RESEARCHERS have found that bees are attracted to nectar containing nicotine-laced pesticides which are currently banned by the European Union.

The discovery fuels concerns over the safety of these fertilisers and suggests that bees may be attracted to nicotine in the same way way as humans.

Scientists from Newcastle University and Trinity College, Dublin, found bumblebees and honeybees showed a preference for food containing nicotine-based pesticides.

Given a choice between a sugar solution and a sugar solution containing the neonicotinoid fertiliser they chose the food with nicotine.

There are concerns that this could increase their chances of exposure to high levels of pesticides.

Previous studies suggest that exposure of this kind can affect bees’ fitness.

The lab-based study, published in Nature.also showed that the bumblebees ate more of the food containing pesticides than the honeybees, and so were exposed to higher doses of toxins.

Bees and other pollinating insects are important for increasing crop yields – their value has been estimated to be worth more than £100bn per year globally.

When pollinating crops, they can be exposed to pesticides in floral nectar and pollen. Several controversial studies have shown that neonicotinoids have negative effects on bee foraging and colony fitness.

As a result, public concern has grown over the impact of neonicotinoids on bees and other pollinators.

In April 2013, the EU introduced a temporary ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on flowering crops, while further scientific and technical evidence was gathered.

Professor Geraldine Wright, from the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, said: “Bees can’t taste neonicotinoids in their food and therefore do not avoid these pesticides. This is putting them at risk of poisoning when they eat contaminated nectar.

“Even worse, we now have evidence that bees prefer to eat pesticide-contaminated food. Neonicotinoids target the same mechanisms in the bee brain that are affected by nicotine in the human brain. The fact that bees show a preference for food containing neonicotinoids is concerning as it suggests that like nicotine, neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make foods containing these substances more rewarding.

“If foraging bees prefer to collect nectar containing neonicotinoids, this could have a knock-on negative impact on whole colonies and on bee populations.”