Like this year, last year's spring came early in the UK and, when our garden plants came into bloom, they were covered in honeybees, bumblebees, and mason bees. They were so happy foraging that I could wade through them trimming and pruning without being stung. It was magical for a girl from Texas who spent her childhood scared witless of anything that buzzed.
Then came Rape season. Rape is a kind of mustard grown here for its oil, called Canola in America. All the farmers around here grow it, fields and fields of bright canary yellow flowers growing from seeds that have been impregnated with systemic insecticides called neonicotinoids. Almost all the bees disappeared within a few weeks, and the few I saw were weak and confused, much like yellow jackets that have been hit with a good dose of Raid.
I commented here on this observation, but at the time research had not made a correlation between insecticides and bee deaths, and I got roundly flamed. Beekeepers insisted that there was a connection, but everyone from the UK government to Bayer said that it was imagination, anecdotal, and just plain wrong. Lab tests seemed to prove their point.
The reason for the huge decline in bee numbers has remained uncertain, but pesticides, the varroa mite and other parasites, and destruction of the flower-rich habitats in which bees feed are believed to be the key reasons. Pesticide manufacturers and the UK government deny a class of the chemicals called neonicotinoids cause significant problems for bees, but Germany, Italy and France have suspended key insecticides over such fears.
However recent field tests
reported in today's Guardian have proven that treated seeds do indeed contribute greatly to collapse disorder.
Scientists found that bees consuming one pesticide suffered an 85% loss in the number of queens their nests produced, while another study showed a doubling in "disappeared" bees – those that failed to return from food foraging trips. The significance of the new work, published Science, is that it is the first carried out in realistic, open-air conditions.
Both Bayer and another manufacturer, Sygenta still dispute these findings, as quoted in a
second article by Alison Benjamin, author of
A World Without Bees. The UK department responsible for policing pesticide use has not, as of now changed its mind on systemic pesticide use, but that could change.
A spokesperson from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the new research did not change the government's position. "The UK has a robust system for assessing risks from pesticides and all the evidence shows neonicotinoids do not pose an unacceptable risk to honeybees when products are used correctly. However, we will not hesitate to act if presented with any new evidence." Henry said the new research showed current approval processes for the pesticides are inadequate: "We now have enough data to say authorisation processes must take into account not only the lethal effects, but also the effects of non-lethal doses."
Once again the bees are burying themselves in my tumbling rosemary plant, bees which will probably not live through the spring. I hope our government, and those of other countries consider the best interests of beekeepers and other farmers, as well as those of agribusiness and agrichemicals. In the meantime, some gentle rodding of those in Parliament and in Congress might be in order.