Neonicotinoids: new warning on pesticide harm to bees

Consensus builds among scientists though review of evidence also finds there is not enough data on whether pesticide causes population decline

There is a strong scientific consensus that bees are exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides in fields and suffer harm from the doses received, according to a new analysis of the all the scientific evidence to date.

But almost no data exists so far on whether this harm ultimately leads to falls in overall bee populations, the scientists found. They said one "gold standard" field study from Sweden had shown that the insecticides, the most widely used in the world, do significantly damage bumblebee populations. But it found no effect for honeybees, although the study design meant it could only rule out losses greater than 20%.