks, please join the Facebook group Wilsonville Bees Memorial.”

Sources for this article include:

http://www.katu.com

http://www.valent.com/professional/products/safari/index.cfm

http://rt.com/usa/mass-death-bees-oregon-090/

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