"If honeybees disappear, then man has four years to live."--EinsteinUpdate: Bayer, the chemical giant, is under investigation in Germany because one of its best selling pesticides, clothianidin, has been implicated in the mass deaths of honeybees. A complaint was filed on August 13 by German apiarists and consumer advocates. The coalition wants use of the pesticide prohibited while Bayer maintains that if used properly the pesticide does not harm bees. Clothianidin and related pesticides generate about $1 billion in revenue for Bayer CropScience. The German coalition suspects Bayer of falsifying studies to minimize the effects of pesticide's residue on bees pollinating treated plants. In the U.S. the NRDC is seeking research information on clothianidin. The pesticide was approved for use here in 2003 on condition that Bayer submit more information on the effects of clothianidin. Sold under the brand name "Poncho 600", it is used to coat corn, sugar beet and sorghum seeds to protect them from pests. Despite its innocuous brand name, clothianidin is a nerve toxin that has the potential to be toxic for bees, and it remains in all parts of the plant that grows from coated seeds. French regulators banned a related precursor in 1999. French researchers found that bees were much more sensitive to the toxin than Bayer admitted in its studies. German officials suspended sales of clothianidin and related pesticides three months ago after it was blamed for destroying 11,000 bee colonies.
The UK's honeybees have suffered disastrous losses this year reports the Guardian paper. Their numbers are down by a third found a survey conducted by the British Bee Keeping Association. A wet winter kept the pollinators in their hives, making them more subject to disease and starvation. The minister of farming told Parliament last November that if nothing were done to help the honeybees, then the UK population would be wiped out in 10 years. Britain's' problem reflects a worldwide trend in the drastic decline of honeybee populations. In the US, honey yields have been decimated by honeybee loses of 36%. Apiarists here have given the phenomenon a name, "sudden colony collapse disorder" but the name explains nothing. Why honeybees are dying in catastrophic numbers is not known for certain. A complex of factors seem to be contributing to their destruction: the blood-sucking varroa mite, lethal viruses, malnutrition, pesticides, pollution and a lack of genetic diversity. Some less credible observers have even blamed cellular telephone signals interfering with healthy hive activity. CCD has spread to Canada, France, Germany and Italy. As the genius recognized, honeybees make a critical contribution to man's survival by pollinating his food crops. They increase fruit and vegetable yields by about a third, and there is no efficient or inexpensive substitute for their service.