BEES DOOMED by Addictive Pesticides
We’re turning them into junkies, says report
By Fiona Nicholson, Science writer
SAVE the BEES N
ERVE agent style chemicals are turning Britain’s bees into junkies, claims a scientific report into the impact of
pesticides. New research has
discovered that bees are actively
seeking out flowering crops which have been treated with neonicotinoids, a group of pesticides which have been shown to affect the bee brain so seriously they can no longer communicate with each other, or find their way home to their nests.
The study by scientists at Newcastle University and Trinity College, Dublin, found bees prefer the taste of nectar and pollen from flowers which contain neonicotinoids, also known as neonics. They even change their foraging territories so they can find plants with the deadly pesticides to get their fix.
When the bees ingest the poison its neurotoxic effect results in Colony Collapse Disorder, a worldwide phenomenon blamed by Scotish beekeepers for the loss of around 30 per cent of honeybee colonies in recent years.
As the foraging worker bees are poisoned by neonic pesticides applied to their food sources, the larvae and queen bees in the nest are leſt to starve. They become increasingly susceptible to viruses and pathogens such as the Varroa mite
Special Report
When the bees ingest the poison its neurotoxic effect results in Colony Collapse Disorder, a worldwide phenomenon blamed by Scottish beekeepers for the loss of around 30 per cent of honeybee colonies in recent years.
and the bee colony quickly dies off.
Professor Geraldine Wright, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, said: “We now have evidence that bees prefer to eat pesticide- contaminated food. Neonicotinoids target the same mechanisms in the bee brain that are affected by nicotine in the human brain.
“The fact that bees show a preference for food containing neonicotinoids is concerning, as it suggests that, like nicotine, neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make food containing these substances more rewarding.”
Professor Wright said the research pointed towards bees actively seeking out neonic-treated plants, including contaminated wild plants which grow in the vicinity of treated farm crops. When fields are sprayed with pesticide wind- borne contamination of surrounding areas is common.
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