cell phone proliferaiton is “linked” to bees’ deaths also. There are a lot of correlations. EPA will ban ALL pesticides instead of only the one (?) that is causing harm. Last I heard they had not started to narrow down what the problem was. They even tried to blame it on global warming.
There was a rash of miscarrahges of thoroughbred colts in Blue Greass Country, which became a huge financial loss (stud fees lost etc.). They finally narrowed it down to a worm on the grass, and a pesticide (yes, the “p” word) had to be used to save horse racing.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/may/13/news/mn-62850
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98568&page=1
(articles written before they found the precise cause)
I just did some light reseach on clothianidin.
Guess what? It is a chemical that protects the active pesticide, nicotine, from degrating in the environment. But that is not neccessarily the cause of the death of bees. Nicotine kills bees too apparently.
Solution if the “bee keepers” get their way for the farmers? Spray the less technological stuff about 4x as often at about 3x the cost. Now, what does all that pesticide do when we cook those goodies they are trying to protect and eat them?
Oh yea! This is not about humans so the argument is not valid.
I didn’t do any in depth research. But, as I understand it, the reason this pesticide kills bees so effectively is because it kills all insects so effectively. It keeps the active ingredient protectected from....get this....THE AFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT.
If the EPA and the enviroMENTAL movement were consistent they would move to eradicate the Bee used by most Commercial Beekeepers being they are not native to North America.
The rural area I live in is on/near the river and lake-no chemical pesticides can be used because of the risk of poisoning groundwater consumed by humans and livestock.
The organic stuff works just fine, and smells better, too. And we have plenty of bees here-one of my neighbors sells organic honey. Bees are an absolute necessity to crop production, stings and all.
Fracking is bad for bees. Ban it.
So are coal-fired power plants. Ban them.
Backyard BBQ’s may kill bees. Ban them.