Bees add an estimated eighteen billion dollars a year to the value of American crops. They pollinate flowers that become fruits, nuts and vegetables. But, in recent years, honeybee colonies in the United States and Europe have been shrinking. Scientists have proposed different theories to explain what is known as colony collapse disorder.
New research suggests that a commonly used group of insecticides could cause bees to have a hard time finding their way back to their hive. The research looks at the use of pesticides called neonicotinoids. They were first used in the nineteen nineties, and are now put on the seeds of many major crops around the world.