CCD, Incorporated

Last week’s news about the discovery of a virus-bacteria link in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has been wrecking havoc with honey bee populations, got a lot of excited play among those of us who love bees.

The story, however, turns out to come up a little short. Seems the lead researcher is in the pay of Bayer, the Big Pharma corporation that also makes neonicotinoids, that class of pesticides which attack insect nervous systems, and which some people think may be behind CCD.

In polite company, this researcher would be described as being grant-funded by Bayer Crop Science, but I prefer the more direct phrase “in the pay of” because it better gets to the point of the relationship. (The Times reporter didn’t ask, and the entomologist didn’t tell.) Science funded by for-profits, experts bought and paid for by private corporations, are both cause and symptom of wide-ranging corruption.

The creep factor increases when one considers that the virus-bacteria study was a team effort with researchers from the Pentagon, which has been looking for ways to exploit insects on the battlefield.

“The shit I have to put up with from you humans.”