Bees Addicted to Nicotine, Study Reveals

[nicnik]

Bees addicted to nicotine, study reveals (From The Northern Echo)

"Scientists from Newcastle University and Trinity College, Dublin, found bumblebees and honeybees showed a preference for food containing nicotine-based pesticides."

"Given a choice between a sugar solution and a sugar solution containing the neonicotinoid fertiliser they chose the food with nicotine."

http://www.motherjones.com/files/imagecache/top-of-content-main/beesmoke_master.jpg

Bring on the ANTZ!

 

[Mossy]

Maybe this is the ANTZ parade looking for a new angle to demonise nicotine.

 

[Mossy]

The guy that wrote the story is the Health and Education editor

 

[AndriaD]

Actually the "neonicotinoids" are not actual nicotine; they're lab-created synthetics, and it seems that neonicotinoid pesticides are implicated in the Colony Collapse disaster. So they better get back to using REAL nicotine, if they don't want famine for the entire world.

Andria

 

[this is my name]

I was immediately reminded of this....

 

[Nermal]

I wouldn't mind hearing from bluecanary on this. She's been a beekeeper for awhile.

 

[sofarsogood]

Are bees exposed to naturally occuring nicotine in the various nightshade plants? May be naturally occuring doses of nic provide some benefit to bees. May be the pesticide being discussed has other things that are bad for the bees.

 

[WillyZee]

coming soon from ANTZ ... yes people, bees are now vaping

with little tiny bee size tootle puffers

 

[WattWick]

Does this apply to bees that have never been smoked too?

 

[BuGlen]

coming soon from ANTZ ... yes people, bees are now vaping

with little tiny bee size tootle puffers

Would someone please think of the bees?!?!?!?!

 

[pennysmalls]

Since when is a preference an addiction?

 

[nicnik]

Since when is a preference an addiction?

That's their spin on it. I read a few articles about that study, and they all seemed to want to twist it in different ways . That smoking bee picture was part of Mother Jone's warping.

 

[nicnik]

Since when is a preference an addiction?

Good call, pennysmalls. Check this out:

Nicotine-like insecticides may be luring bees to their poisoning, study finds | MinnPost

"No sign of addiction — yet
It has been widely though erroneously reported that the study also demonstrated addiction behavior in bees that fed on neonics. Not so. That was beyond its scope.

But one of its authors, Geraldine Wright, told interviewers that the team hopes to look at that possibility next."

I should've searched more, but it was entertaining, so I joined in on the media's making light of a serious problem. It's still kind of fun. In my defense I had discovered the study to be behind a paywall, and the abstract was boring and the full study would've probably been tedious for me to read.

 

[Mossy]

From Wiki

"As of 2013 neonicotinoids have been used In the U.S. on about 95 percent of corn and canola crops, the majority of cotton, sorghum, and sugar beets and about half of all soybeans. They have been used on the vast majority of fruit and vegetables, including apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes, to cereal grains, rice, nuts, and wine grapes. [13] Imidacloprid is possibly the most widely used insecticide, both within the neonicotinoids and in the worldwide market"

I wonder if the ANTZ realise this is happening? ............... maybe we could divert their attention for a few years

 

[caramel]

Don't worry, nicotine impairs brain development only when vaped. All other methods of ingestion are safe and don't need no ANTZ attention. [/sarcasm]

 

[skoony]

there is even disagreement among beekeepers to whats happening.
In One Widely-Trumpeted Colony Collapse, The Beekeeper Did It
mike

 

[pennysmalls]

That's their spin on it. I read a few articles about that study, and they all seemed to want to twist it in different ways . That smoking bee picture was part of Mother Jone's warping.

I didn't even look at the motherjones thing, I won't read her stuff. I'm not a fan.

Good call, pennysmalls. Check this out:

Nicotine-like insecticides may be luring bees to their poisoning, study finds | MinnPost

"No sign of addiction — yet
It has been widely though erroneously reported that the study also demonstrated addiction behavior in bees that fed on neonics. Not so. That was beyond its scope.

But one of its authors, Geraldine Wright, told interviewers that the team hopes to look at that possibility next."

I should've searched more, but it was entertaining, so I joined in on the media's making light of a serious problem. It's still kind of fun. In my defense I had discovered the study to be behind a paywall, and the abstract was boring and the full study would've probably been tedious for me to read.

Oh no, my comment wasn't directed at you it was directed at these people coming up with these dumb assumptions from the studies. The bees preferring the solution with nicotine over the other solution is obviously a preference but to call it an addiction like they do is annoying and just more of the same when it comes to reporting on nicotine.

 

[TyPie]

Note that the bees that prefer the nicotine-laden flowers and plants are far more relaxed and productive than those that refrain. Another added benefit: you get a little BUZZ (pun intended) from the honey produced by the addicted bees.

 

[3mg Meniere]

there is even disagreement among beekeepers to whats happening.
In One Widely-Trumpeted Colony Collapse, The Beekeeper Did It
mike

Idiots!! My father often made bee-candy in the spring after a hard winter. You steal their honey or forcibly relocate them, you gotta repay them. It is only fair.

 

[nicnik]

there is even disagreement among beekeepers to whats happening.
In One Widely-Trumpeted Colony Collapse, The Beekeeper Did It
mike

Apparently there's been a lot of misreporting about the research, including linking it to the colony collapse/falling honeybee populations problem (it's the honeybees we're so dependent on). Still a serious problem - who wants to be killing bumblebees?

CORRECTION: Caffeine Does Not Protect Bumble Bees – Entomology Today

"It is also important to point out that this research was conducted on bumble bees — not honey bees — and therefore has nothing at all to do with honey bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), as some media outlets have reported."