Arehoney bees getting fatally “stung” by a kind of weed killer?
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin just recently found bees “lose some of the beneficial bacteria in their guts and are more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria” when exposed to a popular herbicide called glyphosate.
A study, released today in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” explains the approach researchers utilized to draw that conclusion.
“The researchers exposed honey bees to glyphosate at levels known to occur in crop fields, yards and roadsides. The researchers painted the bees’ backs with colored dots so they could be tracked and later recaptured,” UT Austin stated in a declaration.
Glyphosate was discovered to have “significantly reduced healthy gut microbiota” when researchers took care of 3 days.
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Thestudy analyzed how bees were impacted when they were confronted with a kind of pathogen called Serratia marcescens, too.
“About half of bees with a healthy microbiome were still alive eight days after exposure to the pathogen, while only about a tenth of bees whose microbiomes had been altered by exposure to the herbicide were still alive,” the school described.
ErikMotta, a college student who co-led the task, called for enhanced procedures.
“We need better guidelines for glyphosate use, especially regarding bee exposure, because right now the guidelines assume bees are not harmed by the herbicide,” he stated in a declaration. “Our study shows that’s not true.”
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The school states glyphosate is perhaps “indirectly killing bees.”
ButMonsanto– whose item Roundup includes the herbicide– has actually rejected that glyphosate is hazardous to them.
“Claims that glyphosate has a negative impact on honey bees are simply not true,” a representative for the business informed TheGuardian. “No large-scale study has found any link between glyphosate and the decline of the honeybee population.”
The agent included, “More than 40 years of robust, independent scientific evidence shows that it poses no unreasonable risk for humans, animal, and the environment generally.”
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