Wednesday, July 23, 2014

The buzz about bees

"Bee populations in the U.S. and Europe remain at healthy levels for reproduction and the critical pollination of food crops and trees. But during much of the past decade we have seen higher-than-average overwinter bee-colony losses in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as cases of bees abruptly abandoning their hives, a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder."

Citing this disorder, antipesticide activists and some voluble beekeepers want to ban the most widely used pesticides in modern agriculture—neonicotinoids ("neonics" for short)—that account for 20% of pesticide sales world-wide. This would have disastrous effects on modern farming and food prices." http://online.wsj.com/articles/henry-i-miller-why-the-buzz-about-a-bee-pocalypse-is-a-honey-trap-1406071612

1 comment:

Simple Gardener said...

Neonics used properly are good pesticides and banning them based on the data we have at this time would be a mistake. I think there are some people who look at any pesticide as automatically "bad". Thus, they look for any excuse no matter how weak to ban them. That said, for those of you who like me choose to use pesticides on your lawn and garden please be careful and use as little as possible as infrequently as possible.