Let's Do A Study

There is now a plan to address CCD and legislation wending its way through Congress to protect pollinators and pollinator habitat.

From the Colony Collapse Disorder Action Plan just released by the USDA:

“Regarding pesticides, a new class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids is broadly and commonly used in most cropping systems and on turf and forest pests. One of the compounds in this class, imidacloprid, was banned in France, because it is acutely toxic to bees and since sub-lethal doses have been shown to impair honey bee short-term memory; short-term memory is critical to bee navigational abilities necessary for foraging flights and for returning to the hive. USDA-funded research in North Carolina suggested that widely used fungicides synergize the effect of neonicotinoids 1,000-fold. Imidacloprid, applied as a systemic, has been found in corn, sunflower, and rape pollen at levels high enough to harm bees. [Although bees do not pollinate corn, they do collect corn pollen.]”

The action plan calls for research on the effects of neonicotinoids (among other things) as a cause of CCD but stops short of prohibiting use of the insecticide until the research is complete.

The USDA Colony Collapse Disorder Action Plan can be downloaded from:
link
For info on Pollinator and Pollinator Habitat Legislation:
link