The Bees Are Dying

Bees are insects that produce honey and have an important role in pollinating plants. Bees use nectar and pollen to feed and when they gather pollen they also pollinate the plants increasing their productivity.

In the last years bee hives have been affected by several epidemics and entire hives have disappeared without any warning. Colony Collapse Syndrome is phenomenon in which worker bees from a hive suddenly disappear.

It is well known that pesticides can affect the memory of bees and some times can kill them. In 1999 "Gaucho" a pesticide manufactured by the German pharmaceutical firm Bayer was banned because of effect on bees. Gaucho is based on imidaclopride a chemical that affects the nervous system and was used to coat sunflower seeds, the pesticide was carried from the coated seed to the mature plants pollen and nectar used by the bees to feed, high quantities where detected even in the upper leaves. Bees that collected pollen from contaminated sunflowers where unable to find their way to the hives and as a result the bees died. In the same period farmers that use the pesticide notice that the production of honey dropped with 50% and even after two years the chemical was still found in the soil and plants.

GM crops can also a danger to the life of bees, Professor Hans-Heinrich Kaatz at the University of Jena found that the GM herbicide resistant genes from the rape-seed were transferred to bacteria's and to the yeast inside the intestines of bees. Because of the possibility that humans could get this genes Britain, French and Swedish governments decided to uproot of the crops, but there are countries that continue to use GM rape-seed.

Viruses and parasites are the biggest threat to bees but this doesn't explain why bees die on a global scale even when breakouts are isolated. In 2004 more that 61% of the U.S hives where infested with Varroa mites. The Varroa mites are the most destructive parasites because they carry the Deformed Wing Virus and the Israel Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), the Apis mellifera bees are the most used bee for pollinating crops but they are completely defenseless against these parasites.