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More on bees and biotech

(Saturday, March 8, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- John Salt of the Scottish Beekeepers Association responded to another reader's earlier comment regarding David Dechant's piece on March 5 (http://www.cropchoice.com/leadstry.asp?recid=1451.

CropChoice noted the British Beekeepers Association research showing "bees collect corn pollen, though it is not their normal food source, and fly up to three miles either side of the hive. That means they could transport transgenic corn pollen up to six miles."

John Salt wrote: The English Beekeepers (or as you call them 'the British Beekeepers') have got it wrong ... again!

Cross Contamination of Crops

Honeybees have been noted by Professor Francis Raitneks, Sheffield University, to forage approximately 7.5m from the hive in the UK. A study published in 1933 by John Eckert in the US demonstrated pollen carried back to hives placed 8.5m from the nearest source of sweet clover in Wyoming.

It is therefore not possible to exclude or prevent cross-pollination.

Bee good,

John Salt (Scottish Beekeepers Association )
j.j.salt@bees-trees.demon.co.uk