Insects’
acquired taste for pesticide-laced food is similar to nicotine addiction in
smokers, say scientists
Press
Association
Wed 29
Aug 2018 00.01 BST
Bumblebees
acquire a taste for pesticide-laced food that can be compared to nicotine
addiction in smokers, say scientists.
The more
of the nicotine-like chemicals they consume, the more they appear to want, a
study has shown.
The
findings suggest that the risk of potentially harmful
pesticide-contaminated nectar entering bee colonies is
higher than was previously thought.
In a
series of studies, a team of British researchers offered bumblebees a choice of
two sugar solutions, one of which was laced with neonicotinoid pesticides.
They
found that over time the bees increasingly preferred feeders containing the
pesticide-flavoured sugar.
Dr
Richard Gill, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London,
said: “Given a choice, naive bees appear to avoid neonicotinoid-treated food.
However, as individual bees increasingly experience the treated food they
develop a preference for it.
“Interestingly,
neonicotinoids target nerve receptors in insects that are similar to receptors
targeted by nicotine in mammals.
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