What is all this about bees?  I have one year of experience in Beekeeping, repeated seven times. 
One hears about colony collapse disorder as though it was a specific entity.  Clearly there are many causes of recent beekeeping disasters.  While your friend may recount the old guy up the road who "kept" bees in a washing machine discarded in the back yard, pathogens had not yet been imported into the United States at that time.  Current research (sorry, references not included) shows that any spraying within 75 miles of the hive may reach the hive.  Where in the US could that be?  So much for organic honey. 
I was met with indifference at a recent bee meeting when I introduced the concept of "White Flag Disease" as a local cause of bee death and/or loss of profundity, i.e., They didn't do "it" as much and bee populations were handicapped.  The diagnosis is simple, especially in wealthy suburbs of the US.  There is a widespread fetish occurring.  It is sod fetish.  When leaving your driveway in the morning, look to the left and look to the right.  If there are white flags in your neighbors' lawns then some herbicide has been sprayed..  Between that, and termite, and mosquito spraying, our bees are fighting a  difficult  battle. 
Luckily my children were born before I was tramping around in the weeds as a Special Forces soldier in Vietnam where Agent Orange had been sprayed.  Could that be why I have stinking thinking and my musings are not well thought out?