Studies say glyphosate may indirectly cause bee deaths

, the world's most widely used herbicide, glyphosate, alters the gut bacteria of bees and may indirectly cause bee deaths, according to a new study published today in the U.S.
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previous studies have suggested that glyphosate interferes with an important enzyme in plants and microorganisms, but is non-toxic to animals. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that bees exposed to glyphosate lose some of the beneficial bacteria in their intestines, making them prone to death.
experiment, the researchers exposed bees to glyphosate and found three days later that levels of beneficial bacteria in the bee's intestines decreased significantly.
further studies have found that bees with damaged gut bacteria are more likely to die from the common pathogen, adhesive sarepia. After eight days of exposure to the pathogen, about half of the bees with normal intestinal bacteria survived, while only about one-tenth of the bees that suffered damage to the intestinal bacteria as a result of exposure to glyphosate survived.
more than a decade ago, American beekeepers discovered a mysterious decline in bees, which made it difficult for crops to pollinator. At the time, it was speculated that this was related to pesticides, antibiotics, habitat loss and bacterial infections, but the effects of herbicides were not taken into account.
, one of the authors of the study, said that while it is not a single cause of mass death in bees, glyphosate is widely used and must be taken seriously. (Source: Xinhua News Agency Zhou Zhou)