
New research reignites concerns that pesticides are harming bees - kevindeasis
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/11/18/new-research-reawakens-the-huge-controversy-over-whether-pesticides-are-harming-bees/
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alisson
Also big monoculture offers no environment to most beneficial insects to live
on, I guess that's why some people are moving beehives across the states every
year to pollinate trees

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Loic
This in fact a really big problem for the complete food chain.

In Germany, some regions lost more than 90% of their "small" birds because of
the extensive monoculture. As soon as the crops could provide food for the
birds, they are harvested. Ironically, it means that rural areas are like
deserts for birds and they can only survive in cities!

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andrewstuart
You mean all that insecticide is killing....... the insects?

Monsanto said it would only kill the bad ones......

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dalke
No. Thiamethoxam is already known to be 'acutely toxic for bees', quoting
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamethoxam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiamethoxam)
.

As the NYT piece says, this isn't about killing the insects:

> “Most of the studies in the past have focused on direct effects on the bees,
> both the adults and the larvae,” said Robbin Thorp, professor emeritus and
> bee expert at the University of California Davis, who was not involved in
> this paper. These can include effects on bee mortality or reproduction.

> “This study now clearly demonstrates that in addition to effects on the
> bees, both direct effects and sublethal indirect effects, that these effects
> are influencing their ability to pollinate plants,” Thorp said. “And they
> used apple as an example of this, as an important crop.”

