«This paper makes an important new contribution to our understanding on the potential impacts of
neonicotinoids on bees.
Not exact matches
According to this year's proposed shareholder resolutions, investors are also interested in the impact of
neonicotinoids (a commonly used chemical found in pesticides)
on bees and other organisms.
Neonicotinoids have been linked to negative effects
on bee health, such as difficulty reproducing in honeybees (SN: 7/26/16, p 16).
Previous studies linking
neonicotinoids to sharp declines in honeybee populations, known as colony collapse disorder, prompted the European Union in 2013 to pass a two - year ban
on the use of the pesticides, though
bee experts now believe a parasitic mite, poor nutrition or both may also weaken or kill the insects.
For example,
neonicotinoid pesticides, which may have some detrimental effect
on bees, are banned, while habitat destruction, which has clear detrimental effects, is not.
Things aren't looking much better for the insects in Europe: a European Commission proposal to ban use of
neonicotinoids on crops that attract
bees recently failed to be adopted.
Scientists, meanwhile, are vigorously debating whether the studies
on neonicotinoids and the health of honeybees and bumblebees, mostly conducted in laboratory settings, accurately reflect what is happening to
bees in the field.
To address such concerns, Zayed and colleagues, as well as authors
on the European study, conducted season - long monitoring of the use of
neonicotinoids near
bee colonies in agricultural settings in Ontario and Québec, Canada, and in 33 locations in Hungary, Germany and the U.K., respectively.
The commission wants to ban the use of three «
neonicotinoid» compounds — clothianidin, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam — for 2 years
on four crops that are attractive to
bees: maize, cotton, sunflower, and rapeseed.
A Review of Research into the Effects of
Neonicotinoid Insecticides
on Bees, with Recommendations for Action.
Months of testing and data acquisition revealed that typical levels of
neonicotinoid exposure, which
bees could experience when foraging
on agricultural crops — but below lethal levels — resulted in substantial damage to the honey
bee's ability to fly.
In 2013, the European Union temporarily banned the use of
neonicotinoids on crops that attract
bees.
«Wildflowers
on farms — not just crops — can expose
bees to
neonicotinoids.»
Drivers that have been associated with these declines include, but are not limited to, socioeconomic concerns (e.g. agricultural intensification), invasive pests and / or pathogens (e.g. Varroa, Nosema), agrochemicals (e.g.
neonicotinoids) and a decline in genetic diversity of
bee populations and food sources (e.g. over-reliance
on one floral source)[11 — 17].
Recent research in Europe and the USA has demonstrated that insecticides known as
neonicotinoids have a substantial impact
on honey
bee health.
The work represents just a step
on the road to understanding
neonicotinoids» real - world effects
on bee health.
«This paper provides an important link between lab and field studies investigating the effects of
neonicotinoid pesticides
on honey
bees.
The effect of
neonicotinoids on the fertility of male honeybees is examined in a paper published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B in which the authors report that the insecticide reduced lifespan of the
bees in question as well as sperm viability but not sperm quantity.
In the discussion of their findings, the authors do not discuss the significance and relevance of these findings from a study where
bees are directly fed
neonicotinoid treated pollen into the hives for 38 days, to effects
on free foraging
bees under realistic conditions of use.
«Therefore, this study adds important new evidence
on the safety of
neonicotinoid use, but we still can not exclude the impact of other pesticides and habitat loss
on the current
bee declines.
Nice to see a discussion
on honey
bees and CCD that doesn't automatically point the finger at
neonicotinoids — a pleasant change!
As Damian Carrington at The Guardian reports, the EU banned the use of
neonicotinoids on flowering crops that attract
bees, such as oil seed rape, in 2013.
Last September, the International Union for Conservation of Nature updated a 2015 report
on neonicotinoids, which said a review of more than 1,110 peer - reviewed research studies showed there was no doubt that flying through chemical - laden clouds of dust from neonic - treated farm fields is killing
bees.
Follow Jaymi
on Twitter for more stories like this More
on Pollinators «Nicotine
Bees» Population Restored With
Neonicotinoids Ban Colony Collapse Disorder and the Epic Fight to Save the
Bees The Human Bee Pollinator: People in a Beeless World?
«There is no question that
neonicotinoids put a huge stress
on the survival of honey
bees in the environment,» lead author Chensheng (Alex) Lu, an associate professor at the HSPH, told mongabay.com.
There is no doubt that the proposed restriction
on the use of these
neonicotinoids on nectar - and pollen - rich crops such as oilseed rape will reduce a potentially serious risk to
bees.
While concerns over
bee decline in Europe have focussed
on the impact of
neonicotinoid chemicals
on insects of all varieties, this study wasn't able to extract specific information
on the use of pesticides.
Foundation for Environment and Agriculture (FEA): To campaign for a ban
on neonicotinoid pesticides in the EU, widely considered to be a factor in the decline of honey
bee populations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing
neonicotinoids, proposing bans
on spraying them and several dozen other pesticides in fields where
bees have been brought in to pollinate a crop.
For her doctorate she studied the sublethal effects of several pesticides (with an emphasis
on the
neonicotinoid imidacloprid)
on honey
bees at the USDA lab in Beltsville under the mentorship of Dr. Jeff Pettis.
Pesticide makers, who make hundreds of millions annually
on sales of
neonicotinoids, deny any link between their products and the
bee collapse but the new studies provide increasingly difficult data to ignore.
On one hand, these two papers provide some of the most compelling evidence yet that
neonicotinoids play a significant role in the death of
bees around the world; and yet, most researchers agree that pesticides alone can not account for the declines we're seeing.
Germany banned
neonicotinoids for seed treatment in May 2008, due to negative affects
on bee colonies.
When I posted
on new research linking
neonicotinoid pesticides to
bee deaths, I noted that
bee numbers improved after bans
on these insecticides in France and Germany.
With a British supermarket banning
neonicotinoid use
on its own brand produce, and temporary bands in France and Germany leading to a rebounding of
bee numbers, the push for a Global ban
on neonicotinoids looks set to continue gathering momentum.
Research
on neonicotinoids» impact
on bees is underway.