#EFSA4Bees: Food safety agency launches website dedicated to saving bees #BeeHealth

Dr Agnès Rortais, a bee specialist who is co-ordinating the MUST-B project, said: “EFSA is carrying out some exciting, ambitious work on bee health and we decided to bring it together in one place so that all our partners and stakeholders can follow our progress – and perhaps give us a helping hand along the way.”

Rortais will be one of the contributors to a news blog in which EFSA will give up-to-the-minute progress reports and share links to the latest research and other useful information.

She added: “#Efsa4Bees will be a must-visit site for scientists, researchers and anyone else who has an interest in this vitally important subject.

“The blog is just the beginning of what we hope will become an interactive community that will give us access to information and knowledge from beyond our established circle of experts and partners.”

Biological agents. For example, Varroa destructor, the most common bee parasite, can act as a vector for a number of viruses. It can also affect the bee’s immune system and make it susceptible to other infections. Another parasite, the Nosema fungus, has also been shown to interact with viruses in stressed colonies.

Chemical agents. Synergistic effects have been observed between fungicides and insecticides used to control Varroa. There is also evidence that antibiotics used in bee hives may make bees more susceptible to insecticides.

Biological and chemical agents. In a US study, bees exposed to the neonicotinoid pesticide imidacloprid sufered higher levels of theNosema parasite than bees that were not exposed to the pesticide. Another study showed that exposure to neonicotinoids promotes replication of viruses such as deformed wing virus and black queen cell virus.

All of these interactions can be additionally influenced by environmental factors such as beekeeping and agricultural practices, and changes in weather conditions.

Neonicotinoids

In December 2013, the EU prohibited the use of three types of neonicotinoid pesticides to treat crops attractive only to bees (oilseed rape, sunflowers, maize, and cotton); other substances in the same class were made subject to rigorous long-term studies. Tonino Picula MEP (S&D, Croatia) raised concerns about the possibility of the ban being lifted. Picula says that in small doses these pesticides affect the bees instinct to move, and in larger doses kill them.

Daniel Buda MEP (EPP, Romania) has also highlighted the concerns of Romanian beekeepers who reported acute intoxication and the massive depopulation of bee colonies following a ministerial decree authorising the marketing of seed impregnated with these substances in Romania.

EFSA will finalize its assessment by the end 2016 and #EFSA4Bees may be an attempt to preempt the outcome.

Background

As well as their crucial enabling role as pollinators, bees – particularly honeybees – contribute to human wealth and wellbeing directly through the production of honey and other food and feed supplies such as pollen, wax for food processing, propolis in food technology, and royal jelly as a dietary supplement and ingredient in food.Bees – Apis mellifera – play a critically important role in human society. They sustain food production – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that of the 100 crop species providing 90% of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees – and biodiversity by providing essential pollination for a wide range of crops and wild plants.