The science behind the ban: the outstanding impact of ecotoxicological research on the regulation of neonicotinoids.

The restrictions and bans imposed on insecticides of the neonicotinoid group in Europe were legitimized by emerging knowledge about their impact on the health of bee populations. That such knowledge was articulated and acted upon in the regulatory space is puzzling, given the standard forms of regulatory science, and the ways in which scientific knowledge is used in this very space. This short article reviews research in social science about regulation and regulatory knowledge, to help understand how research on bee decline opened the possibility of wide regulatory restrictions on neonicotinoids.

• Publication year

  2021

• Venue

  Current Opinion in Insect Science

• Publication date

  2021-03-15

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.cois.2021.02.017PMID 33737144
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Organized denial at work: The difficult search for consistencies in French pesticide regulation

  2021cited by this paper
• Molecular Bureaucracy: Toxicological Information and Environmental Protection

  2019cited by this paper
• Private facilitators of public regulation: A study of the environmental consulting industry

  2019cited by this paper
• Pesticides and the perils of synecdoche in the history of science and environmental history

  2019cited by this paper
• Models of Assurance

  2017cited by this paper
• Introducing Regulatory Intermediaries

  2017cited by this paper
• Expertise, Regulatory Science and the Evaluation of Technology and Risk: Introduction to the Special Issue

  2017cited by this paper
• Declines in insectivorous birds are associated with high neonicotinoid concentrations

  2014cited by this paper
• Worldwide integrated assessment on systemic pesticides

  2014cited by this paper
• Regulatory Toxicology in Controversy

  2013cited by this paper
• Dying Bees and the Social Production of Ignorance

  2013cited by this paper
• Some Emerging Issues | Seed-dressing Systemic Insecticides and Honeybees Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation 369 Some Emerging Issues | Seed-dressing Systemic Insecticides and Honeybees

  2013cited by this paper
• Neonicotinoids, bee disorders and the sustainability of pollinator services

  2013cited by this paper
• Be(e)coming experts: The controversy over insecticides in the honey bee colony collapse disorder

  2013cited by this paper
• A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees

  2012cited by this paper
• Strategic unknowns: towards a sociology of ignorance

  2012cited by this paper
• Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production

  2012cited by this paper
• RFID Tracking of Sublethal Effects of Two Neonicotinoid Insecticides on the Foraging Behavior of Apis mellifera

  2012cited by this paper
• Scientific Opinion on the science behind the development of a risk assessment of Plant Protection Products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees)

  2012cited by this paper
• Governing the gap: Forging safe science through relational regulation

  2011cited by this paper
• Regulation and Regulatory Governance

  2011cited by this paper
• Undone Science: Charting Social Movement and Civil Society Challenges to Research Agenda Setting

  2010cited by this paper
• Bee mortality and bee surveillance in Europe.

  2009cited by this paper
• Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt*

  2008cited by this paper
• Chlorinated Pesticides: Aldrin, DDT, Endrin, Dieldrin, Mirex

  2003cited by this paper
• Organizing Regulatory Space

  1998cited by this paper
• Regulatory science—Towards a sociological framework☆

  1997cited by this paper
• Global Climate Change: the Mutual Construction of an Emergent Science-Policy Domain

  1995cited by this paper

• Plant-based foods dominate human neonicotinoids exposure in China, with Rice as the primary pathway

  2026cites this paper
• Impacts of Plant Protection Products on Biodiversity: Limits of Risk Assessment and Avenues to Ground Liability

  2025cites this paper
• Electrochemically pretreated graphite:glass thick films for ultra-trace detection of neonicotinoids in surface water and honey

  2025cites this paper
• Leaf Litter Input in Aquatic Systems Increases Amphibian Biomass Production and Body Mass With Insecticide Exposure or Competition

  2025cites this paper
• Multiscale Model-Driven Discovery of Insecticides for Sustainable Agriculture: A Demonstration of Product-by-Design Approach

  2025cites this paper
• The Sublethal Effects of Neonicotinoids on Honeybees

  2025cites this paper
• An overview of agricultural neonicotinoid regulation in the EU, Canada, and the United States

  2025cites this paper
• Flupyradifurone Exhibits Greater Toxicity to the Asian Bumblebee Bombus lantschouensis Compared to the European Bumblebee Bombus terrestris

  2025cites this paper
• Time-weighted conversion of acute to chronic equivalent endpoints for derivation of chronic ecotoxicity threshold values of six neonicotinoids in freshwater.

  2025cites this paper
• An Aptamer Sensor Based on Alendronic Acid-Modified Upconversion Nanoparticles Combined with Magnetic Separation for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Thiamethoxam

  2025cites this paper
• “Biocontrol of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) in organic crops: Spatial and seasonal dynamics”

  2025cites this paper
• One for all and all for one: a review on the commonality of risk to honeybees and wild pollinators and the benefits of beekeepers in conservation

  2024cites this paper
• The state of populations of honey bees, Apis mellifera L., with an increase in the pesticide load in agroce- noses

  2024cites this paper
• The Apian Pharmacopeia

  2024cites this paper
• Bergamot Polyphenolic Fraction for the Control of Flupyradifurone-Induced Poisoning in Honeybees

  2024cites this paper
• Sub-lethal effects of the insecticide, imidacloprid, on the responses of damselfly larvae to chemosensory cues indicating predation risk.

  2024cites this paper
• Regulatory framework for the assessment of the impacts of plant protection products on biodiversity: review of strengths and limits

  2024cites this paper
• Synergistic effects of neonicotinoids in combination with entomopathogenic fungi on the insecticidal activity against the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) and their effects on the host immune system

  2024cites this paper
• Pesticide use in integrated pest and pollinator management framework to protect pollinator health

  2024cites this paper
• Moving beyond pesticides: Exploring alternatives for a changing food system

  2023cites this paper
• Insect and arthropod conservation policies: the need for a paradigm shift.

  2023cites this paper
• Pollination crisis Down‐Under: Has Australasia dodged the bullet?

  2023cites this paper
• Agricultural pesticide regulatory environment for pollinator protection across geographical regions

  2023cites this paper
• Synthesis and Bioactivities of 5-Nitroimino-[1,4-2H]-1,2,4-triazolines as Olefin-Imidacloprid Mimics

  2023cites this paper
• Identification of sulfonamide compounds active on the insect nervous system: molecular modeling, synthesis and biological evaluation.

  2023cites this paper
• Impacts of neonicotinoids on biodiversity: a critical review

  2023cites this paper
• Photolysis and photo-enhanced toxicity of three novel designed neonicotinoids: Impact of novel modifying groups.

  2023cites this paper
• Surrogate species in pesticide risk assessments: Toxicological data of three stingless bees species.

  2022cites this paper
• La recherche en sciences humaines et sociales sur l’objet pesticide dans le cadre académique français : état des lieux et perspectives

  2022cites this paper
• Toxicity of Formulated Systemic Insecticides Used in Apple Orchard Pest Management Programs to the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera (L.))

  2022cites this paper
• Neonicotinoids and Optimal Foraging Theory

  2021cites this paper
• Integrated approach for the analysis of neonicotinoids in fruits and food matrices.

  2021cites this paper