An entomologist I know has written an extensive article on Wikipedia on the topic of Colony Collapse Disorder. Since it’s Saturday, I’m lazy, and it’s a sunny day, I’m going to let him do all the work of explaining this in detail to you, with citations.

I will point out that the author is very skeptical of CCD being a single cause problem, and that agreement on what is happening varies widely among entomologists. My read is that the majority of bee researchers do think that something new is happening, and that it is widespread. For now, though, until data collection is systematized, we will have to work with the info we have.

I want to especially draw attention to this part:

In April 2007, news of a University of Landau study appeared in major media, beginning with an article in The Independent that stated that the subject of the study was “mobile phones” (a term usually used to refer to cellular phones) and had related them to CCD. Cellular phones were in fact not covered in the study, and the researchers have since emphatically disavowed any connection between their research, cell phones, and CCD, specifically indicating that the Independent article had misinterpreted their results and created “a horror story”

As someone who’s had quotes taken out of context by the media, I feel so badly for the researcher–who was a graduate student. No one early in their career should have this kind of pressure. It’s also fed into some of the paranoid loonies on the net, who have used this little blurb to feed some really wild conspiracy theories. I’m working on a bit for Skepchick about that.