Review of Bee Health

Neonic Bans Don’t Help Bees: Belgium and France are EU’s bee mortality hotspots

May 26, 2016

From: EurActiv

Belgium and France are EU’s bee mortality hotspots

By Romain Loury | JDLE | Translated By Samuel White

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published figures on the loss of bees in the EU. Belgium tops the list for winter mortality, and France for the beekeeping season. EurActiv’s partner Journal de l’Environnement reports.

Funded by the European Commission and carried out by the EU Reference Laboratory for bee health in France, the EPILOBEE study examined the mortality rates in 5,798 honey bee colonies across 17 EU countries between autumn 2012 and summer 2014.

The first results, published in April 2014, revealed a steep increase in bee mortality from South to North. Two years later, this trend was confirmed, but with a generally lower winter mortality rate: over the period 2013-2014, only five countries exceeded the ‘acceptable’ rate of 10%, compared to 13 countries for 2012-2013.

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