We know that honey bees are in trouble and last year was a very bad year. 2006 was the year the first big loss of honeybees, that has come to be known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), was noticed and that was one year after the increased use of neonicotinoids began in 2005.
US Scientists are having trouble pin pointing a specific insecticide which is linked to CCD because the chemical landscape of the country includes 1200 active ingredients in 18,000 products. Many studies were focused on what was immediately lethal to bees and didn't include the sub-lethal toxins, the ones which can lead to death by making the bees disoriented. Also some studies have focused on one insecticide containing inert chemicals but in the real world those inert chemicals mix with hundreds of other chemicals in pesticides.
A study in Canada concludes that neonicotinoids are linked to mass honeybee deaths but the government is not ready to ban them. Farmer's using neonics on corn crops claim their yield has increased by 15%.
Although Europe is imposing a temporary ban on neonics, the UK is not going along with a ban. The British government is not convinced that there is enough evidence to justify a ban. There is also a huge push back against a ban by industrial farmers and chemical companies.
The refrain is familiar in all three countries:
If you ban the neonicotinoids, farmers are going to be compelled to use products that are much more harmful to the environment and to a wider range of animals.
That refrain completely ignores successful and increasing organic farming.
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