Colony collapse disorder and associated bee health problems raise questions about the welfare of billions of honey bees in commercial pollination operations.
Individual bees experiencing Varroa infestation, pesticide exposure, or nutritional deficiency suffer physiological harm that impairs their function and likely causes something analogous to suffering. At the colony level, collapse events represent catastrophic welfare failures. The use of bees as industrial pollination units that are transported, exposed to monoculture pollen, and stressed through inadequate management raises growing ethical questions about commercial beekeeping.