A popular type of pesticide, known as neonicotinoids, is hurting wild bees according to a new study. And experts claim the results may change the way the government looks at pesticides.
Maj Rundlof, the principal investigator and coordinator for the field study, said that researchers saw a “clear negative impact on growth and ability to reproduce in bumblebee colonies” that were living near “treated rapeseed fields.”
But researchers at Lund University found some of the findings in the new study, published in the journal Nature Wednesday, surprising. After observing other bees in the area, Rundlof and his team of found that honeybees, which move from place to place pollinating crops such as almonds, were not impacted negatively by the pesticides. Wild bees include bumblebees and solitary bees.
Yet Rundlof said that only investigating how a “new pesticide affects honeybees” is not sufficient enough to “predict the consequences for wild bees in a real landscape.” Researchers hope that the findings could bring about new methods of evaluating risks in conjunction with the approval of particular pesticides according to Science World Report.
Test results in a second study in Nature revealed that the bees do not reject the pesticides and may actually prefer crops coated in pesticides. They wanted to drink sugar solutions containing two types of neonicotinoids over plain sugar solutions.
The results make researchers doubt previous theories that bees would not eat treated plants because they tasted bad. It was also found that bees could not taste the neonicotinoid sugar solution. However, they preferred it because the substance, which is like nicotine, affected their brains. This makes the problem worse since bees play an important role in pollinating crops.
According to the New York Times, the two studies have fueled the debate over the safety of one of the most widely used classes of pesticides. And some have taken action. The European Union has already voted to suspend the use of three common neonicotinoids on crops that attract bees until further studies can be completed.
