Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: U.S. Beekeepers Lost 23% of Colonies Last Winter; Scientists Recommend Treating Bees for Varroa Mite [View all]hedgehog
(36,286 posts)1. The Harvard Report concluded that the use of nicotine pesticides is a significant factor in CCD.
2. The articles you linked to attacked the study as poorly constructed and therefore yielding invalid results.
3. While it is possible to claim that the study does not prove that the nicotine pesticides are the sole factor involved, neither does this single study exonerate them.
4. Other studies suggest that it is only in the presence of nicotine pesticides that endemic parasites, fungus and infections become fatal to entire colonies, therefore these pesticides should not be used in the presence of bees.
As an aside; a quick review of the Seralinis controversy suggests that the waters are well and truly muddied there; apparently critics claimed he did not prove that GMO foods cause cancer; apparently he claims the experiment was designed to detect liver and kidney toxicity and happened to suggest a need for further study of a possible connection to cancer. Mentioning the Seralinis dispute is an excellent way to distract from the subject at hand; the cause of CCD.