Last updated on April 1, 2019
For the past eight years the honeybee population has mysteriously been dying off in what is referred to as CCD, or Colony Collapse Disorder. Over 30% colony loss has been reported each year since 2006. GMO maize planted in the U.S. — virtually all maize, or corn, seed is now GMO — is coated with a compound which is highly toxic to the honeybee, and is believed by many to be responsible for CCD.
Results of this theory, however, are controversial.
Superbugs are bugs which have outsmarted the genetic engineering that was supposed to keep them away. In other words, they’ve mutated, much like a virus, and are now resistant to the pesticide that was genetically engineered into the plant or even sprayed on the crop. An example of this in the United States is the corn rootworm. In India, it’s the pink bollworm, which has plagued Bt cotton. So what do the farmers do? They spray more and stronger pesticides. One of these is clothiadin, which is toxic to honeybees, and which also has been shown to remain in soil for up to 19 years.
So think about how this all works together. Honeybees pollinate plants. According to the USDA, one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80% of that pollination. Not only are the poor honeybees being knocked off by CCD, but now, as a extended result of superbugs, they’re dealing with clothiadin. How are plants going to be pollinated if, as a consequence of GMOs, we end up exterminating the honeybees?
You can’t mess with Mother Nature.
