scrAPES Week 11
Topic: Europe Restricts 3 Commonly Used Pesticides in Effort to Protect Honeybees
By: Richard Van Noorden of the Scientific American and the Nature News Blog
Date: April 29, 2013
Summary
With bees randomly disappearing by the colony, there is no exact reason as to why they suddenly die off. All the suspicion, however, has been focused on pesticides called neonicotinoids that are sprayed on crops to protect from other insects. In an attempt to halt colony death, the European Food Safety Authority banned the use of neonicotinoids, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxan from crops that attract bees. This ban caused much controversy in the scientific community, with some stating that the ban could affect the agriculture industry, and that these pesticides were not the cause of colony disappearance. This conflict then urged legislators to limit use, rather than fully banning it.
Reflection
I agree that factors should be cancelled out in order to determine colony death, and that limitations should be put on which crops receive pesticides, but wouldn't this be time consuming and costly to do? I believe that money should be put towards more research rather than blindly guessing which factors affect bee population. Colonies should be donated to determine the cause of death, but pesticides should still be limited for both their potential threat to bees, and their threat to the environment.
By: Richard Van Noorden of the Scientific American and the Nature News Blog
Date: April 29, 2013
Summary
With bees randomly disappearing by the colony, there is no exact reason as to why they suddenly die off. All the suspicion, however, has been focused on pesticides called neonicotinoids that are sprayed on crops to protect from other insects. In an attempt to halt colony death, the European Food Safety Authority banned the use of neonicotinoids, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiamethoxan from crops that attract bees. This ban caused much controversy in the scientific community, with some stating that the ban could affect the agriculture industry, and that these pesticides were not the cause of colony disappearance. This conflict then urged legislators to limit use, rather than fully banning it.
Reflection
I agree that factors should be cancelled out in order to determine colony death, and that limitations should be put on which crops receive pesticides, but wouldn't this be time consuming and costly to do? I believe that money should be put towards more research rather than blindly guessing which factors affect bee population. Colonies should be donated to determine the cause of death, but pesticides should still be limited for both their potential threat to bees, and their threat to the environment.