Editor’s note: The information presented below may no longer be relevant or accurate.
I have seen the precipitous decline in bee populations while beekeeping over the past 20 years. I recently lost all three of my beehives this past year, more than at any time in my beekeeping career. Yes, I can replace them, but it is costly. According to the USDA, my state of Maryland lost 61% of their honeybee population last year, which is two times higher than the national average.
The cause of this decline in bee population is neonics — a pesticide that persists in all the plant parts. As of 2018, my home state of Maryland banned consumer use of neonics. Maryland is actually set to be the first state in the U.S. to ban neon’s for consumer usage. However, it’s important to note that other pesticides affect bees, too, and we will have to do much more than simply banning this class of pesticides.
Check your store and the label of common products (such as Bayer Rose & Flower Care) for neonic chemicals with ingredient names like: acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, thiamethoxam, nitenpyram, and nithiazine. If you see a product containing any of these chemicals, please take a picture with your phone and send in the store name, location and date to Maryland Dept. of Agriculture Pesticide Regulation Program, Dennis Howard, email: dennis.howard@maryland.gov.
Unfortunately, the legislation does include exceptions for farmers and veterinarians, though it still marks a step in the right direction. Another exception involves pet care products, particularly those related to fleas, mites, ticks, and heartworms. Anyone who violates this rule will be forced to pay a $250 fine. Homeowners are known for applying extremely high levels of neonics by not following directions and thinking that the more insecticide they apply the better.
Neonicotinoid pesticides contribute to mortality of all pollinators such as bees, birds and butterflies. Non-pesticide-related threats — loss of forage or parasites — are made worse by neonicotinoid exposure.
Pollinator extinction poses a huge threat to food security, because about 75 percent of all foods crops require a pollinator to grow.
Spurred by the high level of bee losses, several cities have enacted outright bans on neonicotinoids. Several states, like California, Alaska, New York, and Massachusetts, are currently considering legislation that would ban neonicotinoids, though none of the proposals have made it through the state’s legislature.
10 Comments
I recently learned of neonics after purchasing bedding plants at Home Depot that had a tag stating that they had been treated to kill aphids and white flies but said nothing about pollinators!!! I pulled up the plants and returned them and have tried to educate everyone I know. People are buying these plants in ignorance of their impact on pollinators. My husband is a beekeeper and I raise Monarch butterflies to keep them from extinction and help educate others in my area. I’ll share your much needed article and many thanks.
You are welcome. Thanks for commenting and sharing
I always enjoy your articles, but this one is not based on fact. Recent studies show pesticides are ranked 11th in bee colony loss. Varroa mites/viruses are more dangerous to colony survival than pesticides. While you lament the loss of your hives, reality is the overall number of colonies has actually increased since the USDA began record keeping. A good beekeeper knows how to recover any lost colonies through splits and swarms. Shame on you for perpetuating a false hood on your readers.
Recent studies show a lot of different statistics. Which study were you referring to?
Mitigating risks to insect pollinators is important to everyone and if we can lessen the use of pesticides, that is a help and something that we can control. Mites and viruses are tougher to tackle. It is the cascade of all these stressors though that mixed together causes our problems and I am proud that my home state has taken action with the banning of these pesticides.
I am a hobby beekeeper and my only three colonies died over the winter, so I can’t do a split and I certainly won’t get any swarms to increase. A commercial beekeeper would have more opportunities in that direction. Pesticides and pollinators are critical to the continuing success of worldwide agriculture, it is imperative that we learn to accurately and honestly assess the benefits and risks of their interactions.
I’m invariably a little concerned when comments refer to ‘recent studies’ – Becky, can you be more specific as to precisely which studies show pesticides are 11th in this lost, and just as importantly, the funding for these studies. As one who is involved with this field of study, I am not aware of such a list, and am interested to read it. The argument that colonies are increasing and beekeeper can make splits is one that is actively perpetuated by the agri-chemical industry to detract attention from the effects of its products, and puts quantity above quality. Yes, varroa are nasty, yet it is the bees reduced resistance to pathogens, diseases, etc., caused by herbicides, pesticides and fungicides, that makes them particularly vulnerable to varroa, nosema, etc. For a more in-depth, scientific, explanation, refer the 6 series article by Ross Conrad in recent editions of Bee Culture.
Thanks Robynne, I am also concerned when people say recent studies. I want to know who, what, and where. And I agree that it isn’t just one factor that is a problem but the toxic mix of problems that create a cascade of problems.If we can mitigate even one problem we are helping.
I am it wouldn’t forward. So I tried to print it, but again without success and now short of taking down verbatim what you show on screen I am stumped.
Not sure what you are saying?
I love this website, but trotting out unscientific disproven politically motivated garbage (you forgot to blame global warming) is sickening. The science has moved on, and this article is a year out of date.
For probably millions of years honey bees have picked up plant viruses in the nectar they drink, and unexpectedly, plant viruses (particularly mosaic viruses) infect bees! Until recently the infected bee dies after a week or so and the hive goes on. Now we have a new vector for viruses in bees, the Varroa mite. It acts like a tsetse fly, a mosquito, a deer tick, or any other bloodsucking critter that passes diseases from person to person to animal. The bee with the virus is an easy mark for a varroa, if the bee dies in the hive the mite moves to another bee. Not only do they attack then move on passing the virus, they pass the virus on in their eggs, which are laid in the brood cells, the mini mites get out onto worker bees, and sometimes onto the queen. Once the queen has the virus, she begins laying infected eggs. Some of these viruses cause the bee to become disfigured before pupating, maybe unable to fly. It’s not difficult to see what happens next, a weakened queen, weakened brood, less food gathered, and any hope of natural re-queening a waste of effort, the new queens are infected. The hive is doomed. The only hope is to artificially re-queen after removing all varroa mites.
Plant viruses have been ignored by people for too long, but they are all part of the web of life, when one thing gets out of sync, it can throw everything out of whack.
Oh, and another thing, honey bees do not pollinate 75% of our food, they might pollinate 75% of our food species, but the majority of our food is not reliant on any insect pollinator, and of the rest, many are pollinated by native bees. Fruit trees need honey bees, many garden flowers are visited by honey bees, great numbers of wild flowers are visited by honey bees. Bees produce honey, wax, propolis and other useful products, they also pollinate apples, cherries, plums, peaches, citrus, berries, and some of our garden vegetables, alongside wild bees. Without honeybees my Nankin cherries don’t produce because native bees aren’t out that early, and the local hives are not local enough for the bees to visit in cooler weather, but I won’t starve.
I state that 75% of crops need some kind of pollinator (not honeybees exclusively) and the scientific results on neonics is still inconclusive and I am not in the least politically motivated! Thanks for commenting!