Banning neonics from the City of Montreal: an important gesture towards improving pollinator health

A honey bee queen, center, mills about a honeycomb as its hive receives routine maintenance as part of a collaboration between the Cincinnati Zoo and TwoHoneys Bee Co., Wednesday, May 27, 2015, at EcOhio Farm in Mason, Ohio.
A honey bee queen, center, mills about a honeycomb as its hive receives routine maintenance as part of a collaboration between the Cincinnati Zoo and TwoHoneys Bee Co., Wednesday, May 27, 2015, at EcOhio Farm in Mason, Ohio.

Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette, published May 28, 2015

Bees have been in the news a lot lately, and with good reason.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a mysterious phenomon describing the sudden widespread death of millions of honeybees, has been steeply increasing since 2007, when beekeepers first began reporting unusually large hive losses. The losses coincided with the introduction, a few years earlier, of a new class of pesticide called neonicotinoids primarily used to treat corn, soy and other commercial crops.

While other causes of CCD are still being bandied around, the scientific community has slowly been building up proof around the case against neonicotinoids, or “neonics” as they are sometimes called.  Continue reading “Banning neonics from the City of Montreal: an important gesture towards improving pollinator health”