Neonicotinoid pesticides were invented because there was concern that they could have an effect on bees.
Colony collapses have happened all throughout recorded history, of course, but in an immediate news cycle when every blip leads to gigantic fundraising opportunities, it is customary to hyperventilate and mobilize the donor base against science.
Yet despite the beliefs of environmentalists, a 1980 PC is not better than a PC made today and legacy pesticides are not superior to neonicotinoids.
In reality, rather than improving the environment, banning neonics would cause farm productivity to drop, more toxic chemicals to come back into use, food prices would increase, and bees would be much worse off, notes Henry Miller in Forbes.
Miller notes that “99.99 percent (by weight) of the pesticides in the American diet are chemicals that plants produce to defend themselves. Only 52 natural pesticides have been tested in high-dose animal cancer tests, and about half (27) are rodent carcinogens; these 27 are shown to be present in many common foods.”
And there were 80 million colonies in 2011, up from 50 million in 1960.
That is not a colony collapse disorder - so let's not cause one.
The Dreaded 'Green Blob' Is The Most Dire Threat To Bees by Henry Miller, Forbes
