Week #9a - Are GMOs contributing to the death of bees?

Top Consumer Questions about GMOs 
View All as One Page
 

This is a big topic, so we are breaking the answer into two parts. This week we’ll address to the first half of the question regarding bees, next week we’ll explore butterflies.

The sudden and widespread disappearances of adult honey bees from hives, termed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), became a national concern almost 10 years ago.  Claims have been circulated that insect protected GM crops harm bees, but these assertions have been refuted by the mainstream scientific community.

GMOs are not believed to have much of any impact on honey bee populations.

EPA et al recognize the bee populations may be challenged by a number of factors including pests and parasites, microbial disease, inadequate diet and loss of genetic diversity, as explained by Paul Driessen, a senior policy analyst and author, in this post.  

Paul explains that “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.” He goes on to say “GM crops have not been implicated in CCD and, in fact, have made it possible to grow more food and other crops on less land, with fewer insecticides and even under conditions of limited rainfall or drought.”

If a variety of factors are impacting bee health, could GMOs be one of them?  Bee Ambassador for Bayer Chris Sansone, who has more than 30 years of experience as a professor and extension specialist at Texas A&M University, points to several scientific studies indicating this is not the case. He notes that “genetically modified plants and their impact on honey bees have been widely studied, and the results indicate that GM plants are not harmful to bees.”

The insecticidal proteins produced by the currently available insect protected crops are derived from a common soil bacterium and all of the proteins used in insect-protected GM plants are tested for toxicity to honey bees.  None of these proteins have provided any evidence of harm in either short or long term testing with both adult and larval honey bees. 

Additionally, in May 2013 the USDA and EPA released a comprehensive scientific study on the many factors that contribute to CCD – none of which are GMOs.

We encourage you to visit the responses below to learn more about this topic:

• GMOs have any relation to what is happening with the bees?
  Answered by Chris Sansone: http://gmoanswers.com/ask/gmos-impact-honey-bees
• If GMO is so safe why are hundreds of thousands of bees dying? I’m pretty sure Monsanto and the rest are aware of this.
  Answered by Paul Driessen: http://gmoanswers.com/ask/if-gmo-so-safe-why-are-hundreds-thousands-bees-dying-im-pretty-sure-monsanto-and-rest-are-aware
• Hearing about bee colonies dropping dead and the loss of natures natural pollinaters at astonishing amounts is disturbing. Do you know if GM crops and there un-natural characteristics are influencing this? Are GM crops killing bees? Or the high amounts of chemical pesticides? Both?
  Answered by Chris Sansone: http://gmoanswers.com/ask/are-gmos-pesticides-killing-bees