Bee sanctuary

The mysterious disappearance of entire bee colonies, known as colony collapse disorder or CCD, has mystified researchers for a couple of years now (see Curr. Biol. 17, R389). It was first observed in the US, where highly industrialised bee-keeping practices mean that colonies are shipped across the continent to work large areas of a single crop. But whether this stress or other factors are responsible is of increasing concern to US agriculture, which relies on bees for the successful pollination of many major crops. In most European countries, by contrast, bee-keeping remains in the hands of small local businesses and even amateurs, who pride themselves on more bee-friendly practices. But similar losses of bee colonies have been reported from various locations across Europe; however, it is still unclear whether CCD will take hold in Europe to the extent it already has in the US. This agreement is a landmark in that it is the first instance of a producer of insecticides paying the price for lost bees With European beekeepers now on high alert, the loss of thousands of colonies in one region of Germany this spring sounded major alarm bells. In Baden-Württemberg, particularly along the Upper Rhine, 700 beekeepers reported the loss of around 11,500 colonies. Unlike the puzzling CCD in the US, investigators quickly placed the blame on a group of products containing the toxin clothianidin, an insecticide of the neonicotinoid class developed and produced by the chemical company Bayer. By the end of June, the company agreed to compensate the beekeepers with a total sum of two million euros. Environmentalists claim that Bayer got off too lightly, pointing out that For the first time, a chemicals company has paid compensation to beekeepers for loss of colonies. Michael Gross reports. Pesticides linked to bee deaths in fine powders rich in the insecticide. When farmers used these faulty batches in a certain kind of sowing equipment that tends to disperse such powders in the air, the toxin ended up on flowers where it affected bees. As these problems appeared to be specific to maize, the BVL has now allowed rapeseed treated with such products to be sown again, subject to the limitations, which also specify which kind of sowing equipment may be used. The authority also ruled that in the future the binding of the insecticide to the seeds must be improved. The permissions for other products including those …