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News
from the B.B.K.A.
With
the agreement of the B.B.K.A. Secretary, Surrey Beekeepers Association
propose to publish selected News Items issued by The National
Beekeeping Centre.
STATEMENT BY LORD BACH FOLLOWING
HIS MEETING WITH THE BRITISH BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATION ON 10 NOVEMBER
2005
Speaking after a meeting on 10 November with
Dr Ian Gibson MP and the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA),
Lord Bach, Minister for Sustainable Farming and Food, said:
"A healthy population of honey bees is
crucial to the sustainability of the English countryside, contributing
both to agriculture and biodiversity. The meeting has shown that
Defra and beekeepers recognise the importance of effective measures
to control disease and that the responsibility for these is a
shared one.
Beekeepers have expressed concern about possible
future deregulation of European Foul Brood (EFB), a highly infectious
disease of honey bees, and consequent reductions in the bee inspection
service and bee research. They have emphasised the importance
of the inspection service to early detection and diagnosis of
EFB, to prevent the spread of the disease and enable the appropriate
treatment to be applied.
I have listened very carefully to beekeepers'
concerns. The 'shook swarm' technique, which is being evaluated
by the National Bee Unit, could provide an alternative to the
use of antibiotics in disease control. However, as I said earlier
this year, we have no wish to introduce changes which would prejudice
the effectiveness of disease control measures. I stand by this.
Whilst I cannot anticipate future expenditure decisions, I have
assured the beekeepers that we will not cut expenditure on EFB
inspections without further consultation and unless it is clear
that control of the disease will not suffer. We will share all
the evidence with the beekeepers before proposing any such change.
The responsibility of individual beekeepers
to keep their stocks in a healthy condition is also of critical
importance. I have discussed with BBKA how the considerable assistance
which is already made available by the Central Science Laboratory's
National Bee Unit to individual associations can be made even
more effective. The BBKA have agreed to consider how best to
ensure that disease recognition is taught more systematically
in introductory courses and to ask their examinations board to
consider a stronger emphasis on disease recognition in the examination
syllabus. I have promised the continuing support of the National
Bee Unit in this work".
Petition
Against Cuts in the Bee Health Programme
By Tim Lovett
Posted Monday, May 23, 2005
Campaign
Against the Bee Health Cuts
Inside
the next BBKA News you will find an article on our plans to continue
the fight against the proposed Defra Cuts. One of the actions
we want to undertake is the gathering of a Public Petition and
these web-site downloads (below) will effectively equips you
to ‘do your bit’ on this front.
Over
the next couple of months we have a presence at a series of major
shows: Devon, Surrey, Bath & West, Cornwall, Yorkshire, RHS
Tatton Park etc, etc. We then have all our honey shows and many
more local events.
These
all provide opportunities for us to mount posters distribute
flyers and gather signatures for the petition.
You can
download this note as a flyer which you can use as a master to
print materials for your own use. On the reverse, is the petition
form itself, which again you can copy for use at shows. Get all
your friends and family to signup!
Once
completed simply send the forms to the BBKA at Stoneleigh where
they will be collated in anticipation of delivering them to Defra
or perhaps even to Tony Blair himself, later this year. Printed
copies of the flyer are available from Stoneleigh or as a pdf
from this web-page, where the master petition form is also available.
If you need information or have ideas for the campaign please
contact me via email above. Let’s do it for the bees!
Downloads
via the BBKA Web Site - http://www.bbka.org.uk
Logo
in PDF format 38mm_label.pdf [104KB]
Colour
Poster flyer.pdf [69KB]
B/W Poster
flyer_mono.pdf [68KB]
Combined
campaign leaflet and petition form in PDF format petition.pdf
[62KB]
Petition
form in Word format petition.doc [645KB]
Save
our bees logo for websites save-our-bees-211px.gif [7KB]
Honey
Bees at Risk!
An
Economic and Ecological Disaster in the making!
Stop
the Government Cuts
The Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs (Defra) plans to cut the already small Bee Health Programme
budget by 20%. For a saving of a mere £250,000 in the massive
£3.2 billion Defra budget they will put at risk the UK
honey bee population by sacking half the team of Seasonal Bee
Inspectors. Beekeepers depend on these trained professionals
to diagnose highly contagious ‘brood diseases’ which
cause colony death if not controlled. At the same time, Defra
plans to ‘de-regulate’ the most common of these brood
diseases, called European Foul Brood, (EFB) by making it non-notifiable.
This will effectively leave the beekeeper alone in the difficult
task of identifying and treating this disease. The net result
will be increased frequency and spread of EFB, resulting in loss
of bee colonies and a massive reduction in ‘the pollination
army’ of honey bees, which currently contribute more than
£120 million per annum to agricultural output, according
to government figures. There are virtually no wild honey bees
left due to the effects of another disease, the varroa mite,
which is parasitic. Beekeepers are now the guardians of the honey
bee population in the UK.
What’s
at stake:
Cuts
save £250,000 but risk the £120million contribution
to agriculture
Cuts
will devastate the bee population
Cuts will have a knock-on ecological effect
Cuts
mean UK Honey production will decline massively
Cuts
mean honey prices will rocket
Cuts
will increase the incidence of brood diseases
Deregulation
of EFB will result in increased incidence of this and other diseases
What can you do:
Sign
the BBKA Public Petition
Get your
friends to sign the Petition (Copies from BBKA)
Write
to your MP (address in local phone book)
Write
to Defra (Right Hon Margaret Beckett MP, Secretary of State for
Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square,
London SW1P 3JR)
Save our Bees - Stop The Cuts!
Published
by the British Beekeepers’ Association, Stoneleigh Park,
Warwickshire CV8 2LG Tel 024 7669 6679.
The
Draft Constitution can be downloaded from the BBKA Web Site as
.PDF File.
http://www.bbka.org.uk
Page updated - Friday 2nd
December 2005 |
