Pesticides Damage Baby Bee Brains

Pesticides Damage Baby Bee Brains

You've probably heard that pesticides may be linked to the world-wide decline in the honey bee population. Well, there's more evidence than ever that pesticides are killing honey bees. Imperial College London researchers used micro-CT scanning technology to reveal how specific parts of bee brains grew abnormally when exposed to pesticides during their larval phase. The bees were directly affected by the pesticide contaminated food brought into the hive, making them poorer at performing certain tasks as adults. In short, their brains just don't develop normally, and as adults the underdeveloped portions of their brains are irreparably damaged. The part of the brain affected is associated with their ability to eat, even when the nectar is available to them.  Not only is pesticide residue on flowers upon which honey bees forage a means of bringing the poisons into the hive, the beeswax itself has been shown to become contaminated with an accumulated level of pesticides. That's why Bee Great rotates beeswax from our hives to lessen the detrimental impacts of pesticides on our bees.
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