Japanese sushi rice killing bees?

Due to pesticides used for killing stink bugs in rice paddies, Japan’s honeybees are dying in mass. This is not new news when pesticides are sprayed on paddies near beehives causing large-scale honeybee deaths. Japan has some 9,300 beekeepers.After an increase in research results at home and abroad on the influence of pesticides on deaths of honeybees, the ministry in fiscal 2013 boosted efforts to encourage beekeepers to report unusual deaths. Some 1,000 to 30,000 honeybees were confirmed to have died per hive, and pesticides were detected on many of the dead bees. Honeybees that became tainted with pesticides when collecting rice pollen are believed to have caused many deaths of bees inside hive boxes. To reduce pesticide damage to bees, temporary relocation of hive boxes to safer places and the use of granulated insecticides instead of the powdered variety.

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