As with the recent deaths of birds and fish in Arkansas, people are concerned with the die-offs in the honeybee population. Unlike the more recent phenomena, the honeybee problem has persisted for quite some time now, and has farther-reaching implications since honeybees are essential to the pollination of crops in the United States. The impact will be felt by farmers, beekeepers and consumers.

Facing a Serious Problem

Most Americans have never heard of “Colony Collapse Disorder” or CCD, but it is a real problem that goes back a couple of years now. Theories abound as to why the problem exists, with most entomologists believing either a fungus or a virus to be the likely culprit. Conspiracy theories have taken over the argument, though; with cell-phone signals being blamed for making the bees sensitive systems go haywire.

Bayer to Blame?

However, a potential new cause of CCD has been unearthed by WikiLeaks. Normally, one thinks of WikiLeaks as a website that exposes sensitive government information pertaining to wars or diplomatic efforts. In this case, though, WikiLeaks has uncovered alleged evidence that the Environmental Protection Agency allowed the Bayer to market a pesticide, Clothianidin, knowing it caused the bees to die. Indeed, several European countries have banned this particular pesticide because of health concerns, and a good number of beekeeping-related organizations are now pressing the EPA to “take urgent action to stop the use of this toxic chemical.”

This is potentially very important news for the American people. When facts around stories like this one become vague due to unconventional reporting, the public ends up less informed – to their detriment. In the era of Internet “news”, we need to be more careful than ever before in determining whether it is the media that is obfuscating the truth, or government agencies like the EPA. And how would we know the difference?