While the levels of radiocesium found in honey are not harmful to humans, I wonder if it has any deleterious effects on the bees themselves? Could this be a contribution to the "colony collapse disorder" we are seeing worldwide?
No, if that were the case it would have started in the 60's and gradually gotten better (bees have short lifespans). Instead, it's gotten worse and started much later. Pesticides are a much more likely explanation.
Gotta disagree; actually a lot stops those effects. There are multiple mechanisms for DNA repair besides good old natural selection.
Life developed in a mutagenic environment and there are natural sources of radiation all around us. Granite is measurably radioactive, for instance. Artificial radiation at much lower doses are not going to make a significant difference; they’re just very easy to detect because of the very precise energy signature they show on things like gamma ray spectrometers.
They mention it might be having an effect but also stat the the level is about 10 times lower than in the 70's. So my guess is that unless a high level of radioactivity is good but low level is bad then it is not a major contributing factor.
Unlikely. The article talks about a localized phenomenon, not something that could effect worldwide bee population issues. It explicitly talks about comparing honey from that region to other honey in the US.
Pesticides, possibly pollution, and disease in general are much more likely candidates. Last I heard there was an issue with some bee parasites, however you'd need to verify that.
