Bee populations have been declining sharply in recent years due to Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD), but Beelogics, a biotech startup hopes to develop vaccines for the viruses that may be causing the reduced numbers.  News of the research offers a breath of hope to an urgent problem that so far has yet to find a solution. Frequent TakePart readers know that we’ve been extremely concerned about the dwindling hives, particularly because every third bite of the food humans eat depends upon bees for pollination.  Last year American beekeepers lost 37% of their bee hives to CCD, after losing 31% the previous year.  And while all of the causes of CCD remain somewhat unclear, hopefully these vaccines will help to curb the disappearing populations.

I also hope that further research reveals the root causes of CCD, so that beekeepers aren’t just temporarily patching up broken hives with vaccines that could become obsolete if viruses adapt.  Large commercial beekeeping operations often overwork, underfeed and ship their hives long distances, thereby weakening the bees immune systems and exposing them to deadly pathogens.

Learn more by watching the short film Every Third Bite and takepart by joining Haagen Dazs in helping the honey bees.

Every Third Bite from meerkatmedia.org on Vimeo.