From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Why aren't the honeybees coming home?

Hello again, I'm Aronaldi, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Tens of billions of

honeybees are flying away from their hives and never returning. It's a threat to the food chain nationwide.

Bees pollinate hundreds of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and nuts worth $14 billion, and scientists

have no idea why so many are disappearing. On to the point, we'll talk with a beekeeper who's lost 60% of his insects.

We'll get a report on a conference of bee experts investigating what's now called

colony collapse disorder.

Is there another way to pollinate?

Is the disappearance of honeybees related to genetically engineered crops?

On reporter's notebook later on,

abortion in Mexico City.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica

and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation

and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Mormon. I'll only back with To the Point.

$14 billion in fruits, vegetables, flowers, and nuts are at risk because honeybees are disappearing by the tens of billions.

Nobody knows where they're going, but they're not coming home. On To the Point, the mysterious risk to the food chain nationwide.

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