Scientists Call for Global Ban on Bee-Killing Pesticides
Two landmark studies, conducted in field conditions, published in Science in March clearly implicated sub-lethal doses of the pesticides with increases in disappeared bees and crashes in the number of queens produced by colonies. Then on 5 April, another study was released, showing the pesticides can cause colony collapse disorder (CCD), the name given to the ghostly hives from which bees have vanished.
“The data, both ours and others, right now merits a global ban,” said Chensheng Lu, in the department of environmental health at Harvard University, and who led the the CCD study. “I would suggest removing all neonicotinoids from use globally for a period of five to six years. If the bee population is going back up during the after the ban, I think we will have the answer.”
We really need bees. Like… really.