We now know that the traditional approaches used for testing insecticide safety lack power and sensitivity. Molecular approaches are already commonly used for examining human health. Such approaches provide powerful alternatives for evaluating the impacts of pesticides on pollinator health.

The molecular approaches examine gene activity levels to dive deep into what is going on in the insect’s body when it is exposed to insecticides.

The 12,000 genes which make up the insect’s DNA normally control how an insect’s body is built and functions. Genes get turned on and off at different rates in different body parts. For example, the brain uses specific amounts of each of the 12,000 genes, while muscles use other specific amounts. With molecular approaches, we can measure how much of each gene is being used in each body part. Rather than just measuring survival, examining gene activity levels in multiple tissues enables us to get tens of thousands of measurements from each individual. 

The resulting high-resolution view of an insect’s health is extremely powerful. In particular, it enables the detection of effects of insecticides that would otherwise be difficult to see. And the approach does this faster and with less effort than the types of behavioural or field experiments that could provide similar insight. Furthermore, because genes are the building blocks of every organism, the approach clarifies the mechanisms through which particular compounds act. This enables comparisons across species, and at scale could help researchers and regulators to accurately predict impacts of an insecticide across the ecosystem. 

Overall, applying the molecular approaches should improve decisions in research and regulation, and thus lead to safer insecticides being used.