In the last decade, as pesticide companies gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Entomological Society of America, scholarly research on the harmful effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on bees vanished from the society’s annual conference. This year, the research has returned, and several scholarly papers on the topic will be presented at the organization’s meeting this week in Phoenix.
The development came after U.S. Right to Know documented the disappearance of that research from the conference, which is hosted by the largest organization dedicated to entomology in the world.
In “Anatomy of a science meeting: How controversial pesticide research all but vanished from a major conference,” U.S. Right to Know showed how the research tapered off at the conference over a decade and tracked the corporate sponsorship money from pesticide companies that went to the scientific society since 2017.
This year, scholars will present five papers and posters on the topic. Students will present 14 more, bringing the total to 19 presentations on the subject of neonicotinoids’ effects on bees.
By contrast, at the 2023 meeting,only four papers and posters examined the topic, and all were presented by students.
In 2023 and 2024, bee science accounted for between 100 and 200 papers and posters presented at the conference. In 2023, scientists and students made more than 2,000 presentations at the meeting in total, and in 2024, that number reached 2,800, according to the ESA.
In interviews for the U.S. Right to Know story in June, several scientists said that they did not feel pressured to avoid any topics while organizing panels and symposia for the conference.
They said that research in the field has shifted to topics such as genetics, climate change and habitat. They also described a sense of research fatigue with the subject of neonicotinoids, which has received substantial attention since the chemicals were introduced nearly 30 years ago.
Emily May, a conservation biologist for the nonprofit Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation who has presented at the conference, said that attention to the topic ebbs and flows in the field.
“It’s encouraging to see more research contributing insights in this area,” she wrote in an email.
“Public interest and coverage certainly play a role in keeping these topics alive in the research community and broader conversation.”
In a prepared statement, ESA officials said that “as we shared back in the spring, beyond the Annual Meeting theme, the Program Committee does not favor or disfavor any particular topics within entomology for acceptance into the scientific program, so what is covered across the full Annual Meeting program is a good snapshot of the breadth of research being conducted in the field as it evolves year to year.”
In the science world, the ESA’s meetings are influential; researchers present critical findings on hundreds of topics. Many papers relate to phenomena that threaten insect species as well as the nation’s food supply.
The 2024 conference program includes subjects such as managing invasive species, understanding the Endangered Species Act and how scientific societies can address the challenge of the insect decline.
In bee science, specifically, topics on bee health include genetics, microbiome, climate change, habitat and parasites.
A look at the research
Five papers or posters on neonicotinoid pesticides’ effects on bee health will be presented by scholars at the ESA conference this week. Here’s a list:
- “Pesticide hazard for ground nesting solitary bee species associated with North American agroecosystems,” presented by Susan Chan of the University of Guelph.
- “The effects of long term neonicotinoid and fungicide exposure on ground nesting bee communities,” presented by Alexandra Harmon-Threatt of the University of Illinois.
- “Effects of sulfoxaflor on caste development in the common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens),” presented by Sarah E. Orr of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
- “Honey bee immune response to sublethal concentrations of clothianidin goes beyond the macronutrients found in artificial diets,” presented by Pierre Lau of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Stoneville, Miss.
- “Can AI-powered monitoring, and modeling bridge the knowledge gap between honey bee ecotoxicology studies in the lab and field?” Presented by Silvio Knaebe of Eurofins Agroscience Services, which is headquartered in Luxembourg.
U.S. Right to Know denied media access to ESA conference
U.S. Right to Know requested media access to the conference, but ESA officials denied that access, citing past coverage.
A prepared statement from ESA spokesman Joe Romeniecki said that “I apologize, but ESA will not be able to grant you media access to the event. Given the framing of your previous coverage of ESA, we do not believe in-person access to the meeting would result in fair perspectives about ESA or the entomology community.”
Top donors give $165,000 to ESA in 2024
According to the ESA, this year, the top corporate sponsor for the society, with a $65,000 buy-in at the platinum tier, is Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned company.
Gold tier partners, who pay in $50,000 annually, are Corteva Agriscience, which was spun from DowDuPont in 2019, and Bayer, a leading seller of neonicotinoids that purchased the Monsanto Co. in 2018.
At the silver tier, with a $25,000 buy-in, are BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which manufactures herbicides, and the Racine, Wisc.-based SCJohnson, which sells pest control products.
Those totals add $165,000 to the $1 million that the society had received from corporate partners since 2017, when the sponsorship program started.
A statement from the society earlier this year said that the corporate sponsorships account for the largest donations to the organization, but that they only make up 3 to 3.5 percent of the organization’s total annual revenue of about $6.4 million. The funding supports a variety of programs, not just the conference.
According to the ESA’s partnership pricing list, options for companies that pay at the platinum tier include:
- Sponsorship of mini golf in the exhibit halls at the meeting, with branded golf balls
- A “Pet a Puppy” event, complete with signage and branded bandanas
- Banner ads in each of ESA’s newsletters
- Ads in the society’s scientific journals
- Email from the company to ESA’s members, sent by ESA
- Speaking opportunities at the annual meeting’s opening session
- Unlimited job postings on the ESA career site
Research shows the neonics harm bees’ reproduction, foraging
Extensive research during the last two decades has shown that exposure to neonicotinoid pesticides, which were introduced during the 1990s, harms bees’ foraging, survival and immune responses, as well as damages their ability to reproduce and survive the winters. Neonicotinoids have been banned for outdoor uses in the European Union and Québec. Eleven states have restricted use of the pesticides: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Nevada, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington state and Vermont.
Manufacturers report that if used properly, the products are safe for bees and other pollinators.
Safety information from the pesticide companies typically point to multiple factors that harm bee health, including weather, beekeeping practices, genetics and diseases.
A fact sheet from Bayer reported that “regarding neonicotinoids, in no study with realistic exposure scenarios and a correct use of the product have harmful effects on honey bee colonies ever been observed.”
Good-bye to the ‘Corteva guy’
While the research on the effects of neonicotinoids has returned to the conference, one popular feature has not.
Last year, Corteva Agriscience purchased an ad that popped up every time attendees opened the conference app. They dubbed the photo the “Corteva guy.”
He became so pervasive that the scientists made memes out of him and posted them on the conference’s hashtag on X, which was formerly known as Twitter.
This year, however, they won’t be seeing him. The smiling, balding gentleman in the plaid shirt has been replaced by a colorful but less meme-able ad, also from Corteva, which depicts a horned, striped critter crawling his way peacefully up the stalk of a tiny pink flower.
