[ RadSafe ] bats and Bayer

[Rich Gallego]

Good point Mike. I allow a beekeeper to keep several hives on my property
and I can assure you they are inside their hives as soon as the sun goes
down. I live in a semi rural area that has bats as well, and they come out
about an hour or so after the bees go to bed. I believe the bats are
feasting on other insects, and possibly fruit and flowers, not the bees.



-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2011 2:48 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] bats and Bayer

I question whether bees are "one of the man food sources" of bats, as bats
are nocturnal and bees are diurnal.  Additionally, many species of bats are
suffering from white nose syndrome, including ones that specialize in eating
very different insects.  Last I heard, there was good evidence that white
nose is caused by a fungus, quite possibly spread by humans visiting
multiple caves without disinfecting their gear.  I am not at all saying that
there aren't external factors that make bats more susceptible, and I am not
even saying the insecticide in question isn't one of them.  I do, however
doubt the pathway (and that is without even pointing out that the pattern of
colony collapse is more in keeping with parasite or disease transmission
from moving hives around than from a particular insecticide, though
irresponsible use of insecticide can't help).  

All of that as it may be, when bats are found dead under wind turbines, it
is really, really hard to blame it on insecticide.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of James Salsman
Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 7:01 PM
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] bats and Bayer

Thanks to whomever sent me the information about Bayer insecticides and
bats.  Imidacloprid is implicated in bees' colony collapse disorder, and
bees are one of the main food sources for bats (yuck!) Last month, Bayer
withdrew some of their pesticides which are toxic to humans --
http://www.cbgnetwork.org/4041.html -- but the imidacloprid is still being
sold.

For those of you lost in message volume, this is pertinent because wind is
currently being installed 2x last year's rate, is selling for
5-6 cents/kWh, which is two cents less than the next least expensive form of
electricity, coal, and the surplus of wind power at night has the potential
to become a substantial source of methane for power storage and synthetic
transportation fuel.  But if wind is fundamentally incompatible with bats,
then we'd have to use something else to protect the troposphere from
infrared radiation, because bats are important.
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