Recent research on neonicotinoid pesticides suggests that they may imbalance the bees’ brains somewhat like cocaine, leading to hyper-excitability, it is reported. Neonics are neurotoxins specifically designed to attack nerve sites similar to human nerve cells, it is said. This relatively new class of pesticides threatens pollinators that are critical to commercial agricultural crops; claim scientists and activists.
Just like commonly abused human drugs, neonics insecticides may cause an imbalance of the excitatory (rev-up) and inhibitory (tone-down) systems in their brains. The pesticide is said to be approximately 1,000 times more acutely toxic to honeybees than the infamous pesticide DDT.
According to American research, neonics have made U.S. agriculture nearly 48 times more toxic to insects since they were introduced in the 1990s. Scientists warn that they are a contributing factor to many pollinators being at risk of extinction.
Bee flights recorded under the influence of the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid (ubiquitous in the US and Australia, but banned in Canada and the EU, ) have shown that the bees begin flying hyperactively. They initially fly more rapidly, but they ultimately fly shorter distances.
The authors conclude: “Our flight tests suggest that imidacloprid‐exposed bumblebee workers experienced a rapid demotivation to fly as the test progressed and tired quickly leading to premature physical exhaustion.” Either explanation — demotivation or exhaustion — would suggest the same outcome, a decrease in food-foraging flight distances from the hive. The results: a reduction in bee nutrition accompanied by decreased pollination. And ultimately, to colony collapse.
One of the major concerns about climate change and the negative species impacts of environmental chemicals is the forecast of human food shortages. A decrease in essential pollination by bees is a vital component of this concern. For the US to persist in its virtually unrestricted use of neonicotinoids, particularly in light of the Canadian/European ban, seems like an idiotic risk.
