things take time... FWIW see this (Spanish scientist identifies Asian parasite that's killing western bees):

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/43163/story.htm

Way late in coming, but at least they acknowledge it and are finally taking action. The USDA was for too long under the thrall of Homeland Security, and their budget and focus was on trying to weasel the National Animal Identification System into all of our states (NAIS would require all owners of even just one pony, chicken, pig, llama, or other poultry/livestock to microchip and register their animals and their premises in a non-secure government database. This, so in the event of a disease outbreak, ostensibly started by terrorists, our animals could be rounded up and destroyed to stop the "epidemic"...).

Honeybees, even though they are European themselves, have become so essential to pollination of agricultural crops such as fruit crops, that the collapse of the bulk of the colonies would cause a collapse in crop production. We can't afford to goof off here.

Add this from the NYT to the mix...

Here is a link that might be useful: bees dying crisis or phase?

Thanks for the link, aliceb_ma6! Honey bees are fragile alien insects and have always been so. The approximately three European subspecies are very easy for humans to manipulate to their own purposes, but it's easy to become dependent upon them without examining alternatives, some species of which are actually better pollinators.