Health & Wellness

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Tuesday was the eighth annual “World Bee Day.” Bees and other pollinators have been on the decline for years. Experts blame a combination of factors. They include insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply. A significant part of the human diet comes from plants pollinated by bees. And not just honeybees but hundreds of species of lesser-known wild bees. Many of them are endangered. The U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first “World Bee Day” in 2018 to bring attention to the bees’ plight. Steps as small as planting a pollinator garden or buying raw honey from local farmers were encouraged.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Around the world, plastics are finding their way into farm fields. Some farmers say agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, is becoming even more necessary as climate change fuels extreme weather. And plastics from other industries end up in fields, too, and eventually the food grown there as well as waterways. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how the plastics that enter the food supply affect health, and research is continuing to show that it’s ending up in human bodies. Researchers are looking for solutions, but industry experts say despite attempts to tackle the plastic problem, it’s difficult to know where plastic ends up or get rid of it completely, even with the best intentions of improving reuse and recycling programs.