Do you like to see bees? Or do you flee whenever you see one to avoid getting stung? Whether you like them or not, bees play a fundamental role in nature as pollinators. They assist in producing over 130 different types of fruits and vegetables. Plant populations will surely suffer and the prices of crops will increase drastically if they are not able to do their job. This is precisely what is happening.

        Honey bees are dying. In 2006, an alarming amount of commercial bee colonies in Pennsylvania were found dead. This was when the term Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD, was first used to describe the mysterious disappearances of the bee population. CCD is when conditions are ideal for a bee colony but the bees are gone. There could be a healthy queen bee laying eggs, pollen stored, and enough food for a hive, but a very low number of bees. CCD is different from other threats affecting bees because, unlike the others, bodies are never found. It is almost as if the bees have vanished into thin air.

        For the past 15 years scientists have not been able to find the cause of CCD. Many hypotheses have developed, ranging from possibilities such as harmful cell phone radiation and alien abduction, to the more grounded reasons of malnutrition and deadly pathogens. But now, several new studies have led scientists to believe they have found the culprit. It is a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, also known as neonics.

        Neonics, made by the company Bayer, coat a staggering 142 million acres of corn, wheat, soy, and cotton seeds in the US alone. Supposedly, neonics contaminate the pollen of the plants they are absorbed by. This is harmful to the bees because it acts as a nerve poison, disorienting them and impairing their ability to return to their hive, therefore causing them to die. A study by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health was able to re-create CCD in several honeybee hives by exposing them to the popular neonic, imidacloprid.

        Even if the United States joins France and Germany in banning these pesticides, scientists believe this is not the only factor regarding the decline of bee populations. Land development and agriculture have tampered with the bees’ natural habitats, taking away their natural resources and not allowing for their diverse food supply to grow. The planting of genetically modified crops has also been a major factor. It is a common practice to genetically engineer crops so they already contain toxic insecticides within their genetic structure.

        Colony Collapse Disorder should be seen as a warning. We cannot change nature to fit our demands, and it will do us more harm than good to work against it rather than with it.