The EU has voted to ban the use of three of the most widely used neonicotinoid pesticides over fears they are linked to a decrease in bee populations across the continent.
Neonicotinoids are a popular type of insecticide, because they are highly effective against many kinds of insects, but thought to be harmless to other animals. It was previously thought that bees were not affected by neonicotinoids.
Seed is treated with neonicotinoid pesticide, then coated with talc. The pesticide persists in the environment and in the plants, including the pollen, which bees carry back to the hive. Neonicotinoids bind irreversibly to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of an insect's central nervous system. It is claimed that once exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides, bees have trouble finding their hives and suffer a range of other detrimental effects, eventually resulting in the collapse of the hive.
The EU pesticide ban will only cover three kinds of neonicotinoids used on flowering crops that are attractive to bees and will last for a period of two years.
