Use of Common Pesticide, Imidacloprid, Linked to Bee Colony Collapse

This article reveals a new theory for the cause of the bee collapse worldwide. Researchers have found strong evidence that a common pesticide called imidacloprid is responsible for CCD. After a study of four different bee yards over 23 weeks, 94% of the imidacloprid treated hives were dead and the hives exposed to the highest dose were the first to die. Unlike hives that collapse due to disease or pests, these hives had the same characteristics as the hives that collapse as a result of CCD. The hives were left empty except for food stores, some pollen, young bees and only a few dead bees around the hive. These results strongly support the theory that this pesticide, which is used to treat the majority of corn crops in the U.S., is the cause of CCD.

Just a few days before reading this article, my mom had mention that a new theory had been suggested for the collapse of the bees. Finding this article was interesting because I can now but a name to this theory. It is frightening to read as this pesticide, imidacloprid, is so common and bees are so easily exposed to it. Even beekeepers may be unknowingly supplying the pesticide to their bees through high-fructose corn syrup they use to feed them. If this theory is correct, a solution is going to be needed extremely quickly or else we will have an enormous problem on our hands.