Title: No, we aren't losing all of our honeybees. And neonicotinoid seed coatings aren't driving their health problems—here’s why | Genetic Literacy Project
Headings: No, we aren’t losing all of our honeybees. And neonicotinoid seed coatings aren’t driving their health problems—here’s why
No, we aren’t losing all of our honeybees. And neonicotinoid seed coatings aren’t driving their health problems—here’s why
Myth of Honeybee decline
Colony Collapse Disorder is not the same as bee losses linked to diseases and chemicals
High prices are the solution to their own problem
USDA bee researcher: “If there’s a top ten list of what’s killing honey bee colonies, I’d put pesticides at number 11.”
Jon Entine is the founder and executive director of the GLP. Follow him on Twitter @jonentine
A version of this article originally ran on the GLP on Apr 17, 2018.
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It’s not that honeybees are not facing health challenges — they are. Just not to the degree that environmental groups and the media suggest and not for the reasons popularized by protestors in yellow bee suits. Most of the problems, say entomologists and bee keepers, are linked to bee keeping practices, Varroa destructor mites (which vector roughly a dozen different diseases into beehives), and the widely prevalent gut fungus Nosema ceranae. Seed pesticides, most experts say, play a minor if measurable role, with the miticides used to control the parasites presenting far more of a health threat than neonics. These problems have led to higher-than-average over winter losses. While beekeepers always lose some of their bees over the winter, winter losses of managed honey bee colonies in the US have averaged 28.7 percent since 2006, almost double the historical rate. So what’s going on? How is the US honeybee population stable or rising despite a doubling of winter loss rates? Colony Collapse Disorder is not the same as bee losses linked to diseases and chemicals
The independent Bee Informed Partership, which was founded by a grant from the US Department of Agriculture, reported that despite bee health problems in recent years, trends are favorable in tracking overwinter losses, considered the key statistic in evaluating bee colony health. ADVERTISEMENT
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According to a recent USDA report on honeybee health, beekeepers have been able to adapt their managerial practices and repopulate their stocks when cold weather or virus-related losses occur.