Mixing in the genuine scientific concern about neonicotinoid systematic pesticides with completely off-the-wall worries about cell phone towers and GM crops is just trying to spread uncertainty and doubt. I can't understand why a journalist would write such a misleading article today after the scientific studies & the EU ban.
Neonicotinoids are applied by treating the _seed_ of the crops. Their very action is that of a nerve agent for insects. It really isn't that surprising that sub-lethal doses might have an effect on the ability of honey bees to navigate back to the hive.
This isn't some 'underlying premise', there are a number of careful scientific studies out there out there[1], perhaps the most interesting to the Hacker News audience is where they attached RFID tags to bees[2].
Also, the Varroa destructor mite doesn't tend to do that much damage on its own, it is a vector spreading viruses. The modern mix of viruses swirling around the bee populations are probably not helped by commercial movement of colonies around the country.
Neonicotinoids are applied by treating the _seed_ of the crops. Their very action is that of a nerve agent for insects. It really isn't that surprising that sub-lethal doses might have an effect on the ability of honey bees to navigate back to the hive. This isn't some 'underlying premise', there are a number of careful scientific studies out there out there[1], perhaps the most interesting to the Hacker News audience is where they attached RFID tags to bees[2].
Also, the Varroa destructor mite doesn't tend to do that much damage on its own, it is a vector spreading viruses. The modern mix of viruses swirling around the bee populations are probably not helped by commercial movement of colonies around the country.
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blo... [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21267650