Toronto-beekeeping or not beekeeping? The researchers synthesized a particle as small as pollen. When fed to bees, it may be able to help them detoxify the hive damaged by pesticides to protect insects.

Ma Minglin, associate professor at Cornell University and the senior author of the study, said: “This is a low-cost, scalable solution. We hope this will be the first step to solve the problem of pesticide toxicity and contribute to the protection of pollinators. .” Said in the press release.

The study is Released earlier this month In the scientific journal “Natural Food”.

According to the press release, in about 98% of commercial beehives in the United States, wax and pollen have been contaminated by various pesticides. Pesticides cause beekeepers to lose about one-third of beehives every year.

Toxins in pesticides can reduce the immunity of bees to mites and diseases, which is related to the important role of bees in the human food chain. Release said that bees help fertilize crops, which “results in one-third of the food output we consume.”

According to the Canadian Honey Council, there are approximately 10,000 commercial beekeepers in Canada, and the value of pollination by these bees is estimated to exceed 2 billion Canadian dollars per year.

James Weber said in the press release: “We have a solution that allows beekeepers to feed their bees our particulate products with pollen cake or syrup and enable them to detoxify any pesticides that may be found in the hive of toxins. “Webb is the co-author of the paper and CEO of Beemmunity, a new company that hopes to use this technology to assist commercial beekeepers.

The formulation of the new product is designed to combat specific pesticides called organophosphate pesticides, which account for one-third of the market.

These particles are called pollen-inspired particles or PIM, and they work by containing specific enzymes that help detoxify urticaria.

Because bees consume particles, researchers must ensure that the particles can survive the pH of the intestinal tract of bees. Each PIM has a protective cover that allows it to pass through the acidic part of the bee.

The researchers tested the particles by ingesting the particles by live bees and then feeding on pollen pie contaminated with a common pesticide called malathion.

The other bees in the control group only received pollen patties wrapped in pesticides, without PIM to protect them.

The release said that although the bees in the control group died within a few days, 100% of the bees that received PIM survived.

Beemunity is seeking to adopt this technology and create more particles that can decompose pesticides.

The abstract of the study states that the idea is that commercial beekeepers can integrate these particles into “supplementary feeds, such as pollen pies or dietary syrups.”

According to the press release, larger trials will be conducted on 240 beehives in New Jersey this summer, and Beemunity plans to officially launch the product around February 2022.