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After damning research, France proposes banning pesticide linked tobee collapse Jeremy Hance mongabay.com June 04, 2012 Following research linking neonicotinoid pesticides to the declinein bee populations, France has announced it plans to ban CruiserOSR, an insecticide produced by Sygenta. Recent studies, includingone in France, have shown that neonicotinoid pesticides likely hurtbees' ability to navigate, potentially devastating hives. Francehas said it will give Sygenta two weeks to prove the pesticide isnot linked to the bee decline, known as Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD). France's decision comes after its National Agency for Food, Safety,and the Environment (ANSES) confirmed the findings of two recentstudies published in Science . The two studies found that neonicotinoid pesticides, although notimmediately lethal, likely hurt bee colonies over a period of time. In the French study, researchers glued tiny microchips tofree-ranging honeybees and then administered small doses ofthiamethoxam, a primary ingredient in Sygenta's Cruiser OSR to someof the bees. Bees exposed to the pesticide were two to three timesmore likely not to return from foraging trips, allowing researchersto hypothesize that the pesticide impairs the bee's ability tonavigate its surroundings successfully. Because neonicotinoid pesticides work by impacting insects' centralnervous systems, they have long been a target for researcherstrying to understand Colony Collapse Disorder, but the difficultyhas been proving that pesticides harm hives even though they don'tkill bees outright. However, Sygenta denies that their pesticides have played any rolewhatsoever in the bee collapse. "All Syngenta s crop protection products are thoroughly tested toensure that there are no unwanted effects on beneficial insectssuch as bees or excessive residues in food or risks to humanhealth," the company says on its website. The French government disagrees and has stated it would also raisethe question of a ban on the pesticide for the entire EuropeanUnion (UN). Evidence of harm piling up Despite Sygenta's statements, studies continue to appear that finda link between neonicotinoid pesticides and Colony CollapseDisorder. Recently, researchers in the U.S. fed tiny doses ofneonicotinoid pesticide-laced high-fructose corn syrup, which iscommonly used to feed bees, to 16 hives in the field and left fourhives untreated. For months all the hives remained healthy, butafter around six months over 90 percent (15 out of 16) of the hivesfed with the pesticidal corn syrup had collapsed, while the fourcontrol hives remained healthy. "There is no question that neonicotinoids put a huge stress on thesurvival of honey bees in the environment," lead author Chensheng(Alex) Lu, an associate professor at the HSPH, told mongabay.com. Meanwhile another U.S. study published last month in the Journal of Experimental Biology , found that bees hit by neonicotinoid pesticides underwentbehavioral changes. Exposed bees only fed on very sweet nectar,ultimately limiting their feeding choices. In addition the beesability to communicate was injured. Foraging bees communicate via 'waggle dances' whereby they show thehive where to find food sources. But says lead author Daren Eiri,"Remarkably, bees that fed on the pesticide reduced the number oftheir waggle dances between fourfold and tenfold. And in somecases, the affected bees stopped dancing completely." Scientists first started recording alarming declines in bees inNorth America in 2006. Shortly thereafter similar declines occurredthroughout Europe, and have also been noted in Taiwan. Whileperiodic colony collapses have been recorded since the 19thCentury, the current crisis has proven much worst than past oneswith some producers losing 90 percent of their hives. A number oftheories for the collapse have been posited, including disease,parasitic mites, habitat loss, and, of course, pesticides. Manyresearchers have suggested a combination of these factors. CITATIONS: Chensheng Lu, Kenneth M. Warchol, Richard A. Callahan. In situreplication of honey bee colony collapse disorder. Bulletin ofInsectology. 2012. D. M. Eiri, J. C. Nieh. A nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonistaffects honey bee sucrose responsiveness and decreases waggledancing. Journal of Experimental Biology, 2012; 215 (12): 2022 DOI:10.1242/jeb.068718. M. Henry; O. Rollin; J. Aptel; S. Tchamitchian; M. Beguin; F.Requier; O. Rollin; A. Decourtye. A Common Pesticide DecreasesForaging Success and Survival in Honey Bees. Science. 2012. P.R. Whitehorn; S. O Connor; D. Goulson; F.L. Wackers.Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and QueenProduction. Science. 2012. Related articles Researchers recreate bee collapse with pesticide-laced corn syrup (04/05/2012) Scientists with the Harvard School of Public Health(HSPH) have re-created the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder inseveral honeybee hives simply by giving them small doses of apopular pesticide, imidacloprid. Bee populations have been dyingmysteriously throughout North America and Europe since 2006, butthe cause behind the decline, known as Colony Collapse Disorder,has eluded scientists. However, coming on the heels of two studiespublished last week in Science that linked bee declines to neonicotinoid pesticides, of whichimidacloprid is one, the new study adds more evidence that themajor player behind Colony Collapse Disorder is not disease, ormites, but pesticides that began to be widely used in the 1990s. Smoking gun for bee collapse? popular pesticides (03/29/2012) Commonly used pesticides may be a primary driver ofthe collapsing bee populations, finds two new studies in Science . The studies, one focused on honeybees and the other onbumblebees, found that even small doses of these pesticides, whichtarget insect's central nervous system, impact bee behavior and,ultimately, their survival. The studies may have far-reachingrepercussions for the regulation of agricultural chemicals, knownas neonicotinoid insecticides, that have been in use since the1990s. The value of the little guy, an interview with Tyler Prize-winningentomologist May Berenbaum (04/06/2011) May Berenbaum knows a thing or two about insects: inrecognition of her lifelong work on the interactions betweeninsects and plants, she has had a character on The X-Files named after her, received the Public Understanding of Science andTechnology Award for her work in making science accessible to thepublic, and this year has been awarded the prestigious TylerEnvironmental Prize. "Winning the Tyler Prize is an incrediblehonor most of my scientific heroes have been Tyler Prize winnersand I m exceedingly grateful to be considered worthy of beingincluded among their ranks," Berenbaum told mongabay.com in aninterview. "The Prize is also tremendously enabling because themoney is unrestricted I can use it to carry out projects that havebeen difficult to fund.". The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Screen Printed Glass , Low Iron Tempered Glass, and more. 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