Bee Colonies Still Dying Out in Record Numbers

You may know that since about 2006 there has been a large and growing problem with the honey bees which play a large part in fertilizing our flowers and crops. Many bees, and in fact whole colonies have been dying due to an unknown factor which had been named Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. Scientists are still working to determine the exact cause of CCD - theories range from parasites to viruses or bacteria to pesticides - but none of these have yet been agreed upon as the reason for this astounding decline.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.

Link - via reddit

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by thalin.

http://torontoist.com/2010/04/torontos_blooming_buzztropolis.php

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What about GM crops? The fact that they are genetically altered to produce substances completely foreign to the original plant, (drugs for pharmaceuticals, chemicals for weed eradication and pest control, etc.), could mean that cross pollination among plants would produce substances fatal to the bees. Of course, Monsanto, the leading producer of these "terminator seeds", says they are completely harmless. Of course they would, especially since these seeds amount to billions in sales every year. It's time that this possibility be looked into seriously, by independent sources, and the findings published and acted upon.

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I have also read some science journal articles about the usage of electromagnetic was disrupting the bees. Really, this is just scary stuff. If something isn't done soon to find the answer, bees wont be the only little guys in the universe dying off.