******Israeli scientists discover virus & vaccine to save world's threatened bees & harvests, video

[breadandwine]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1101842.html

YouTube video:
The vaccine does not have to be injected into millions of bees, an impossible task, but can instead be effective in feed fed to bees:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqPtLQzfJ74&eurl=

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El2624&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology&

http://www.beeologics.com/

http://www.beeologics.com/aboutUs.asp

"With offices and laboratories in the United States and Israel, Beeologics brings together some of the world's most recognized virologists and microbiologists to help achieve its mission. To date, Beeologics is the only company to make a scientific breakthrough on the road to protecting bees from viruses. Incorporated in 2007, Beeologics was founded upon many years of research conducted by some of the world's leading scientists."

A huge portion of the world's agriculture depends on bees to pollinate crops. In recent years crops have been threatened over huge regions due to the inexplicable collapse of bee health and populations, called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). All sorts of theories have been put forward as to why this is happening, such as pesticide use. Though that and other theories might be contributing factors, Israeli scientists have discovered a specific virus that is afflicting the world's bee populations with several related strains. They have also developed a vaccine to save the bees. The vaccine has proven effective in restoring bee health and solving the problem. This is a revolutionary development for what has become a looming world disaster threatening food production and food prices.

Colony Collapse Disorder:

http://www.beeologics.com/CCD.asp

"Various factors such as mites and infectious agents, weather patterns, electromagnetic (cellular antennas) radiation, pesticides, poor nutrition and stress have been postulated as causes. To date, control of CCD has focused on varroa mite control, sanitation and removal of affected hives, treatment for opportunistic infections (such as Nosema) and improved nutrition. No effective preventative measures have been developed to date. The idea that CCD is due to the introduction of a previously unrecognized infectious agent is supported by preliminary evidence that CCD is transmissible through the reuse of equipment from CCD colonies and that such transmission can be broken by irradiation of the equipment before use."

This proves it's an infectious agent. The treatment developed, though uses a vaccine in feed, not radiation.

Remembee bee vaccine, delivered in feed, proves effective in saving bees, sustaining bee colony health:

http://www.beeologics.com/products.asp

http://www.beeologics.com/remembee.asp

http://www.beeologics.com/remembee_pro.asp

The vaccine provides:

• Potent protection from the following bee virus strains:

• Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV)
• Kashmir Bee Virus (KBV)
• Black Queen Cell Virus (BQCV)
• Deformed Wing Virus (DWV)

• Potentially applicable to additional bee viruses
• Inherent robustness precludes the possibility of the virus breaking resistance
• Extreme specificity for each of the strains
• No toxicity
• No residues in honey bees or honey

[mike_c]

1. this is a corporate press release, not peer reviewed science...

...as far as I'm aware. I wrote this in another thread about this press release:

First, this is a corporate advertisement, not peer reviewed science, and although the company cites "excellent reviews in clinical trials," there is no "clinical trial program" for bees in the U.S. that I'm aware of.

The treatment uses RNA interference to target Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IVAP), which has been implicated as a POSSIBLE correlation with CCD. Causation has not yet been demonstrated. The film describes the treatment as a "vaccination," but bees do not have anything like the vertebrate immune system that can develop immunity following exposure to viruses via vaccination. That does not mean that the drug is not effective against IVAP-- only that the mode of action is DIFFERENT than that the company is describing. As an entomologist, I find that disquieting.

Another potential problem is that the company cites an endorsement from Diana Cox of Penn State (from the CCD working group), but such commercial endorsements are highly irregular in the research community, and as far as I'm aware, Beelogic's results have not been published through normal scientific channels.

In short, this appears to be a corporate press release, not a legitimate scientific publication. Do you (the OP) have a citation from a peer-reviewed journal? I didn't see any associated with the link you provided. If Beelogic's RNAI treatment is indeed effective against IVAP, it will be evaluated in the scientific literature-- I hope it really works.

[breadandwine]

2. Some of it is from Haaretz, other links from the company referred to in the article.

Sorry to disappoint you.

[mike_c]

3. the Haaretz material is from the company itself....

I'm a working entomologist and I'm fairly familiar with the current literature on CCD. That certainly doesn't mean that I couldn't have missed something, but I'm just not aware of anything in the legitimate scientific lit regarding this treatment or any data about the purported "clinical trials," which certainly do NOT exist in this country. Independent bee research is NOT the same as the medical community's highly regulated and reviewed clinical trial program-- but even then, the data must be published to establish legitimacy, and I don't believe any such thing has happened.

