"WASHINGTON — A common type of pesticide is dramatically harming wild bees, according to a new in-the-field study that outside experts say may help shift the way the U.S. government looks at a controversial class of chemicals.
But in the study published by the journal Nature on Wednesday, honeybees — which get trucked from place to place to pollinate major crops like almonds— didn't show the significant ill effects that wild cousins like bumblebees did. This is a finding some experts found surprising. A second study published in the same journal showed that in lab tests bees are not repelled by the pesticides and in fact may even prefer pesticide coated crops, making the problem worse.
Bees of all kinds — crucial to pollinating plants, including major agricultural crops — have been in decline for several reasons. Pesticide problems are just one of many problems facing pollinators; this is separate from colony collapse disorder, which devastated honeybee populations in recent years but is now abating, experts said."
Seth Borenstein reports for the Associated Press April 22, 2015.
SEE ALSO:
"Buzz Over Bee Health: New Pesticide Studies Rev Up Controversy" (NPR)
"Common Insecticide Affects Bees Like Cigarettes Affect Humans, Studies Find" (Huffington Post)
"Bees May Become Addicted To Nicotine-Like Pesticides, Study Finds" (Guardian)
"New Studies Find That Bees Actually Want To Eat the Pesticides That Hurt Them" (Washington Post)
"Bees May Get Hooked on Nicotine-Linked Pesticides" (Reuters)
