Study Confirms Neonics Harm Bees

The single most comprehensive and peer-reviewed study to date on neonicotinoid pesticides confirms their harm to both honeybee and wild bee populations around the world. On June 29th, 2017, scientists from the Natural Environment Research Council released their field research spanning 2,000 hectares across Europe and highlighted the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on bee health.

Funded partly by Bayer and Syngenta, the research showed that honeybees are less likely to survive the following winter after application and wild bees demonstrate lower reproductive rates after exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides. The level of exposure and harm was also found to be different across countries and bee species.

In the study, researchers planted three different plots of oilseed rape (canola) throughout the UK, Germany, and Hungary. They were each treated with typical field-level amounts of different pesticides: one with clothianidin, a neonic, another with thiamethoxam, another neonic, as well as an untreated control plot. Researchers then brought in honeybee colonies, as well as two other wild bee colonies: bumblebees and red mason bees. After the flowering season, the scientists were able to examine the nests to analyze bee behavior, chemical levels, and population rates. For honeybees, both negative (Hungary and United Kingdom) and positive (Germany) effects were found during crop flowering. In Hungary, negative effects on honeybees persisted over winter and caused a 24% decline in colony size. For wild bees, reproduction was negatively correlated with neonicotinoid residues. Essentially, this indicates that neonicotinoids hinder the survival rate and establishment of new colonies in the years following exposure.

As bees are essential to human survival, these new studies are extremely worrisome in respect to global food security. By continuing to allow and use these synthetic pesticides, we are putting our future at risk. Instead, we must shift our mindset and use natural, organic alternatives, like neem-based pesticides that pose no risk to the bee population. Beekeepers are even using neem to eliminate and prevent mites in hives. For a sustainable future, the neem tree holds the solution.