EFSA Funds Study on Vanishing Bees
January 9, 2009| |
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has awarded a grant of €100,000 (US $140 thousand) to a consortium of European scientific institutes led by the French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA) to study the colony collapse disorder in honey bees (CCD). CCD was first used in 2006 to describe the rapid loss of adult bees from a bee colony. Since they play an important role in the pollination of crops, decline in bee populations could have a serious impact on agricultural production. The cause of CCD is not known, although various factors are thought to be responsible including starvation, viruses, mites, pesticide exposure and climate change.
The nine-month project, which is being coordinated by EFSA’s Assessment Methodology Unit, aims to identify factors which may contribute to CCD and to highlight gaps in scientific knowledge in order to help guide future research. Existing bee surveillance programs will be analyzed to assess the suitability of the data for measuring CCD across Europe.
More information is available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1211902229389.htm
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