| [00:00.10] |
From VOA Learning English, |
| [00:02.53] |
this is the Agriculture Report. |
| [00:05.03] |
New studies have found that a chemical commonly |
| [00:08.36] |
used to fight plant disease is harming honeybees. |
| [00:13.48] |
Experts say the chemical may be partly |
| [00:16.52] |
to blame for the widespread loss of honeybees |
| [00:20.62] |
in the United States. |
| [00:22.95] |
The insects are important to farmers. |
| [00:25.93] |
When a honeybee lands on a flower in plant, |
| [00:29.88] |
pollen sticks to its legs. |
| [00:32.26] |
When the bee lands on another flower, |
| [00:35.65] |
some of the pollen falls off |
| [00:37.89] |
and fertilizes the second plant. |
| [00:41.47] |
The act of pollination is responsible |
| [00:45.00] |
for many fruits, vegetables, nuts and other crops. |
| [00:51.03] |
Yet about 30 percent of honeybees in the United States |
| [00:55.95] |
and other areas have died in recent years. |
| [01:00.63] |
Dennis VanEngelsdorp is a researcher |
| [01:03.82] |
at the University of Maryland. |
| [01:06.35] |
He wants to learn why so many bees are dying. |
| [01:10.78] |
"The number of colonies that die every winter |
| [01:13.62] |
has been one in three. |
| [01:14.86] |
So on average 30 percent of the colonies |
| [01:17.85] |
have died every winter over the last six winters. |
| [01:20.94] |
And that's an astronomical number." |
| [01:23.07] |
His research team examined the pollen grain |
| [01:26.97] |
that honeybees carried to their homes. |
| [01:30.60] |
They found that the pollen contained high levels of |
| [01:34.73] |
35 different pesticides, chemicals use to protect plants. |
| [01:41.20] |
They also found that bees eating some fungicides of |
| [01:45.98] |
biological organisms became infected |
| [01:50.51] |
with a deadly micro-organism called Nosema. |
| [01:54.34] |
Yet fungicides are necessary to use |
| [01:57.52] |
for agricultural purposes in the United States. |
| [02:01.16] |
Mike Leggett studies pesticide for the pest management |
| [02:05.88] |
industry group -- CropLife America. |
| [02:09.17] |
"Fungicides are used, and have been used, |
| [02:11.66] |
pretty broadly, for centuries, |
| [02:15.02] |
for protection of plants from plant disease." |
| [02:19.00] |
He says that many of the pesticide |
| [02:21.79] |
found in the pollen examined by Dennis VanEngelsdorp |
| [02:26.12] |
actually protect bees from Nosema. |
| [02:29.45] |
Maryland farmer and beekeeper Keith Ohlinger |
| [02:33.53] |
has watched many of his bees die every winter. |
| [02:37.71] |
Mr Ohlinger thinks widespread bee death |
| [02:41.60] |
is result of several things happening at once. |
| [02:45.58] |
But he does not feel sure |
| [02:47.67] |
that pesticides are a part of the problem. |
| [02:50.60] |
"What I felt it was, was a compilation of a lot of little things. |
| [02:54.68] |
I didn't feel that there was probably one smoking gun. |
| [02:57.33] |
But there's a division there, |
| [02:59.57] |
some people feel that it is just one thing. |
| [03:01.66] |
Maybe I'm just not educated enough, |
| [03:03.50] |
I don't know, but my view is, |
| [03:05.04] |
if you can take a bath in it, it's probably safe. |
| [03:07.38] |
And I don't know many of the things |
| [03:11.36] |
that they're putting out right now |
| [03:12.87] |
that anybody would come out of a bath in |
| [03:16.06] |
for any length of time and go, |
| [03:17.81] |
'wow, that was great, I feel much better!'" |
| [03:19.76] |
Honeybees are important to agriculture. |
| [03:23.14] |
This makes the search for an answer to their death |
| [03:26.92] |
especially urgent for Mr VanEngelsdorp's team. |
| [03:31.05] |
As he knows, one in every three bites of food we eat |
| [03:37.12] |
is somehow pollinated by honeybees. |
| [03:41.35] |
And that's the Agriculture Report from VOA Learning English. |
