Mysterious Bee Deaths Linked To Pesticides, High-Fructose Corn Syrup

Scientists researching the mysterious bee shortage have recently linked it to a common pesticide and high-fructose corn syrup.

Bees have been dying in large numbers due to the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder since 2006, but the root cause of the problem was unknown, and possibly blamed on mites or disease.

Recently, however, scientists with the Harvard School of Public Health managed to recreate Colony Collapse Disorder by giving them small doses of a popular pesticide.

Pesticides being a potential problem for insects seems obvious, but it's news for two reasons: First, the specific pesticides used are supposed to be safe for bees. Second, the bees weren't actually being sprayed with it.

The pesticides are not supposed to kill bees, and they don't do it right away. The researchers treated 16 hives with different amounts of the stuff and left four untreated.

Three months later, all the bees were totally fine. But after about six months, 15 of the 16 test hives had undergone Colony Collapse Disorder. The untreated hives were fine.

"The evidence is clear that imidacloprid is likely the culprit for Colony Collapse Disorder via a very unique mechanism that has not been reported until our study," said lead author Chensheng Lu, who says that a very tiny amount of the pesticide, like 20 parts per billion, was enough to kill a colony within six months.

The mechanism he's talking about is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Yup, the HFCS that's in the news so much pops up again. Apparently many beekeepers have been feeding their hives with HFCS, which the researchers say was totally fine until 2004-2005, when U.S. corn started to be sprayed with the pesticide in question. According to Monga Bay, an environmental web site, the first outbreak of Colony Collapse Disorder occurred just a year later. 

Responses to the study have been predictably varied. According to Wired, the company that makes the pesticide says the findings are "spectacularly incorrect." While a researcher at the USDA said they were, "tantalizing but inconclusive."