Bee populations in Europe see improvement after three toxic neonicotinoid herbicides are partly banned from their environment
by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Some resurgence in honey bees
After banning the herbicides clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, three years ago, Europe is already beginning to see a resurgence in bee populations. All three of these herbicides are still being used in the USA, where honeybee populations continue to rapidly decline.
If the rest of the world doesn’t begin cutting back on herbicide use significantly, as Europe has already started to do, then pollination of important vegetable and herb crops will likely diminish by 33 percent or more in the coming decade.
This will directly influence agricultural economy, limiting the availability of a large assortment of healthy crops that were once made readily available through the tedious work of natural pollinators.
Nature’s best pest control mechanisms already coexist in the environment. By continuing to take wide scale chemical approaches to the annihilation of pests, we throw off the intricate balance that is needed to sustain healthy ecosystems for future agricultural abundance. Continue reading “Bees in Europe recover after pesticides restricted”
The Free 