The Head-Scratching Case of the Vanishing Bees

Mixing in the genuine scientific concern about neonicotinoid systematic pesticides with completely off-the-wall worries about cell phone towers and GM crops is just trying to spread uncertainty and doubt. I can't understand why a journalist would write such a misleading article today after the scientific studies & the EU ban.

Neonicotinoids are applied by treating the _seed_ of the crops. Their very action is that of a nerve agent for insects. It really isn't that surprising that sub-lethal doses might have an effect on the ability of honey bees to navigate back to the hive. This isn't some 'underlying premise', there are a number of careful scientific studies out there out there[1], perhaps the most interesting to the Hacker News audience is where they attached RFID tags to bees[2].

Also, the Varroa destructor mite doesn't tend to do that much damage on its own, it is a vector spreading viruses. The modern mix of viruses swirling around the bee populations are probably not helped by commercial movement of colonies around the country.

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blo... [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21267650