Beekeepers to petition for Gov. Christie’s help in suspending a certain class of harmful pesticides

Beekeepers and advocates met in Palmer Square on Sunday to petition for Gov. Christie’s help in suspending a certain class of harmful pesticides, which they say are killing over 30 percent of their honeybee hives. ”It is now clear that this is what is causing distress to the bees,” said Lorie Van Auken, a beekeeper from East Brunswick. This “distress” is known as Colony Collapse Disorder, and, according to Ms. Van Auken, was first noticed in 2006 when commercial beekeeper Dave Hackenberg came back to the hive to find that 80 percent of his bees were gone. ”The bees drop dead at the site of pollination,” she said. Because neonicotinoids are a neurotoxin, they interfere with the bees’ ability to navigate back to the hive. They also lower the insects’ immunity to other diseases. ”We’re not saying don’t use pesticides at all, just stop using these,” said Maria Concilio, a beekeeper from South Orange. Gov. Christie has seemed receptive to the beekeepers’ concerns so far. In August, he wrote a letter thanking them for their work, and acknowledging its importance to the state’s economy. ”We can’t imagine that he won’t take notice of this issue in the Garden State,” said Ms. Van Auken. “This is what New Jersey is known for.”

Source: Central Jersey, October 18, 2012
http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2012/10/18/the_princeton_packet/n…