That uncomfortable moment when you realize that you bought something that might be causing big problems for bees

I was looking at bee collapse stories and statistics today. There are a lot of bees in the USA these days, but that is thanks to the energetic efforts of so many people to raise bees and keep pollination happening. Colony collapse hasn't gone away as a problem. Around half of hives don't make it according to a Washington Post article from earlier this year:

So the situation on the ground seems to confirm the census: We probably do have a record number of honeybees....Sadly, however, this does not mean we’ve defeated colony collapse. One major citizen-science project found that beekeepers lost almost half of their colonies in the year ending in April 2023, the second-highest loss rate on record.

"Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees?" by Andrew Van Dam, online at https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wait-does-america-suddenly-have-a-record-number-of-bees/ar-BB1kK5Rm

So why do so many hives fail? You have probably seen headlines in the past two decades about colony collapse disorder. "Colony Collapse Disorder is the phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind a queen, plenty of food and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees and the queen." (https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/colony-collapse-disorder)  

A molecule called "juvenile hormone" in honey bees is important to helping them stick around the hive. Removal of the glands that produce juvenile hormone makes it so the bees disappear around the time that they take their first "orientation flight." (see https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/206/13/2287/13497/Juvenile-hormone-and-division-of-labor-in-honey)

Juvenile hormone in insects is of crucial importance for mitochondrial protein synthesis and a necessary later increase in activity of an enzyme called "cytochrome oxidase" (also known as COX, Complex IV, and cytochrome c oxidase). (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0020179088900960)

Evidence suggests that flight metabolism and dispersal potential are tightly linked to COX function. For example, long-distance migratory butterfly species have higher COX content and activity than short-distance fliers. In this regard, the migratory butterfly Vanessa atalanta flight muscle mitochondrial area and cristae density were higher compared to the short-range butterfly Melitaea cinxia. Remarkably, the relationship between dispersal potential and COX activity can also be observed within the same flying insect species. Recently established populations of M. cinxia butterflies have higher dispersal potential than old ones, a phenotype that is mirrored in COX activity. This strongly indicates that COX represents a key metabolic mechanism for dispersal potential in flying insects.

"Cytochrome c Oxidase at Full Thrust: Regulation and Biological Consequences to Flying Insects," 2021, online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7931083/.

One disruptor of cytochrome oxidase is bifenthrin, a common pesticide. "Bifenthrin (BF), a synthetic pyrethroid is used worldwide for both agricultural and non-agricultural purposes due to its high insecticidal activity and low toxicity in mammals." (See "Bifenthrin disrupts cytochrome c oxidase activity and reduces mitochondrial DNA copy number through oxidative damage in pool barb (Puntius sophore)," 2023, online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653523011153)

I don't think of myself a pesticide user. Sure, I kill wasps and spiders sometimes, as needed, but the real problem is all those big agricultural farms using all the dangerous pesticides, right? It turns out bifenthrin is the active ingredient in Scotts Turf Builder, which I think I used on my lawn recently. Am I helping cause bee colony collapse? Surely we can find pesticides for our yards that don't keep bees from flying back to their hives?