The Independent reports:
Compelling new evidence from the US government's top bee expert [Dr Jeffrey Pettis] that modern pesticides may be a major cause of collapsing bee populations led to calls yesterday for the chemicals to be banned. [...]
Researchers found that bees deliberately exposed to minute amounts of the pesticide were, on average, three times as likely to become infected when exposed to a parasite called nosema as those that had not. The findings, which have taken more than three years to be published, add weight to concern that a new group of insecticides called neonicotinoids are behind a worldwide decline in honey bees, along with habitat and food loss, by making them more susceptible to disease. [...]
"The science is now clear, bees poisoned by neonicotinoid pesticides are much more likely to die from disease, gather less food and produce fewer new bees."
More Damning Evidence Points to Pesticide as Cause of Mass Bee Deaths | Common Dreams
Compelling new evidence from the US government's top bee expert [Dr Jeffrey Pettis] that modern pesticides may be a major cause of collapsing bee populations led to calls yesterday for the chemicals to be banned. [...]
Researchers found that bees deliberately exposed to minute amounts of the pesticide were, on average, three times as likely to become infected when exposed to a parasite called nosema as those that had not. The findings, which have taken more than three years to be published, add weight to concern that a new group of insecticides called neonicotinoids are behind a worldwide decline in honey bees, along with habitat and food loss, by making them more susceptible to disease. [...]
"The science is now clear, bees poisoned by neonicotinoid pesticides are much more likely to die from disease, gather less food and produce fewer new bees."
More Damning Evidence Points to Pesticide as Cause of Mass Bee Deaths | Common Dreams