Neonicotinoids, or neonics for short, are neuro-active insecticides that have been suspected of playing a key role in the deaths and disappearance of millions of bees, bumblebees and other pollinators, but controversy and misinformation had obscured the facts and confused farmers and consumers around the world. Now, peer reviewed scientific research is once again clearing the air about pesticides and bees leading to transformational policy that will benefit our environment. Introduced in the early 1990s, Neonics have become the most widely used pesticides in the world since 2009 and by 2011 the market had soared past USD $3.6 billion.

Colony Collapse Disorder is a multi factor condition that has affected honeybees since the beginning of the millennium. The use of pesticides had always been suspected of playing a key role in the phenomena, but it wasn’t until recently that the compelling body of evidence had clearly demonstrated the widespread prophylactic use of these chemicals caused acute and chronic impacts on global biodiversity. These neurotoxins can persist in the soil for years. They accumulate in water, pollen and nectar causing impaired learning and navigation, raised mortality, impaired immune system function and reduced fecundity in addition to larvae growth impairment in bees, bumblebees as well as other beneficial insects and non target species.

Increased Use of Pesticides / Decrease in Honey Production

Source: Sierra Magazine (2015)

Earlier this year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States officially announced the aforementioned dangers of Neonic pesticides. The conclusion to their first risk assessment on Neonics deemed these near active chemicals unsafe and a risk to bees and other pollinators. This was enough for the EPA to take action or impose restrictions as early as Q4 2016. Meanwhile, the state of Maryland has already taken steps buy banning the sale of all neonics to homeowners. Recognizing the impact these class of insecticide causes to their environment, however, farmers and professional applicators will still be able to buy them, but only for the time being.

The European Union reiterated its preemptive restrictions on the use of Neonics recommended by the European Commission in 2013. France’s National Assembly recently passed a biodiversity bill that moves to a full ban on the use of Neonics by 2018, giving appropriate time for new alternatives to reach the market. At the same time, the UK voted against the use neonicotinoids for the first time while denying the National Farmers Union (NFU) approval for its “emergency” use on some economically important crops like the rapeseed oil (canola). EU’s “better safe than sorry” approach on pesticides proved valuable once more, now that the full scope of the damages is being documented and exposed.

We are experiencing the compelling and positive transformation that bees and the environment so desperately need in agriculture’s pesticides use. Years of gathering information, including long term research to determine toxicity, environmental toxin accumulation and broad spectrum noxious effects, as well as informed contributions from farmers, beekeepers, environmentalists, ornithologists, corporations and consumers worldwide, has driven global policy and accountability. Now that the mindset has changed, the next step is to turn research and development to more natural, biodegradable, environmentally friendly and highly efficient alternatives to crop protection.