An Illinois beekeeper and researcher charges he had his hives "stolen" by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. This would sound like a case of a local squabble between a farmer and the government, except the beekeeper, Terrence Ingram, has spent 15 years researching Roundup's effect on bees, and the conclusion his research was heading towards is that the herbicide (which Monsanto is trying to genetically graft onto seeds, ergo plants, ergo the food supply) causes Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and is detrimental to the environment and consumers.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture insisted Ingram's hives were infected with a highly contagious disease, foulbrood, and ordered them burned. Ingram claimed that the inspectors were incorrect:
"Inside a honeybee hive is one of the cleanest places you can find. Anything that is a problem, if the bees can't remove it, they cover it with propolis, which is an antiseptic… When you go into the comb and cut it up, disturb it like the investigators did, then send it to a lab, it exposes foulbrood to the world. In the beehive, it's covered up. The bees aren't affected by it. But you can find it by sending it in to a lab."
Before he could get his day in court to challenge the Department of Agriculture, they seized the hives (while Ingram wasn't home), and supposedly destroyed them. He didn't get a court hearing until three weeks later.
At the hearing, inspectors couldn't produce any evidence of the infection, nor could they show proof of what was done with the bees and the hives.
You can read the full article here: What's Behind Illinois Stealing Local Hero's Bee Hives?
Is this a case of gross FDA incompetence or Monsanto pulling strings behind the scenes?
The Illinois Department of Agriculture insisted Ingram's hives were infected with a highly contagious disease, foulbrood, and ordered them burned. Ingram claimed that the inspectors were incorrect:
"Inside a honeybee hive is one of the cleanest places you can find. Anything that is a problem, if the bees can't remove it, they cover it with propolis, which is an antiseptic… When you go into the comb and cut it up, disturb it like the investigators did, then send it to a lab, it exposes foulbrood to the world. In the beehive, it's covered up. The bees aren't affected by it. But you can find it by sending it in to a lab."
Before he could get his day in court to challenge the Department of Agriculture, they seized the hives (while Ingram wasn't home), and supposedly destroyed them. He didn't get a court hearing until three weeks later.
At the hearing, inspectors couldn't produce any evidence of the infection, nor could they show proof of what was done with the bees and the hives.
You can read the full article here: What's Behind Illinois Stealing Local Hero's Bee Hives?
Is this a case of gross FDA incompetence or Monsanto pulling strings behind the scenes?
