"What's the buzz? Tell me what's happening..."

A quick word about the birds and the bees. Well, the bees anyway...

In case you haven't been paying attention, here's what's happening. Bee colonies around the world are facing a severe die-off that has been labeled Colony Collapse Disorder--a fancy sounding name for something that we do not fully understand. (And I never will understand the human need to properly label things that we only dimly understand.)

Must of you have seen the memes blaming pesticides ("neonicotinoids") or perhaps laying the blame on the principal manufacturer of such pesticides, most of which comes from Bayer (though Monsanto seems to be getting most of the blame, as Monsanto is actually inserting the stuff into seeds it produces, but mostly because they're Monsanto.)

Not surprisingly, the question isn't so simple as to have a single cause. Other causes, including viral, bacteriological, and parasitic causes, appear to be at least contributing factors in CCD and their role in the problem may be more important, perhaps even as important as neonicotinoids. (Probably not, but the possibility is certainly there and it would be foolish to ignore it.)

While neonicotinoids are certainly a major cause of CCD, perhaps even the major cause, they're not the only factor involved. Not by any means. What appears to be happening is a terrible collision of catastrophic issues, causing a sort of "Perfect Storm" supercatastrophy that we have labeled Colony Collapse Disorder.

That said, I favor banning neonicotinoid pesticides, since the consequences of banning them and then having such suppositions turn out to be wrong are inconsequential compared to the consequences of not banning them and having such suppositions turn out to be right. (My, that was a big sentence, wasn't it...)

The Blues Viking

The opinions herein expressed are mine and if you don't like them you can get your own damn blog.

Beepocalypse Redux: Honeybees Are Still Dying - and We Still Don't Know Why (Time)

90 Percent of corn Seeds Are Coated With Bayer's Bee-Decimating Pesticide (Mother Jones)

Nionicotinoid pesticides tied to crashing bee populations, 2 studies find (US News, March 29 2013)

Neonicotinoid on Wikipedia