What happened when the two biggest makers of bee-killing pesticides commissioned a $3.5-million study on the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees?
The scientists concluded that neonics do indeed harm bee populations. The companies (Bayer CropScience and Syngenta) that funded the largest ever field trial of its kind turned around and called the conclusions “unfair.”
Bee researcher David Goulson told Sustainable Pulse that despite industry’s reaction to the results, he had to give them a “10 out of 10 for effort:”
“The study is well designed, well replicated, well funded—ironically by industry who won’t be best pleased. But the results tally with what has gone before. It’s reached a point where it’s just not plausible to keep denying these things harm bees in realistic studies. I’d say it’s the final nail in the coffin.”
The study specifically found that exposure to neonicotinoids reduces honeybees’ ability to survive their winter hibernation, say researchers.
France is moving forward with a countrywide ban on neonics, effective 2018. While here in the good old United Corporations of America, the pesticide lobby still rules.
Read the Sustainable Pulse’s report on the study
Download the study published in Science magazine
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