--- title: Popular Pesticide Hurts Wild Bees, Study Finds description: New research could lead to pesticide bans in the U.S. and Europe canonical: https://time.com/3832788/pesticide-hurts-wild-bees-study/ author: Eliza Gray article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-23T15:08:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:15.446Z article:section: Science og:title: Popular Pesticide Hurts Wild Bees, Study Finds og:description: New research could lead to pesticide bans in the U.S. and Europe og:url: https://time.com/3832788/pesticide-hurts-wild-bees-study/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56c2d9f0a8bd1d80/6987ec88a988ca1ee56b054b/bees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: European honeybee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Popular Pesticide Hurts Wild Bees, Study Finds twitter:description: New research could lead to pesticide bans in the U.S. and Europe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56c2d9f0a8bd1d80/6987ec88a988ca1ee56b054b/bees.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Popular Pesticide Hurts Wild Bees, Study Finds > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life [Watch (HLS stream): Waking the Dead: Bringing Extinct Species Back to Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7mURxfr4.m3u8) (4:03)  _Published 2014-03-12. Conservationists and scientists have a saying, "extinction is forever." But soon biologists will clone long-gone animals in the hope to redefine that axiom to "DE-extinction is forever."_ by [Eliza Gray](https://time.com/author/eliza-gray/) ## Eliza Gray Apr 23, 2015 3:08 PM UTC  European honeybees are busy at work on a honeycomb in their behive on the rooftop of the town hall in Stuttgart, Germany, 13 April 2015. European honeybees are busy at work on a honeycomb in their behive on the rooftop of the town hall in Stuttgart, Germany, 13 April 2015. Marijan Murat—picture-alliance/dpa/AP by [Eliza Gray](https://time.com/author/eliza-gray/) ## Eliza Gray Apr 23, 2015 3:08 PM UTC A common pesticide is hurting wild bees, while sparing their honeybee cousins, a new study found. The data, published[ in _Nature_](http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14420.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=R-AMVZXOwhn7Ftw4%5Ffks5NRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MaSPtpLz%5FckFYIaSyHtmn2xvPzIUVr6af6KITGwmLx4%5FHECvblicyMBzZsO2w-k7LkgH3OaZIAyqDOq2vZ374e0Lx8x%5FdymZUOaxF5R6ELMeiTOkiDtvKKfgnDUVMhCFOz65PlJpOC5Jt9wdLLl4LQ9zob24St75t-EwE8k42Gvg%3D%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=www.nature.com) on Wednesday, could have an effect on whether regulators in the U.S. and Europe will continue to allow the use of the pesticides. The study showed that neonicotinoids, a commonly used class of insecticides, “reduced wild bee density, solitary bee nesting, and bumblebee colony growth and reproduction,” indicating that the insecticides could be contributing to the decline in wild bee populations globally, a key issue in food security. The study found that the insecticide was not as harmful for human-raised honeybees, suggesting that scientists cannot extrapolate a chemical’s effects on honeybees to their wild cousins. [**Read More: A World Without Bees**](http://time.com/559/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/) Adding to the concern, a [second study](http://www.nature.com/articles/nature14414.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=hKuzHlFBqs-GfLhRUxMW%5FdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MduC3nHCOl2J2ECXCmE9hd2x8RlCnEGmk8ywijoGHvRvePt5iOSRTu235EXr9Vo8M8UVsrY8ZiC61C-wfCSm5PlFg-e2VHR9keu0RBYfVXXCZWjcNaB0dIeD8HpIAZLYvwCs%5FFLBwVTHSFfhh8qQp1M9MJpdX3rWrkkZFvKyu6QQ%3D%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=www.nature.com) published in Nature showed that two different kinds of bees seem to prefer crops coated in the pesticides, undermining the claim from pesticide defenders that bees can choose pesticide-free crops. The European Union has instituted a temporary ban of the pesticides that is up for review [in December](http://www.nature.com/news/bee-studies-stir-up-pesticide-debate-1.17366). The U.S. does not have a ban, but the Environmental Protection Agency[ announced ](http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb%5Fpage/updates/2015/neonic-outdooruse.html)earlier in April that it was unlikely to approve new outdoor use of neonicotinoid pesticides, pending new data. These new studies may have an effect on that decision. ## Transcript [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] My name is Stuart Brand and I was trained as an ecologist. Conservation is about to take a turn because the technology was gonna allow us to use the DNA that's in the museum specimens and fossils to bring back extinct species [ MUSIC ] The passenger pigeon was around for 6 million years. And people remembered how amazing it was that these animals darkened the sky for hours at a time. There's these stories about these giant flocks blocking out the sun. And their wings sounding louder than thunder. We developed the techniques to hunt and net these birds and basically killed them all. And then it was really gone. When I was growing up, my mother said when the last one died in 1914 it broke America's heart. It was one of the prideful things that America had to show the world, and it was gone. This book. This is essentially the bible of passenger pigeon. I am currently the lead researcher for the deextinction project to bring the extinct passenger pigeon back to life. When I say, oh, we'll bring back a passenger pigeon, everyone goes, oh, my god, that's like Jurassic Park. And no, no, it's not. Not at all. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before. Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. I don't think a pigeon is going to, you know, pluck lawyers off of toilets. No. [ SOUND ]. Aah! [ BLANK_AUDIO ] So how we're actually going to go about deextinction. Every organism has a unique code in their genes. This one would be good I think. So these are actual DNA codes. From a chunk of a passenger pigeon foot. Now, if you can get DNA, then we can actually make it into a living cell. We're going to sequence its whole genome. We're gonna build from scratch the code that is a passenger pigeon, one gene at a time. Compare it to its closest relative. [ MUSIC ] Then we're gonna introduce DNA into the living cell of a band- tailed pigeon. And when you introduce an extinct animal's egg cell into a new mother, then you've changed the game. [ MUSIC ] Which has been done. The extinct Iranian Ibex was successfully cloned. That was the first deextinction. In this particular case, the animal only lived about ten minutes, but it was a proof of concept, and with further efforts, we hope, followed by everything from the passenger pigeon to the Tasmanian tiger. It's one of the most famous human- caused extinctions in the world. Benjamin, the last Tasmanian tiger, died in 1936. It was our direct activity that caused that extinction. For me, biotech is the future of conservation because our meddling is not unnatural. It is what species do. One of the things that gotten used to is the horrifying realization that extinction is forever. 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