Burt's Bees president asks Congress to help honeybees

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congress took up the plight of the honeybee this morning, welcoming a North Carolina cucumber farmer and the president of Durham cosmetics company Burt's Bees to talk about how mass bee deaths could affect food supplies and the economy.

For each of the past two years, about a third of the nation's honeybee colonies have mysteriously disappeared, dying off because of some unknown virus or environmental hit -- or, more probably, a combination of both.

Because a third of the nation's food supply relies on pollinators such as honeybees to survive, the consequences of continued bee colony wipeouts could be devastating, say researchers, beekeepers and farmers.

Researchers finally identified the unknown danger as "Colony Collapse Disorder," though they still don't know the causes or what actually kills the bees.

Those testifying today asked Congress to appropriate more money for research into viruses, pesticides, bee nutrition and other issues.

Among those testifying was John Replogle, president and CEO of Burt's Bees, which makes personal care products entirely out of natural ingredients.

Replogle said the company already has felt some pressure. Burt's Bees -- which was co-founded by a beekeeper -- uses bee-pollinated ingredients in 60 percent of its products. It uses direct bee derivatives such as honey and beeswax in 40 percent of its products.

"Without the bees, there would be no Burt's Bees," Replogle said.

Also testifying was Robert D. Edwards, who runs a 5,000-acre farm in Edgecombe, Nash and Halifax counties with his brother and father. Edwards said he had to cut 100 acres of cucumbers back to 50 acres this year largely because he couldn't find the bees to pollinate the flowers.

"The simple fact is, no honeybees, no cucumbers," Edwards said.