Bees on their knees

Avaaz currently has a petition calling on US and EU decision-makers to ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides immediately, until and unless new independent scientific studies prove they are safe. Bee colonies are crashing, and it is not clear why, but Avaaz say that "Four European countries have begun banning the poisons [sic] and bee populations are recovering."

Einstein is widely quoted as saying "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." Presumably 'woman' would be fine, but leaving that aside, he probably didn't say it at all. Nevertheless, a Guardian article about a week ago says: "It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon pollination by bees, which means they contribute some £26bn to the global economy", and gives the alarming statistic: "The abundance of four common species of bumblebee in the US has dropped by 96% in just the past few decades." It is not clear why, but scientists think it is from a combination of factors: a reduction in genetic diversity; parasites such as the bloodsucking varroa mite and viral and bacterial infections; pesticides; changing habitats around cities; and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods.

So, even if these neonicotinoid pesticides were not responsible for the whole of the decline, it makes sense to ban them and continue studying their effects, while looking into ways of combatting the other factors. My brother is a researcher in mathematical biology at Royal Holloway, and is contributing mathematical modelling to a project looking at emergent diseases among insect pollinators.The Benedictines and other religious have along history of keeping bees, and have even developed new disease-resistant strains. It is something we may consider at some point in the future, but we will need to know what we are doing, or we could contribute to the problem. In the meantime, please consider signing the petition.