Study: Tobacco Not Only Kills People it Also Kills Bees

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This April 25, 2007 file photo shows a colony of honeybees at the Agriculture Department's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.  (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)
This April 25, 2007 file photo shows a colony of honeybees at the Agriculture Department’s Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.
(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

Tobacco kills people, either by inhalation such as smoking, or ingesting, such as chewing. and as it turns out tobacco also kills by infecting honeybees.

Honeybees have been dying in huge numbers since 2006, and a new study finds that a virus may be one cause. The tobacco ringspot virus has mutated quickly and jumped from tobacco plants to soy plants to bees, researchers say, and the annual increase in honeybee deaths between autumn and winter correlates with an increasing number of infections. The virus exists in pollen, and is likely spread as bees mix saliva, nectar, and pollen to feed their larvae; mites may also be transmitting the virus when they feed on bees. (Grist calls the virus a “plant STD,” since it’s spread as bees pollinate plants.)

It’s just the latest explanation offered for “colony collapse disorder,” which has decimated about one-third of commercial honeybee colonies per year since 2006, theNew York Times reports. The study authors and other researchers believe that a number of factors are to blame, including viruses, parasites, and perhaps pesticides. This is the first known example of bees contracting a virus from pollen. And since 5% of known plant viruses can be transmitted from plant to plant via pollen, researchers think pollen should be monitored for other potential host-jumping viruses, Science Codex reports. (More bee news: It turns out they almost disappeared with the dinosaurs.)

About Post Author

Peter Lake

Peter Lake hails from the Midwest, but is now living in Germany. He is a professional writer who spent many years honing his craft at a well known newspaper. Peter originally sent an article to us through the citizen journalist program and decided to stay. We are glad he did.
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10 years ago

I have this vision of a bumble bee flying by with a huge Havana in its mouth.

I know. I’m odd.

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