It’s hard to say how this is going to go with anti-vaxxers: the world’s first honeybee vaccine has been approved by the USDA in the United States. The new vaccine prevents a condition called American Foulbrood, which isa highly contagious bacteria that turns bee larvae into brown goo. It’s one of the reasons for the great honeybee die off, among other reasons such as light pollution, the use of pesticides, global warming.
You could say we have the larvae goo because we are getting nature all wrong and of course vegans would say don’t eat any honey anyway, it’s cruel! Our friends in Canada liberate bee hives. But that’s another story. Because we believe that honey is healthy and people should choose.
The new bee vaccine, developed by an American company, contains a dead version of the bacteria causing brown goo, and is incorporated into the royal jelly that worker bees feed to the queen. The queen then puts the vaccine unknowingly in her ovaries, which gives her future progeny immunity. The vaccine is non-GMO and can be used in organic agriculture, the company developing the vaccine reports.
The vaccine is developed by Dalan Animal Health, a biotech company pioneering insect health, and they have a conditional license against the bacteria Paenibacillus larvae.
“If we can prevent an infection in our hives, we can avoid costly treatments and focus our energy on other important elements of keeping our bees healthy,” explained Trevor Tauzer, owner of Tauzer Apiaries and board member of the California State Beekeepers Association.
Honeybees, as we know, along with all kinds of bees, are a critical component of agriculture. One-third of the global food supply relies on pollination (almonds for instance), and healthy commercial hives are essential to secure high crop yields in conventional agriculture.
What is killing honeybees?
Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of interrelated factors—pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, global warming and more.
However, honeybees above all that honeybees are also plagued by American Foulbrood, with previously no safe and sustainable solution for disease prevention. Cases of American Foulbrood are notifiable in the USA and Canada, and the only treatment method relies on burning the bees and infected hives and equipment.
“Our vaccine is a breakthrough in protecting honeybees. We are ready to change how we care for insects, impacting food production on a global scale,” said Dr. Annette Kleiser, CEO of Dalan Animal Health.
The bacterin was developed by Dalan Animal Health, and is manufactured by Diamond Animal Health (Des Moines, Idaho), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heska (“Heska”; NASDAQ: HSKA).
Here’s how the bee vaccine works:
The USDA has issued the conditional license in the first instance for two years. Dalan will distribute the vaccine on a limited basis to commercial beekeepers and anticipates having the vaccine available for purchase in the United States in 2023.
Love bees? We visited a beehive and Miriam gets swarmed. Also read about this hotel in Denver, which does it for the bees. Or like meat in a lab, this Israeli company is making honey in a lab, sparing the bees and the pressures we put on them.
#savethebees
