A recent study highlighted the devastating risks imposed on honey bees by commonly-used pesticides.
The findings showed neonicotinoids, the most widely used insecticide in the U.S., reduces wild bee population density, solitary bee nesting, and bumblebee colony growth, the Center for Biological Diversity reported. The findings suggest the contribution of pesticides to observed global declines in bee populations has been largely underestimated.
"There's no question that these super-toxic pesticides are taking a heavy toll on imperiled native pollinators around the world," said Jonathan Evans, Environmental Health legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Native pollinators are a critical link in our food web. We need the EPA to step up and take action to ban these dangerous chemicals before it's too late to save our wild bees."
Past studies have primarily focused on the effects of neonicotinoids on honeybees, but this new study shows the pesticides are having an effect on many other native pollinators.
"A quarter of all U.S. bumblebees are currently threatened with extinction," Evans said. "Wild bees are essential for functioning ecosystems, but unless our regulatory agencies take action to protect them, many more bees and pollinators will head toward extinction."
The study found that honeybees are better at detoxifying after neonicotinoid exposure than bumblebees, and wild bees are also more susceptible to the insecticide's toxic effects.
The White House Pollinator Health Task Force is expected to issues recommendations on fighting pollinator population decline in the near future, and earlier this year 125 "farmer, food safety, beekeeper, faith and environmental groups" sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking for a moratorium on all neonicotinoid and systematic pesticide use.
The study was published in a recent edition of the journal Nature.
