Will You Take Time to Help Struggling Honeybees?

Honeybees have it rough right now. Since 2006, the pollinators have been wracked by Colony Collapse Disorder, a mysterious disease where honeybees leave their hives, never to return again. American beekeepers report losing 29 to 36 percent of their hives every, single year because of the disease, a situation that jeopardizes bees, beekeeping, and the country's food security. Pollinators like honeybees are responsible for producing a whopping one-third of our food supply, so a hit to honeybees represents a blow to our breadbaskets at large.

Scientists still haven't figured out exactly what's causing Colony Collapse Disorder, and it's likely that the culprit is a combination of factors. But they do know this: Some pesticides harm honeybee immunity, and these chemicals may be contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder.

The pesticides most heavily implicated in honeybee death are neonicotinoids, a class made up of specific pesticides like clothianidin, thiomethoxam, and imidacloprid. A memo leaked from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December of 2010 revealed that the agency's own researchers questioned the science that led to clothiandin's full approval in early 2010. Two EPA researchers said that one of the studies used to prove clothiandin's safety was "deficient" in regards to evaluating how clothianidin impacts honeybees.

Incomplete data on clothianidin is a beemergency in itself, but the situation gets worse: Recent research shows that bees exposed to imidacloprid, a type of neonicotinoid pesticide, were more vulnerable to a fatal bee disease than honeybees that weren't exposed to the chemical.

These two findings certainly aren't enough to pinpoint neonicotinoids as a cause of Colony Collapse Disorder, but they do tell us this: We don't know enough about neonicotinoid pesticides to say that they are safe for honeybees. And given the pollinators' precarious position right now, we can't afford to take any chances with their health.

That's why a coalition of non-profits and beekeepers is asking the EPA to put measures in place that would protect honeybees from potentially harmful neonicotinoid pesticides. Led by Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), a group of interested parties including Credo, Avaaz.org, Pesticide Watch, Vanishing of the Bees, and American beekeepers will deliver a petition to EPA officials on May 5th. The group has two requests for the EPA: 1) That the agency fund enforcement measures to make sure farmers are using pesticides properly and legally and 2) That the agency immediately pull, restrict, and/or refuse to issue new uses for the three most suspicious types of neonicotinoids: imidacloprid, thiomethoxam, and clothianidin.

While the EPA has already agreed to re-evaluate neonicotinoids, experts agree that this analysis would take place too far down the road in order to adequately protect honeybees. Pollinators are dying off at alarming rates now — conserving them requires that we take immediate action.

PANNA and its coalition of supporters are running their campaign on Change.org and will deliver the petition and all of its signatures to the EPA on May 5, 2011. If you want to tell the EPA that you support healthy honeybees and food security in America, sign PANNA's petition now.

Photo credit: Erik Hooymans via Wikimedia Commons