Report: ASU receives 3-year grant to study bees, pesticides
Mar 13, 2017, 10:39 AM
(Susan Gottlieb/The G2 Gallery via AP)
PHOENIX — Despite a seemingly surplus of bees around the Arizona State University campus over the last few years, a professor there just received a three-year grant to look more into why bee colonies are dropping around the rest of the world.
KJZZ reported that Jon Harrison, a professor in the School of Life Sciences at ASU, had looked into why bees are mysteriously disappearing, and found that in at least one pesticide supposed to be safe, there were negative effects in it on bees.
Bees have been dying off for a while, with scientists alluding to the use of pesticides hurting the colonies. Safe pesticides were developed, but with Harrison’s findings, it seems like some might not be so safe after all.
Harrison and his team received a grant to study this further. He told KJZZ they want to look at the pollinators to see if they can detoxify pesticides and study what happens when they are exposed.
Bees are crucial to our agriculture, and the shortage of them has resulted in the White House releasing a strategy in promoting the health of bees and a plan to protect pollination in years past.