New Study Suggests EU Neonic Ban Would Not Help Bees

As the European Commission mulls whether to widen an existing ban on three neonicotinoid chemicals, a new large-scale study lends support to the industry argument that neonicotinoid chemicals can be used without harm to bees, the Genetic Literacy Project reported.

Scientists in the U.K. released the results of a study in late June in the journal Science, concluding that pesticide treatments actually increased the population of bees in fields in Germany, despite declines in the number of bees in both the U.K. and Hungary. As the Genetic Literacy Project reported,

Lead author Ben Woodcock from the Natural Environment Research Council’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said … that while neonicotinoids can cause harm to bees, an outright ban may not be advised.