In a quick google search I didn't find anything I would trust regarding GMO crops killing bees (one so-called paper misspelled Wikipedia in it's sources and only went into why the crop producers were lying, not why s/he was right and another was blocked by my office as "racism and hate" so I can't say whether it sounds reasonable or not) but the idea sets off my BS detectors. After all, the things have to get pollinated somehow and the arguments I saw for it sounded just plain wrong. And, as my gardening professor pointed out, we've been genetically modifying plants for centuries, what did you think selective breeding was all about?

Personally, I'd buy the seeds of veggies I would eat. For example, I don't like most heirloom tomatos, but give me a nice, ripe Early Girl and I'm a happy camper. Early Girls, by the way, fall into a third category you don't mention: hybrids. Hybrids may be the way to go, honestly. They're bred to be resistant to a variety of diseases and pests and have good flavor and whatnot. And I'm sure you can get them certified organic, too.

There are some seed companies, including Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com), who test their seeds each year to screen for GMOs. Usually if the company is selling organic seed, it is a point of pride to offer non-GMO types and they'll advertise that fact. That said, Baker Creek noted this year they are having a harder and harder time getting pure, non-GMO seed - here in the Midwest a lot of the fields are filled w/ GMO crops, which will very easily cross-contaminate even the most pristine organic fields. So if you are adamant about avoiding GMOs you might want to go with a company that tests for them. Baker Creek is fantastic, truly one of the best out there. Sand Hill Preservation is another good seed source that is careful about what they offer. High Mowing, Johnny's and Seed Savers Exchange are good too. Another good source is to find a group of seed savers in your area and swap with them!

From what I saw searching for it, there isn't enough research to really say whether GMOs kill bees. Right now I don't have a feel either way for GMOs being good or bad. From a couple things I read though, I wouldn't buy them because some of the companies controlling them seem awful. I don't trust them to do enough research to actually make sure something is safe. And Greenpeace claims they are preventing outside research. Not that I trust Greenpeace that much as they are too extreme to give unbiased data, but I didn't see much research when I searched for it.

GMO seeds are genetically manipulated, that is they have been created by inserting a new gene or silencing an existing one in the plant genome. Transgenic plant can thus be made to express a gene from another organism. This is often done to improve plant's pesticide resistance.

However, very often genes have several jobs within its carrier so that not only do they affect the trait in focus, but also all sorts of other traits as well. Currently we have still limited knowledge of these other functions let alone the ecological consequences of transgenic plants. For example, they may produce some metabolites that are toxic to their pests but also to their pollinators and herbivores that we would actually welcome to our garden! So, GMO seeds are certainly not organic nor are they recommended if you don't want unwanted surprises for your garden wildlife.

First off, we'd don't know enough about GMO plants to say definitively whether or not they are safe long term. We do know that the companies (primarily Monsanto) are generally totally smarmy and it's very likely they used political trickery to GMO crops approved for use, and that a it's very likely that we know so little about them is that the research has been intentionally locked up. Michael Pollan talks about them a lot (http://www.michaelpollan.com/) and the documentaries "Food Inc", and "The Future of Food" do as well. I've never heard of GMO crops killing bees, but just because we don't know that that they do, it doesn't mean they don't.

Second, to Tiamat_red_above, there's a big difference between GMO and selective breeding. In the case of selective breeding, we're steering natural processes to get the results we want. With GMO, we are directly manipulating the "blueprints" of that organism, something we are not yet truly qualified to do. We are ignorant of the full ramifications of that, particularly when we start splicing in genes from other organisms that are not supposed to be there.

Bottom line for me, avoid GMO's.

My preferences for seed goes:

-Open pollinated heirloom (produces viable seeds with a track record, good for seed saving)
-Open pollinated (produces viable seed, but less of a track record, still good for seed saving)
-Hybrid (AKA "F1", non-GMO but does not usually produce viable seed, but can sometimes. Not really good for seed saving except maybe for experimentation)

You can generally get organic varieties for all of the above. I buy most of my seed from Territorial Seed Company. They are based just a few miles from my home, but ship all over.

i recommend reading "Botany of Desire" (or watch the documentary netflix). Just say NO to GMO seeds!