February 22, 2013

1 Min Read
Could it bee? Buzz-worthy potential pesticide ban

Could it bee? Buzz-worthy potential pesticide ban   Did you know that, according to the USDA, “About one mouthful in three in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination”? That makes me think of Winnie-the-Pooh getting an actual mouthful of honey-coated bees, but I digress … this is a sticky matter.

"Honey bees are a massive global business, responsible for a third of the world’s food production," wrote Chris Bennett in this Farm Press Blog, adding that bees provide $15 billion in added US. crop value each year.  

Accordingly, "It’s difficult to overstate honey bee significance to the planet’s food security. And since 2006, after the bullrush onset of colony collapse disorder, scientists and beekeepers have looked for a source of blame; a cause to explain millions of abandoned hives and billions of dead bees," Bennett goes on.  

As a result, neonicotinoid pesticides—particularly clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam—are on the verge of being stung in Europe, a ban that could cost the continent up to $23 billion over five years and jeopardize 50,000 jobs, according to Businessweek.

Read more about the biologist behind the controversy swarming this proposed ban on Bennett's blog and in this Businessweek story.  

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