Field study reveals banned pesticide sulfoxaflor had no effect on pollination by bumblebees

A pesticide banned for outdoor use by the EU could be less harmful to bees than had been thought. This is the conclusion of a study that exposed bumblebee colonies to sulfoxaflor, an insecticide approved in the EU in 2015 but banned for outdoor use in April 2022.

The new study, carried out at the University of Reading and Royal Holloway, tested the effects of field-realistic levels of sulfoxaflor in the presence of a common bee parasite, Crithidia bombi, on the buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. The parasite gave the bees an extra challenge, to try replicate the multiple stressors pollinators often face in the wild.