This really is a corporate advertisement and not much else. It might be an effective treatment for IVAP, but it has not been peer reviewed and published, to my knowledge. I asked in the other thread and I'll ask again here-- can you correct that situation by providing a citation? I haven't found one yet.

[breadandwine]

4. You and it can be anything you say but that does not mean people aren't allowed to read this.

This is a potentially useful development.

The world faces a potential harvest disaster due to this problem. Why can't people read the links and decide for themselves what they think? Do you decide every opinion you arrive at based on peer review? The product is already going through the US regulatory process. That is also in the links you were so quick out of the starting gate to ridicule. Why not let regulators make the final judgment, instead of you?

[mike_c]

5. "Why not let regulators make the final judgment, instead of you?"

Because I'm a scientist, and that's the way we do things. We ask to see the data published openly in peer reviewed journals. This is not any sort of personal vendetta! I don't know diddly about Beelogics beyond what they're saying in this corporate advert-- I'm just pointing out that it's not science-- it's an advertisement for a commercial product the company is trying to market globally. I do tend to be skeptical about such things, especially when advertisements are touted as IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC ANNOUNCEMENTS!

As far as the rest of your comments, about how critical an issue CCD is, I posted this in the other thread:

with all due respect, "the collapse of civilization" is just plain yellow journalism...

...and the worst sort of hyperbole. Loss of the european honey bee-- the only bee thus far in any danger from CCD, which is itself a VERY poorly understood or even defined phenomenon-- loss of the euorpean honey bee would ultimately affect little more than the bee keeping industry. All the hyperbole about how agriculture would collapse, humans would starve, and natural pollination would cease is just that-- a load of hyperbole that sells newspapers but is actually pretty ignorant.

Regarding agriculture: first, only about 30 percent of human agriculture depends upon insect pollinators. The major cereal crops, upon which civilization arguably depends, are all wind pollinated. The only partial exception is corn, which is also wind pollinated, but which honey bees will gather pollen from-- but it's low quality pollen from the bee's perspective, just abundant, and corn is not itself dependent upon insect pollination in any event.

Second, there are LOTS of native pollinators that can handle the 30 percent or so of insect pollinated crops-- they'll just require some significant changes in HOW we perform managed pollination, and they won't produce a cash crop of honey on top of their pollination services. But that's hardly the "collapse of civilization."

As far as non-agricultural pollination services are concerned, loss of honey bees would have a temporary impact, primarily because honey bees compete with native pollinators for floral rewards and have supplanted their pollination services at least partly, but that would not be catastrophic and would pass quickly in the relatively few cases where any impact is really measurable.

I'm sorry, but the WORST impacts of declining honey bee populations will affect the managed pollination industry, not "civilization."

[breadandwine]

6. You say you're an entomologist. Just out of curiosity, what company do YOU work for?

Or what companies back the institution you work for?


Just asking.

[mike_c]

7. well, I've never made my identity any secret around here...

...and you're right-- I can't very well make statements that depend upon my own credentials without being willing to provide them. Check your PM in a moment or two after I finish sending.

on edit: Satisfied?

[breadandwine]

9. Well, Mike C, I -- AM -- satisfied.

You said in your message to me, quoting you exactly, that "All the labs" where you got your training "were major recipients of corporate sponsorship."

[mike_c]

10. of course-- that is how academic departments function....

I also said that my research funding has mostly come from government agencies and foundations. Your point? Do you accept that I am a qualified professional entomologist or not?

[breadandwine]

11. I accept that you may have an axe to grind against someone who may have a solution for the bees.

What's the big deal making such a thing about how this couldn't be helpful? Why is it so important to you to shoot this down?

[mike_c]

12. for pete's sake, it's a company ADVERT, not a scientific report....

I'm not shooting it down--there's no data to question. That's part of the problem, from a scientific perspective. I'm just telling you, and other potential readers of the OP what this press release really is. It's a company advertisement. Period. Beelogic MIGHT have the holy grail, for all I know-- but they certainly aren't following the usual procedure for reporting research results or for having them evaluated by the research community. Instead, they're producing a slick video to sell a product. And it sounds to me, like they're trying to attract investors.

I advise you to invest now, while their stock is cheap. :evilgrin:

[mike_c]

13. on second thought, I'm bookmarking this thread...

...to give to my entomology students to analyze and discuss. This is a fascinating example of commercial advertisement disguised as research report. Seriously.

[mike_c]

8. self delete....

Oh, never mind.

[XemaSab]

14. I am a personal friend of Mike_C

We have eaten cactus together over the carcasses of endangered species, and that makes us siblings.

That being said, even though he is the biggest hippie I have ever met, and he taught at my school, which was the biggest hippie school in the US, and he's also a world-class dope-smoking vagrant, Mike_C has sold out to the man.

