LONDON — Popular pesticides used on common crops prevent bees from laying eggs and could eventually cause bee populations to die out, a new study says. <br /> <br />A group of pesticides known as neonicotinoids [h]are used on some of the most commonly grown crops in the U.S., including corn, soybean and canola. <br /> <br />Bumblebee queens exposed to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam [i]under laboratory conditions were 26 percent less likely to lay eggs, according to a study published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. <br /> <br />The study said that other factors in the wild, such as loss of wildflowers, parasites, or climate change may also have a harmful impact on bee populations. <br /> <br />The results of the study are likely to lead to further calls to restrict the use of pesticides, NPR reported. Neonicotinoids were temporarily banned in the European Union in 2013.
