Popular pesticides stop bees from laying eggs

LONDON — Popular pesticides used on common crops prevent bees from laying eggs and could eventually cause bee populations to die out, a new study says. A group of pesticides known as neonicotinoids [h]are used on some of the most commonly grown crops in the U.S., including corn, soybean and canola. Bumblebee queens exposed to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam [i]under laboratory conditions were 26 percent less likely to lay eggs, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study said that other factors in the wild, such as loss of wildflowers, parasites, or climate change may also have a harmful impact on bee populations. The results of the study are likely to lead to further calls to restrict the use of pesticides, NPR reported. Neonicotinoids were temporarily banned in the European Union in 2013.