A year-old study by Washington State University researchers suggests that honeybees face little risk of harm from neonicotinoid pesticides in everyday settings. The study, which examined 149 apiaries in rural, urban and agricultural areas around the state, was published in the Journal of Economic Entomology.
Professor Allen Felsot, a co-author of the study, said in a WSU release that scientists accurately identified pesticides as a hazard, “But hazardous exposures are not likely to occur in a real-life setting.” The researchers detected neonic residue in fewer than 5 percent of apiaries in rural and urban settings, and in 50 percent of samples of stored pollen taken from colonies in agricultural areas. The residue was at safe levels. “Based on residues we found in apiaries around Washington State, our results suggest no risk of harmful effects in rural and urban landscapes and arguably very low risks from exposure in agricultural landscapes,” said Felsot.
Lead author Timothy Lawrence said it was important to use neonics carefully. “While we found that bees did not have chronic exposure to adverse concentrations of neonicotinoids, we are not saying that they are not harmful to bees – they are,” he said.
The Portland Oregonian said other studies have found honeybees are more resilient around neonicotinoids than bumblebees, their wild cousins. Earlier this week, a study in the journal Nature Communications, based on 18 years of observation of 60 bee species, linked neonics to declines in wild bees in England.