I just have to share this:
Spring of 2011 I took the weekend beekeeping workshop at the University of Minnesota. On the second day I sat next to a man who told me that back in the 1980s he worked in a lab at the U on bio-assays. He said that the University of Minnesota was the leading institution in the world for running these assays and they would commonly receive samples from around the world for study. One of the ongoing studies in which he worked was to analyze a steady stream of samples from Europe of bee hives' wax, sap, nectar, pollen, and the bees themselves that had died of CCD, a mysterious ailment killing off the bees of Europe. Through chemical assay and other studies, the cause was determined to be common pesticides. Again, this was back in the 1980's—30 years ago.
This researcher was frustrated, though not surprised, by the refusal of the workshop's lead instructor, a University professor, to acknowledge the role of pesticides in CCD. Apparently, even upon his telling his story to her, she refused to budge. Of course the University of Minnesota, like so many institutions of higher education, are funded, in part, by the pesticide/pharmaceutical companies. And now, they get funding to do all of this research over again, only not on the pesticides.
This Huffington Post article (29 March 2012), details the recent research confirming that even levels so low that they are nearly undetectable, and exposures amassed during one single flight, disrupt bees' memory and learning ability.
The state of research is dire, indeed, when Monsanto buys out (2011) the (formerly) independent research company, Beeologics, that was working on solving the CCD "mystery". Independent research is not allowed.
I remember seeing a documentary on CCD a number of years ago where a Colorado farmer/independent researcher found atrozine to be a significant cause of CCD. I can't find info on him, but in my search I found that the bee-keeping societies, the bee-keepers themselves, seem pretty clear about what is causing CCD.
Sign the petition against Bayer's neoniconitoid pesticides.