Common Pesticide Damages Bee Brains And Affects Colony Performance

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Charlie
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Common Pesticide Damages Bee Brains And Affects Colony Performance

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From http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-an ... erformance

"Now, a new study has confirmed that these insecticides do indeed seriously harm bees, even at levels lower than those accepted for use in agriculture. According to the research, neonicotinoids damage bumblebees’ brain cells and subsequently result in colony growth deficits. Although this doesn’t prove that these chemicals are solely to blame for the worldwide decline in bees, the researchers say that the work demonstrates beyond doubt that their consumption causes brain dysfunction and poor colony performance."

The orginal study from Universities of St Andrews and Dundee http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/news/archiv ... 117,en.php.

The article does not present any real data and only talks about the conclusions that they are making. It seems that most of their work was done with bumblebees because the article mentions honeybees exactly twice. However they do seem to be presenting yet another nail for the neonicotinoid coffin.


Charlie
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