The wild flowers found by researchers to be contaminated by neonicotinoids and other toxic sprays included Hogweed.
Sussex research exposes secret cocktail of toxic pesticides in hedgerows and wildflowers. Scientists at the University of Sussex have discovered that bees are exposed to a chemical cocktail when feeding from wildflowers growing next to neonicotinoid-treated crops in UK farmland. These chemical cocktails could make the impact of neonicotinoids up to 1,000 times more potent than previously realised. One in 10 species of Europe's wild bees is facing extinction, and neonicotinoid insecticides are increasingly seen as contributing to these declines. In addition to neonicotinoids, farmers may spray some non-organic crops a dozen or more times while they are growing, with anything up to 23 different chemicals. New research by the University of Sussex and supported by the Soil Association reveals that pollinators consuming pollen from these crops or from nearby wildflowers will ingest a cocktail of fungicides and insecticides. A prior study suggests these fungicides could act synergistically, making the insecticides up to 1,000 times more deadly than they are on their own.
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