Why is it killing bees?

Expert response from Paul Driessen

Senior Policy Analyst, Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Monday, 11/11/2013 21:00

The scientific community recognizes that bee health is a very complex issue. In fact, a report from the proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences indicated that bees may be dying not from a single toxin or disease, but rather from a variety of factors that include introduced pests and parasites, microbial diseases, inadequate diet and loss of genetic diversity. In its assessment of neonicotinoid insecticides, the Environmental Protection Agency stated that it “is not aware of any data indicating that honey bee declines or the incidence of CCD [colony collapse disorder] in the U.S. is correlated with the use of pesticides in general or with the use of neonicotinoids in particular.”  Modern seed treatments reduce the amount of insecticides in the environment and target pesticides only at the insects that are actually feeding on food crops, thus protecting other, often beneficial insects, including bees. Moreover, even though seed treatments make neonicotinoids part of the plant, the amount reaching bees in pollen grains is extremely tiny and not thought to be a factor in CCD or bee mortality.