One of Our Experts - Dr. Gard Otis

Another expert that we contacted is Dr. Gard Otis, a professor at Ontario Agricultural Sciences in Ontario, Canada. He answered several questions for us via a telephone interview.

1. Are there any insecticides that are harmless to honeybees? "No,every substance on the planet, toxicity vs. exposure, testing with exposure and concentrations of pesticides, chamber and spray jet. They give bees doses of things, to find out the exposure." 2. How hard would it be to design an insecticide that would not harm the honeybee? "Very hard! It would have to kill one kind but not the other. Have to test for what will kill the pest and not the insect. The pests trying to be killed are not all the same genetically. Some bugs might have something in it genetically that makes it more resistant."

3. What kind of pesticide is being used to spray for the Zika virus? "At the beginning of September, SC became concerned about ZIKA, so they sprayed 500 kilos. They gave beekeepers 1 days notice, and then sprayed. They used Naled, a very toxic, aerial, fine mist, and it killed thousands of bees. In Brazil they used a chemical they put in water tanks which people get their water from, to kill the larvae, some were concerned about the chemical, They must have done a lot of testing."