Page 46 - min.soc 9 jan,2016
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SCIENCESaturday 9 January 2016
US says pesticide harms bees in some cases Study:
A bee works on a honeycomb the Gene Brandi Apiary in Los Banos, Calif. The Environmental the chemical, “there’s a Ebola survivors’
Protection Agency has found that a major pesticide harms honeybees when used on cotton and significant effect,” namely
citrus but not on other big crops like corn, berries and tobacco. fewer bees, less honey and blood didn’t help
“a less robust hive,” said
(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) Jim Jones, EPA’s assistant Guinea patients
administrator for chemical
SETH BORENSTEIN trouble and they do more pesticides and fungicides safety and pollution pre- MARIA CHENG
AP Science Writer than make honey. They are interact, said bee expert vention. But if the nectar AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A crucial to our food supply: May Berenbaum at the chemical level was below LONDON (AP) — Giving the
major pesticide harms hon- About one-third of the hu- University of Illinois. 25 parts per billion, it was as blood of Ebola survivors
eybees when used on cot- man diet comes from in- “Anything to reduce stress if there were no imidaclo- to patients didn’t seem to
ton and citrus but not on sect-pollinated plants, and on bees is helpful,” said Uni- prid at all, with no ill effects, make a difference, doctors
other big crops like corn, the honeybee is respon- versity of Maryland ento- Jones said. It was a clear found in the biggest study
berries and tobacco, the sible for 80 percent of that mologist Dennis vanEngels- line of harm or no harm, he so far on the approach,
U.S. Environmental Protec- pollination. dorp. “I am not convinced said. prompting some scientists
tion Agency found. Some advocacy groups that neonics are a major Levels depended on the to say it’s time to aban-
It’s the first scientific risk as- target neonicotinoids — driver of colony loss.” crop, Jones said. While don the strategy. With no
sessment of the much-de- the chemical works on in- Before it acts on a pesti- nectar of cotton and cit- licensed treatment for the
bated class of pesticides sects’ central nervous sys- cide, EPA wanted more rus fruits were above the devastating disease, doc-
called neonicotinoids and tems and are often called specific and targeted re- harmful concentrations, tors have sometimes used
how they affect bees on “neonics” — and call for search. The risk report re- the levels were not harmful blood from survivors to
a chronic long-term ba- bans on the chemicals. leased Wednesday is the for corn — the nation’s top treat the sick, hoping its
sis. The EPA found in some Recent scientific studies first of four on this class crop by far — most vege- infection-fighting antibod-
cases the chemical didn’t have pointed to problems of chemicals. The study tables, berries and tobac- ies might help patients de-
harm bees or their hives and pesticide makers dis- was done by the EPA and co. Other crops weren’t feat the virus. It seemed to
but in other cases it posed pute those studies and this California’s environmental conclusive and need more help some patients in the
a significant risk. It mostly one from the EPA. Europe agency, with a similar one testing, including legumes, past but there was no clear
depended on the crop, a banned the pesticide class, done by Canada. melons, tree nuts and proof. Amid the world’s
nuanced answer that nei- and then lifted the ban. EPA analysis of detailed herbs. Also, the controver- biggest outbreak of Ebola
ther clears the way for an Don’t expect any future tests found a clear level of sial practice of treating in West Africa in 2014, sci-
outright ban nor is a blan- action on this pesticide to concentration of the pesti- seeds with the chemical entists decided to put the
ket go-ahead for contin- solve the dwindling bee cide imidacloprid, the most seemed not to harm bees, treatment to the test in
ued use. Both the pesticide problem because it’s not common neonicotinoid, Jones said. Guinea. At a clinic in the
maker and anti-pesticide just this pesticide alone, in which things start to go The problem crops of cot- capital Conakry, scientists
advocates were unhappy but a complicated puzzle awry. If nectar brought ton and citrus are No. 7 found no difference in sur-
with report. that includes lack of food back to the hive from and 9 in U.S. production vival between 84 patients
The issue is important be- for bees, parasites, dis- worker bees had more value in 2014, according who got survivor blood
cause honeybees are in ease and the way different than 25 parts per billion of to Agriculture Department compared to about 400
statistics. patients treated some five
The study looked just at months earlier, accord-
commercial honeybees ing to the study published
because they are a good in New England Journal of
surrogate for all pollinators, Medicine Thursday.
Jones said. But Lori Ann “We would have liked to
Burd, environmental health have seen more dramatic
director of the advocacy results,” said Johan van
group Center for Biologi- Griensven of the study in
cal Diversity, criticized the Guinea, the paper’s lead
agency for ignoring wild author. “But this doesn’t
bees, like bumblebees, mean (blood) plasma
which studies show are treatment doesn’t work
much more sensitive to the by definition.” He said an-
pesticides, calling the re- tibody levels are often low
port “weak.” in patients who have only
Jones said this is a draft recently recovered from
of a scientific report, not Ebola and that doctors
a regulation. After public might need to use blood
comments and the report from long-term survivors to
is finalized, then EPA may get a better effect.
act.q Van Griensven and col-
leagues studied people
who got two transfusions
of plasma — the clear part
of blood that contains an-
tibodies — in Guinea last
year. q
