When the CCD Working Team began testing hives for pesticides, they found an overwhelming chemical cocktail, concluding that “the 98 pesticides and metabolites detected….in bee pollen alone represented a remarkably high level for toxicants in the food of brood and adults.â€
Use of neonicotinoids, a particular class of agricultural chemicals, has exploded in recent years, not only as a sprayed pesticide but also as coatings on GMO seed. The chemicals have been directly linked to massive honeybee deaths in Europe. And sub-lethal and chronic doses of these pesticides, while not killing the bees outright, cause systemic symptoms eerily similar to those affected by CCD: memory loss, navigation disruption, paralysis and death.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi117http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technol ... s-ban.htmlhttp://www.beecharmers.org/Pollination2.htmlhttp://www.i-sis.org.uk/banNeonicotinoi ... neybee.phphttp://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollina ... micals.htmhttp://www.change.org/petitions/help-be ... pesticides