Rapid Disappearance Of Bees Essay

The Rapid Disappearance of Bees

Companies all throughout America are ignoring the United States Department of Agriculture’s warning of the continued use of insecticides leading to Colony Collapse Disorder, in which the adult honeybees disappear from the hive and leave the queen and younger bees alone. Some companies, according to the United States Public Interest Research Group, such as Syngenta, have “... even asked federal regulators for permission to use even larger quantities of these pesticides — as much as 400 times more than currently allowed” (uspirg.org). Although bees may be responsible for the killing of many people, since bees annually contribute billions of dollars to the United States’ economy, the unnecessary killing of them through

Honeybees are the greatest way to pollinate when it come to agriculture, and it costs nearly nothing to use them. According to the British Beekeepers’ Association, bees pollinate approximately one to two-thirds of the world’s food. “Without the service nature provides, some of that food would become a lot harder to grow and more expensive to buy” (bbka.org.uk). They pollinate foods of all kinds, ranging from fruits to legumes to seeds, which are widely accessible and generally inexpensive. Without bees, alternative methods of pollination would have to be put to use which are less cost-effective and significantly more labor intensive, resulting in a price spike for all the inexpensive foods bees pollinate. Studies from Beyond Pesticides show that the problems bees are facing are related; the use of pesticides results in Colony Collapse Disorder. “Many indications point to CCD being induced by pesticides, especially neonicotinoid insecticides, as well as pathogens, nutritional deficits and environmental stresses” (“Pesticides and Pollinators” 1). When farmers spray their crops with pesticides, they severely harm their pollinators along with