> Am I missing something?  are these studies already done?? 

The issue of neonics affecting bees was first raised in France 20 years ago. They made such a to-do about it, France banned the use of neonics on plants that bees visited. Lo and behold, bee health did not improve. This is a matter of record, for anyone to see. 

Many beekeepers have had a hard time keeping hives full of bees, they have experienced drastic and tragic losses, there can be no doubt. And many of them have gone from being anti-tree-hugger rednecks to joining with the Sierra Club and whomever will listen to go after the EPA, Bayer, and so on.

The long and short of it is: there is no correlation between colony collapses and neonics. Bees are caving that have never seen a corn plant. And bees are thriving on neonic treated crops such as canola. If there was a correlation, it would take very little time at all to produce a map linking land use to bee loss.

Of course, some commercial beekeepers move the hives 6 or more times a year, so they are all over the map. But wait -- maybe that's the problem. They are destroying their own bees by moving them around too much and never letting them get a proper relationship with the environment. 

The honey bee is very adaptable, as is the human being. But there is a limit to how much abuse each of us can take. And, it isn't the same for each of us. Some would be OK moving six to eight times a year, others would succumb to the stress.

Pete

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