Have scientists found the key to a bee-friendly pesticide?

The European Union's food safety watchdog has confirmed that pesticides harm bee populations. Several studies have shown that neonicotinoids affect the brains and bodies of bees and other insects, changing their behavior and reducing their fertility and lifespan.

Bees aren't just producers of delicious honey. As pollinators, they play a crucial role in the world's agricultural systems – allowing us to produce all kinds of other foods. But they're threatened by habitat-loss and exposure to toxic pesticides.

Use of neonicotinoids, some of the most toxic pesticides to bees and other insects, was restricted by the EU in 2013. But now scientists say they have found a solution that will pave the way to a bee-friendly neonicotinoid pesticide.

Researchers say they have identified the way that bees fight off harmful toxins. Comparing the effects of two neonicotinoids, they found bees metabolize one of them, thiacloprid, very efficiently. They believe this will help them to develop pesticides that do not harm bee populations.

But environmentalists are skeptical. Dave Goulson of the school of life sciences at Sussex University, told DW his research, which looked at bee nests next to raspberry crops, found that thiacloprid harmed the nests. "There is evidence that thiacloprid use does harm bumblebee nests under field conditions," he said.

Campaigners like Keith Tyrell, director of Pesticide Action Network UK says we need to move away from a "chemical mindset" altogether.

It’s not just bees that are affected by pesticides, Tyrell says. Insecticides are harmful to many different types of insects. For example, butterfly populations have also been affected. Pesticides can also have an impact on human health and harm other wildlife and the environment, according to Pesticide Action Network UK.

We need to find a way to change our agricultural model, and switch to non-chemical pest control methods that work with nature, environmentalists say.