Study: Pesticides Cause Colony Collapse Disorder in Honeybees

Pesticides are the probable cause of massive colony collapse disorder (CCD), a new study from Harvard’s School of Public Health claims.

On the rise since 2006, CCD works like this: Beekeepers suddenly discover that the hives they’re tending to have very few adult bees left in a colony, but there are no bodies. Essentially, the bees disappear from the colony and then die off en masse. This is a severe issue considering that one third of all food and beverages come from crops pollinated by honeybees.

The study’s lead author Chensheng Lu say that more research needs to be conducted to figure out how exactly the pesticides are afflicting the bees.