Much has been made of the plight of honeybees with experts warning of declining populations that raises environmental concerns. But some scientists claim that he concern is totally overblown, and there is absolutely no reason to worry about honeybees.

For one thing, skeptics argue, honeybees aren’t really necessary to the environment, and they may even be harmful to it. And for another thing, there is not really much risk to honeybee populations with so many different variants of the species.

The truth is that honeybees are a European import, and when pollen is plentiful, they often compete with wild native bees for food, and that both provides no benefit to plant life while harming native species, those scientists argue.