Film blames drug firm for death of honey bee colonies

It's a problem that has baffled agriculture and science - the mysterious deaths of honey bees all over the world in the last five years. But a new film thinks it has the answer.

Vanishing of the Bees claims a new generation of pesticides weakens the bees and makes them more susceptible to other diseases.

The film tells the story of how colony collapse disorder first appeared in America in the winter of 2004 - when many beekeepers across the country found their bees had vanished and left behind empty hives - and of how scientists have since failed to find a single cause for it.

It goes on to suggest neonicotinoid pesticides, some of them made by Bayer, one of the world's biggest chemical companies, may be behind the disappearances.

They include the widely used imidacloprid (marketed under the trade name Gaucho), which has been banned in France following pressure from beekeepers. It is still in use in Britain and the US and has already been the subject of protests from beekeepers in New Zealand.

Neonicotinoids are applied to seeds rather than sprayed on to growing plants, and affect the pests that consume them. In theory, this means non-pest insects should not be affected.

But Vanishing of the Bees suggests long-term, low-level exposure may be having a weakening effect on honey bees, which have also been hit in recent years by diseases ranging from the devastating varroa mite to the nosema fungus and other viruses.

The pesticides, it suggests, may be the final straw for a weakened population. In particular, the film targets Bayer, which has rejected the allegations.

"Everybody knows this is about the varroa mite, the nosema pest and a number of fungal and viral diseases," said Dr Julian Little, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

"The healthiest bees in the world are in Australia, where they have lots of neonicotinoids but they don't have varroa."

- INDEPENDENT