The critical level of bee mortality is a major threat to our food supply. Eighty percent of all plants on earth depend on pollination by bees for reproduction and evolution. Of all the countries in Europe, the Netherlands has the largest bee mortality rate. This Dutch documentary investigates the possible link between the use of a new insecticide, Imidacloprid, and the rise of bee mortality. The link is denied by both the insecticide producers and the chief advisor to the Duch government; Wageningen University and Recearch Centre (WUG). And yet the use of this chemical is prohibited in France as it was found to be linked to the death of bee population. Can the honeybees be saved?
Where: Commonwealth Club, 25 Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5AP
When: Wednesday 16 January 6.30pm
Directors: researcher Manon Blaas, Hetty Nietsch
Producers: Wendel Hesen, Mascha Boogaard
Language: Dutch with English Subtitles
Made in: The Netherlands 2011
Source: http://www.tcij.org/film-week/murder-honeybee
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Journalists with bees in their bonnets
Perfect timing: the screening of The Murder of the Honeybee as part of the Centre for Investigative Journalism’s Investigative Film Week in London coincides with a European Food Safety Authority announcement that its scientists have identified a number of risks posed to bees by three neonicotinoid insecticides.
Using one of those puns so beloved of our media and NGOs, Friends of the Earth said today: "The clear link between neonicotinoid pesticides and declining bee health must sting the Government into action – we can’t afford to dither when it comes to protecting these key pollinators."
Film-maker Manon Blaas looks not only at the allegation that the decline in bee numbers is caused by a pesticide, but also the claim that corporate power outweighs other considerations and can affect what a university investigates.
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Journalists with bees in their bonnets
16th January 2013 | from Daniel Nelson
http://oneworldgroup.org/2013/01/16/journalists-with-bees-in-their-bonn…
Honeybee whodunnit
The Murder of the Honeybee is a whodunit. But there’s no mystery. The culprit is the insecticide Imidacloprid. That, at least, is film-maker Manon Blaas’ thesis, backed up by the claims of a number of environmentalists, bee-keepers and scientists. The manufacturer and the Dutch government reject the claim. So does the influential Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR). Whatever is killing bees around the world, and specifically in the Netherlands – where the bee death toll is the highest in Europe – it isn’t the pesticide, they say. It could be another of those on the one hand / on the other hand clashes between sets of experts. Except that Blaas adds another element: the allegation that corporate power outweighs other considerations and can affect what a university investigates. It’s an old debate, as followers of “Bad Science” columnist and campaigner Ben Goldacre will know. But Blaas makes her case with telling interviews and film clips. Like the best investigative documentaries, it’s entertaining as well as serious. There’s no doubt about the importance of the subject. Bees are a vital link in the food chain. Without them, almost three-quarters of greengrocers’ supplies would disappear (perhaps taking grocers’ apostrophes with them). The United Nations has said it’s a worldwide problem.
But what’s killing them? Is it the disease verroa? Is it greedy beekeepers’ equivalent of factory farming? For every claim, there’s a counter claim. There’s big money at stake, especially in Holland where farming doesn’t come more intensive and chemicals are part of the deal. Everyone has interests to consider. Even the beekeepers’ association wants to maintain good relations with pesticide-using farmers who lease the bees for pollination. It’s treacherous territory for a film-maker. Blaas keeps her head, lands a number of stinging blows in her 36-minute film and even manages to put across a more complex argument than journalists usually like: that the pesticide, the use of which has been curtailed in some European countries, is not the sole cause but is part of a problem, that it may weaken the bees’ immune systems so that they become susceptible to diseases. However, there’s no conclusive evidence, and no-one seems to be undertaking the research that might help decide either way. Viewers will make up their own mind and, perhaps equally important, will have been alerted to some serious issues at the intersection of science, government and commerce.
* The Murder of the Honeybee will be screened on 16 January, 6.30pm at the Commonwealth Club, Northumberland Avenue as part of the Centre for Investigative Journalism’s Investigative Film Week 2013, 15-19 January
Author: Daniel Nelson
http://uk.oneworld.net/article/view/167591/1/7232