Spider Venom Could Produce Bee-Safe Pesticide

A new pesticide using spider venom and plant protein could be a valuable tool in stemming the collapse of honeybee populations.   Researchers at Newcastle University in England developed the pesticide using the venom of an Australian funnel web spider and snowdrop lectin.   The researchers fed “acute and chronic doses” of the pesticide to bees and found it only had a “very slight effect on the bees’ survival and no measurable effect at all on their learning and...

© La Voix de l'Amérique - mercredi 4 juin 2014