The research,
conducted in Ontario and Quebec, found that 99.5 er cent of the pollen collected
had traces of neonicotinoids from seed treatments applied to corn and soybeans.
The pollen
included plants such as maple trees, dandelions and clover.
"At the
current level of agricultural practices, what we're doing now generates a
byproduct of neonicotinoids in environments around corn fields that is most
likely going to cause reduction of honeybee health and the health of other
pollinators," said Amro Zayed, the lead author of the study published
Thursday in Science.
Because
neonicitinoids are water soluble, they are mobile, said Zayed, who is an associate professor of biology at
York University.
Zayed said once
his team established the real-world levels of neonicotinoids found in the
field, he replicated that in a research apiary at York, treating some
"pollen patties" with neonicotinoids and tracking the comings and
goings of honeybees.
"Honeybees
treated with neonicotinoids suffered a range of negative effects including a
23-per-cent shorter lifespan and differences in behaviour," he said.
"Those
bees also took progressively longer foraging trips as they aged, suggesting
they are either unhealthy, can't fly as fast or are having a hard time
remembering how to fly back to their colony."
The treated
colonies also tended to lose their queens and were unable to replace their
queens, meaning certain death for the hives, unlike the untreated colonies in
the study, he said.
Ontario has
moved to greatly reduce the application of neonicitinoids as seed treatment
chemicals to ward off crop-destroying insects.
