North American Bees Are in Even More Trouble After a Bad Winter

The crisis of the disappearing honeybees, which has baffled scientists for four years now, is getting worse. A federal survey indicates a heavy bee die-of this winter, and at the same time, a new study shows that honeybees' pollen and hives are laden with pesticides.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, and regulators in both California and Canada are feverishly working to figure out what is behind the threat, and are now ordering up new research to be conducted on pesticides used in fields and orchards. The federal courts have also stepped into the equation, ruling that the EPA overlooked a requirement when allowing a pesticide on the market. Chemists at a scientific conference in San Francisco will also be tackling the issue of chemicals and the shrinking bee population in response to the new study.

Scientists, and the government, are understandably concerned about the loss of bees as they play an important, vital role in our food supply. One-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees. This includes products such apples and zucchini.

Over the past few decades, bees have been declining for various reasons. But the situation has become much more dire in recent years. In 2006, a new concern - "colony collapse disorder" - was blamed for mass, inexplicable die-offs. The disorder causes adult bees to abandon their hives and fly off to die. It is believed to be caused by a combination of things, including poor nutrition, bacteria, viruses, parasites and pesticides.

But bees seem to be in even more trouble this year after a particularly bad winter. A survey of commercial bee brokers cited in an internal USDA document showed that one-third of those surveyed had trouble finding enough hives to pollinate California's nuts trees, which grow most of the world's almonds. A more formal study will be conducted in April and should give scientists an even better look at the situation.

On Friday, a study was published in the journal Public LIbrary of Science, which found that three out of five pollen and wax samples from 23 states had at least one systemic pesticide. The study found 121 different kinds of pesticides in 887 wax, pollen, bee and hive samples. While the chemicals were not at high enough levels to kill bees, it was the combination and variety that is worrisome.

But research shows that the honeybees decline is not just due to pesticides. Researchers say multiple viruses attacking the bees also have made it tough to determine a single solution to the problem.