Pesticides have proven to be a lethal resource against bees, considering that beekeepers have experienced a significant increase in honeybees’ mortality over the past year. The preservation of honeybees holds a great significance to the humans’ welfare as well as the balance of nature itself.
The reports from beekeepers in Maryland suggest the household pesticides play a significant role because they claim the bee population goes into winter healthy and robust, yet comes out with a high death toll.
Therefore, it’s important to address the pesticide popularity for the sake of the bees as well as taking it to relevant authorities for them to take action. Academics and conservationists have joined the keepers in order to convince the state General Assembly of the link between household pesticides and honeybee mortality, the Washington Post reports.
Before establishing a plan of action to address the high rate of bee mortality per year, it’s imperative for keepers to raise awareness about the importance of honeybees in society.
Even though bills were passed prohibiting stores from selling pesticide products involving the use of neonicotinoids, the main problem is the people’s excessive use of household pesticides. It’s worth noticing that the active element in the powerful class of systemic pesticides known as neonicotinoids have experienced an increased popularity over the past couple decades.
Until now, it achieved its popularity because it was thought to be harmful for bees in comparison to other pesticides. But as the product’s sales began to increase, so did the bee’s mortality rates, due to the consumers’ excessive use on their gardens and surrounding trees.
The air can play a significant factor here as it spreads the toxic components of pesticides, reaching further locations where there’s not even pesticides being used. Maryland alone, experienced a decline of over half of its hives’ percentage on 2015, each hive accounting for up to 20,000 honeybees, according to the Washington Post report.
Steps towards the right direction
The U.S. Department of Agriculture held a survey last year as well, where it was found that honey producers operating five or more bee colonies experienced a decline of about 12 percent in their production. And although Maryland is still in the transition for better pesticide laws and restrictions to reduce the bee’s mortality rates, Minnesota could be one step ahead.
The Star Tribune reported a story from two beekeepers that won a case against the state’s department of agriculture on Monday. After the hives of two keepers in Minnesota were severely damage last spring, both beekeepers blamed it on toxic pesticides and even received monetary compensations. According to the beekeepers from High Plains, “the most widely used classes of insecticides in the word are acutely toxic to honeybees under routine circumstances.”
Investigators from the state Department of Agriculture can no longer deny that pesticides pose a threat to the bee populations across the United States. And what’s more, banning the use of such chemicals in the development of effective pesticides is only one step towards the right direction. Further studies and tests are necessary for the development of secure pesticides for bees, as well as making beehives safer from toxic agents.
Source: Washington Post