Part I: Bee Deaths Mystery Solved? Neonicotinoids (Neonics) May Actually Help Bee Health
November 21, 2014
From: Science 2.0
By Jon Entine
Reports that honey bees are dying in unusually high numbers has concerned many scientists, farmers and beekeepers, and gripped the public. There have been thousands of stories ricocheting across the web, citing one study or another as the definitive explanation for a mystery that most mainstream experts say is complex and not easily reducible to the kind of simplistic narrative that appeals to advocacy groups.
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This series—Bee Deaths Mystery Solved!—specifically examines two controversial studies, both authored by the same researcher, that have became the linchpin for those who argue that bees and potentially the planet are facing a Beemageddon. It addresses:
- Who is Chensheng Lu, the nutritionist who has become the face of the movement claiming that Big Ag is threatening bees, humans and our food supply?
- What are neonicotinoids, the supposed time bomb at the center of the controversy?
- What role have journalists played in mis-reporting the bee death story?
- Do prominent entomologists and beekeepers endorse Lu’s belief that the world faces a “bee crisis” as Lu’s research, held up by activists as seminal and groundbreaking, contends
- Will—or should—’neonics’ be banned as a precautionary measure?
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