Apparently they are doing better.

This is my first post here but do visit and read with interest and thought some would be interested if they have not seen yet.
This is from the book A Spring Without Bees. Do read this book if you haven't, very interesting in my veiw. 

Bee keepers have always had problems with their bees being afflicted with parasites and disease, but in 1994 the bee keepers in France met a new problem. Except for the Queen and her helpers all the bees in a hive disappeared. In the past when something killed their bees they found the bodies just outside the hive, but in this case there were no bodies to examine. After deciding that the usual problems could not have caused what is now called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) they discovered that a new insecticide was being used on the sunflowers from which their bees were collecting nectar. The insecticide's active ingredient was Imidacloprid (IMD) which is a neurotoxin that is produced by Bayer. It is closely related to DDT which was the subject of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring. Despite extensive scientific research the government officials who were supposed to help the farmers were helping Bayer instead. Finally, after many battles including extensive scientific research and marching in the streets of Paris the farmers won and their bees started coming back in 2005.

http://planbeecentral.wordpress.com/2009/12/

And in Germany where the mother ship of Bayer is located we have.

Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn. 

The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Wuerttemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

http://www.cbgnetwork.de/2518.html

Also it has been reported that the bees did much better in 2009. If I can fine that info again I'll post it.

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Access BEE-L directly at:
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L