I *personally* saw Mike_C driving an internal-combustion vehicle manufactured by a MAJOR manufacturer of internal combustion engines, and I have also seen Mike_C drinking beer which was shipped from over 100 miles away. (Sierra Nevada brewery is too far from Mike_C for him to call it local).

Therefore, Mike_C is a tool of the patriarchy, and you are right to excoriate him as such.

[mike_c]

15. I hate you SO much....

:rofl:

That was RIGHTEOUS!

[breadandwine]

18. Mike C, advertise or no, I think you're saying no one may talk about their work - except you.

I never characterized the nature of what this company was doing in advertising terms or not. They have a right to talk about their work as much as you. What YOU are saying is that it has no validity or relevance at all, which is not true. You seem to think that others aren't allowed to express themselves. What's eating you?

[breadandwine]

19. Mike, you said you "hate" me, and that you are "righteous."

Sarcastic or not, what does any of that have to do with saving bees? You seem to think that there is a religious undertone to this thread somehow. I'm going by your own words on that. Sorry, but there is indeed a hostility in your posting here that does indeed go beyond the academic issues. What good is even a good mind if it allows the heart to overrule it? When academia act with integrity they do not let bias color their views. Teach what you will, but have the candor to tell your students that you couldn't resist including "hate" and "righteous" in your "academic" comments.

[XemaSab]

20. I think it's me he hates

:P

[mike_c]

22. .

:banghead:

[mike_c]

21. please don't be offended by this question...

...but is English perhaps not your native language? I was originally going to ask if perhaps you're not an adult, but your comments seem too experienced and well thought out to be childish, yet you seem to have some fundamental difficulties with meaning and intention. Let me explain:

First, the "hate" comment was a joke. Furthermore, it was not directed at you at all-- it was a response to Xemasab, who is a former student of mine and with whom I enjoy a convivial friendship. She knows quite well that I don't actually hate her at all. The term "righteous" is west coast slang for "Cool!" or "Excellent!" Her comments were likewise joking-- they constituted a "righteous rant." Again, that's west coast colloquial english, or slang. Your being unaware of that is one reason I thought perhaps you're not a native English speaker-- but if that's so, your written English is excellent!

Third, no, there isn't any religious undertone to my comments at all! I'm a complete and utter atheist-- I don't give religion any more thought than I give little green men, which is to say, none. Again, I suspect that your unfamiliarity with English slang might have given you that impression.

Fourth-- I have NOTHING against "saving" bees. I'm an entomologist-- I think bees are wonderful animals! My comments in this thread have had absolutely nothing to do with bees other than the comment I cross posted from another thread trying to put CCD into more reasonable perspective. My comments in this thread have much more to do with the proper conduct of science, and wanting to make it clear to potential readers of the OP that Beelogic's press releases and video are corporate advertising, not proper science reporting. As far as I've been able to find, Beelogic has NEVER properly published the data and results supporting their claims about the product they're trying to sell. If you can cite such a publication, please do! I'm eager to read it! Further, they make claims that are inconsistent with bee biology, e.g. the "vaccination" claim. That is very bad science-- that's why I think it makes a great example for my university students.

Peace.

[breadandwine]

23. Perhaps you thought OTHER people were being "righteous," in a pejorative sense evidently.

Mike, being the great entomology professor, don't you have a class to get to?

[breadandwine]

24. Rather astounding that a subject benign as bee health could strike such a raw nerve with you.

Whoever you were talking to, Mike (and it helps to address the person directly so that they know), you seem to have other things on your mind besides the facts. Evidently this applies to your comments directed toward other posters on this thread, not just me.

Instead of trying to figure out who or what I am linguistically by guessing, why not just deal with the facts? It's better not to judge people by applying post-it labels. And trying to read the tea leaves is not what could be called scientific method. You wouldn't, by any chance, be trying to figure out if I'm --- a foreigner? However, speaking of English, and if I may say, the King's English, I'll give you some quotes from Shakespeare:

"Your ears...are so fortified against our story."
It would appear that you are not a "friend to this ground."
"And now remains that we find out the cause of this effect...for this effect defective comes by cause."

As for guessing, I'm sure you're aware that inductive reasoning can often be more precise that deductive reasoning. Wild guessing in order to "size someone up" is most imprecise of all. Scientific method you espouse?

