Pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids, cause sublethal and lethal harm to honeybees and wild bees, impairing navigation, memory, reproduction, and immune function across billions of individual insects.
Individual bees exposed to neonicotinoids show disorientation, trembling, and inability to return to the hive — experiences that, given the neurological sophistication of bees, likely involve distress. Colony collapse leaves surviving bees in failing social units without adequate foraging or thermoregulation support. The welfare of billions of individual bees is directly impacted by pesticide use decisions.