Neonicotinoids are a type of pesticide that initially seemed like a complete revolution in modern chemistry and agriculture. However, in 2013 the European Union (EU) prohibited their use, after it was shown that these products negatively affected the development and growth of colonies of pollinating insects.
Now, two new studies published in the journal Nature (one in the field and one in the laboratory) reveal that bees prefer pollen that contains these chemicals, even though they do not add flavor. According to Geraldine Wright, professor at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Newcastle (United Kingdom) and leader of the research, it could be a kind of addiction, like the one that humans feel towards nicotine, for example.
” The molecular target of neonicotinoids in insects is based on the same receptors as nicotine receptors . We know that they are distributed throughout the insect’s nervous system”, specifies a professor of insect neuroethiology at the University of Newcastle.
To carry out the experiment, the scientists put small boxes with two glucose (sugar) solutions, one with a very low dose of pesticide (adjusted to that observed in real environments) and another without it. The performance of bumblebees and honey bees, who thoughtlessly flocked to the boxes with neonicotinoids instead of gorging themselves on sucrose, left the researchers in a state of ‘shock’.
In a second phase, in which the study authors wanted to focus on the most chemical aspects of this phenomenon, they verified that the taste neurons of these insects were excited by the solution with one of the three neonicotinoids.
“Our data suggest that neonicotinoid food is more rewarding for bees. It has the potential to be addictive but we have not formally studied it yet, ” Wright concludes.