[mike_c]

25. I'm not trying to "figure out" anything...

For pete's sake, this whole discussion has become surreal. I asked you DIRECTLY whether English was your native language because you seemed to have some difficulty understanding some common English colloquialisms and despite the unambiguous response linkage diagram at the top of this thread, you interpreted my joking with Xemasab as a personal attack. Yes, that implies that I was wondering whether you're from a non-English speaking country or culture. That might explain the apparent misunderstandings in our communication. On the other hand, you might simply be reading lots of unintended meaning into my comments, In any event, we seem to be having some problems communicating.

It has been a frustrating exchange. I've made the only point I intended to make, several times, so let's say goodbye, shall we?

Have a good day.

[breadandwine]

26. Okay, Mike. Bye. You say you don't have a god but apparently you have a devil.

It's amazing that you could be so obsessed, round the clock, especially when you say you're a professor who must surely have a class to get to, with trashing this thread. With what you say were utterly innocent intentions.

But scientists look for patterns. One could examine your posts with that in mind:


One: You say, regardless of to whom and regardless of sarcasm, "I hate you."

Two: You throw out the word "righteous" which has nothing to do with the topic of this thread and has a religious connotation.

Three: You want to know my "native" language.

Do you really care that my native land is America? I'll give you a hint. I'm a denizen of DU, not Bavaria.


So here's the pattern in your posts on this thread (albeit a small sample):

Hate plus religion plus national origin.

What does that tell us about your real motives in your comments here in this thread?


Some could call some of your "unintended" comments a "Freudian slip."



Can we now get back to saving bees? It's an issue some of us are very concerned about.

[Forkboy]

37. No, YOU would call it a Freudian slip because YOU have motives.

Your posts are out there to see patterns as well.

[BlooInBloo]

32. (snarfle)

[KakistocracyHater]

16. A. I thought the bees were Raptured. Duh, NO BODIES=RAPTURE

B. It looks like there's money to be had in these vaccines.
C. How do we know this will work, OR just prolong the bees' lives a little?
D. Will they put it in the corn syrup that has mercury in it?
E. Is the mercury, just discovered in corn syrup(not vaccines)a possible cause of the bees' disappearance?

[breadandwine]

17. I don't know. How do you know who your daddy is? Like all of us, because your mommy told you so.

...

[BreweryYardRat]

27. I think that guy was being sarcastic.

Mocking the inevitable neurotic yammering we see whenever discussion of vaccines comes up on this forum.

[KakistocracyHater]

30. yes BUT (((((((I am a woman))))))

*

[BreweryYardRat]

28. Great news.

Save the bees!

[breadandwine]

29. "Save the bees!" That's a wonderful line.

Because so much of our own agriculture and harvests depend on them.

And ever try bee pollen? Great food, health food stores carry it, full of nutrients, protein, almost a complete food. Mildly sweet.

Bee pollen is the stuff at the bottom of the honey barrel. It's pollen from flowers that bees pick up in their work. Bees themselves could have reactions to pollen just like humans. So the bees add an anti-histamine like substance. Eating bee pollen is often very good for stifling allergies.

[bvar22]

31. Anedotal Evidence Only:

My Wife (Starkraven) and I are small scale BeeKeepers.
We belong to an association of small scale BeeKeepers in our very rural area (about 10).

We are a long way from Commercial (Factory) Bee Keepers.
We are also a long way from commercial farming and the wide scale use of pesticides/herbicides.
There are no GM crops grown in our area.
Some of the BeeKeepers in our association do move their bees occasionally, but most of us just leave them alone.
We harvest honey, but always leave plenty for the Bees.

We have had no incidents of CCD in our area.
Some have lost colonies due to other normal reasons, but none where the bees just leave.

Factory Farming of Honey Bees can be as harmful/stressful as the Factory Farming of anything else.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=280&topic_id=34941

[BlooInBloo]

33. Sounds good. Got a peer-reviewed journal link?

[breadandwine]

35. You can inquire at the links in the opening post. By no means a complete list.

This still has to get through regulatory approval.

But it's hopeful that it could lead to something.

Of note, one of the links above mentioned that bee equipment used between hives was irradiated and that bees involved did not pick up the disease afterward. The implication suggested in the link was that there could be a contagious component to the malady.

And as said, there may be other contributing factors. Like pesticides. But possibly pesticides are not the number one cause.

[Forkboy]

38. No.

[hankthecrank]

34. This good news

I see bees being transported all the time.

Some of them are on 5 day rides.

Is it right that besides needing water to drink that they keep the humidity up also in the hive.

The ones I've seen riding in 100 degree heat have no water. After 5 days of no water I'm sure they are pretty weak then.

They have nets over the hives but there are always ones that escape not good out come for those either

other animal that transported that far get water and food breaks. I wonder if its overlooked because they are insects.

[Fire1]

36. Great news, indeed!!! n/t