Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the name that has been given to the latest, and what seems to be the most serious, die-off of honey bee colonies across the country.
What potential causes of CCD is the Working Group investigating? The current research priorities ~ include, but is not limited to:
– Chemical residue/contamination in the wax, food stores and bees
– Known and unknown pathogens in the bees and brood
– Parasite load in the bees and brood
– Nutritional fitness of the adult bees
– Level of stress in adult bees as indicated by stress induced proteins
– Lack of genetic diversity and lineage of beesWhat are examples of topics that the CCD working group is not currently investigating?
– GMO crops: ~ CCD symptoms do not fit what would be expected in Bt affected organisms.
– Radiation transmitted by cell towers: The distribution of both affected and non-affected CCD apiaries does not make this a likely cause.
In 1999, 29 million acres of Bt corn, potato and cotton were grown globally.
While this possibility has not been ruled out, the weight of evidence reported here argues strongly that the current use of Bt crops is not associated with CCD.
In an interview, Cox-Foster said it’s possible that a new bee disease may have come to the United States last year when the law banning bees from other countries was changed to allow imports from Australia to service California’s almond crop.
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She was asked if the disorder had affected so-called “killer bees,” the aggressive Africanized hybrids that have appeared in Florida, Texas and other Southern and Southwestern states.“We are not seeing the collapse among Africanized bees in Arizona,” she said, adding that the insects also appear resistant to a costly mite that has plagued hives since 1988.
“They are also great pollinators,” she said. “It may be that we will find genes in the Africanized hybrids that will be valuable in dealing with this problem.”