Hi all
I approach beekeeping as a scientist. I have no opinions on the role of neonics in widespread bee loss, but rather I attempt to reflect what is the general consensus among scientists. Right now, there is no strong support for neonics as a major factor.
Meanwhile, there is a huge upwelling of support for banning these compounds in beekeeping circles and in the popular press (which is woefully ignorant as we all know). I think that this scapegoating is ill-advised and counterproductive.
However, were the evidence to show that pesticides were a major factor, I would have to accede to that point of view. In any case, I have always advised beekeepers to avoid crops where pesticides are in use, such as in orchards, vineyards, etc. These are not good places for bees.
"We employ Hill's epidemiological 'causality criteria' as a structured process for making an expert judgement about the proposition that trace dietary neonicotinoids in nectar and pollen cause population declines in honey bees. We conclude that dietary neonicotinoids cannot be implicated in honey bee declines"
Dietary traces of neonicotinoid pesticides as a cause of population declines in honey bees: an evaluation by Hill’s epidemiological criteria, James E. Cresswell, Nicolas Desneux, and Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Pest Management Science, 2012
[Dennis van Engelsdorp is the lead scientist in the Bee Informed Partnership, beeinformed.org]
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"The data support that V. destructor is a key player for losses, arguably in line with its specific impact on the health of individual bees and colonies."
Predictive Markers of Honey Bee Colony Collapse. Benjamin Dainat, Jay D. Evans, Yan Ping Chen, Laurent Gauthier, Peter Neumann. PloS One, 2012
[Jay Evans and Yan Ping Chen work at USDA Beltsville]
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Peter L Borst
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
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