To Bee or Not Bee - Genetically Engineered Foods the Culprit

So, if your tired of talking about gunshots and Fresh Direct, here's a new topic to scare the heck out of you. According to an article in the current issue of the Park Slope Food Coop newsletter, bee populations are crashing in the US. FYI, bees pollinate 100% of the almond crop, 90% of the blueberry and apple crops and over half of the peach crop. Of the estimated 2.4 million colonies in the United States, 500,000 to one million have died over the last year. The cause is mysteriously referred to as
"colony collapse disorder".

According to an article in Der Spiegel, a large German newsweekly, researchers in Germany attribute the collapse to genetically modified seeds, which attack the lining of the bee's intestine. You should know that over 1/2 of all corn grown in the US is genetically modified with BT, a naturally occuring bacteria that attacks insects. While intended to attack the corn borer worm, BT may also be attacking bees, according to the German researchers at the University of Halle.

Interestingly, while the bee collapse is occuring in the US, the researchers who made the genetic engineering connection are in Germany. European food laws require the labeling of any foods that are genetically modified, and hence, sales of these foods are virtually non-existent.
Why is this research taking place in German where there are no genetically engineered seeds and presumably no colony collapse?

As an aside, in the current issue of National Geographic the cover story, about the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia, notes that the introduction by the English colonists of the European honey bee ensured the success of the many crops introduced by the Europeans. Apparently the native North American honey bee was a stay at home bee, and cultivated a narrow range of crops, whereas the European honey bee did them all.

Apparently not anymore!