Modern agricultural practices, chemicals, predators, diseases: they are all damaging to bees. But what happens when bees are exposed to more than one stressor simultaneously? EFSA is trying to find out.
Most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides represent a risk to wild bees and honeybees, according to assessments published by EFSA. The Authority has updated its risk assessments of three neonicotinoids – clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam – that are currently subject to restrictions in the EU because of the threat they pose to bees.
These new conclusions update those published in 2013, after which the European Commission imposed controls on use of the substances.
For the new assessments, which this time cover wild bees – bumblebees and solitary bees – as well as honeybees, EFSA’s Pesticides Unit carried out an extensive data collection exercise, including a systematic literature review, to gather all the scientific evidence published since the previous evaluations.
The team also applied the guidance document developed by EFSA specifically for the risk assessment of pesticides and bees.
Read entire article Neonicotinoids: risks to bees confirmed | European Food Safety Authority