£10m scheme looks at bees (From This Is Wiltshire)

£10m scheme looks at bees

3:00pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010 in

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THE SWINDON-based Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has launched a £10 million programme to look at the decline of honeybees and other pollinating insects.

The Insect Pollinators Initiative will look at different asepcts of the insects’ decline and is funded by several public and charity organisations, led by the BBSRC.

It said the total loss of insect pollinators could cost the UK £440m a year – about 13 per cent of the UK’s farming income.

Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC chief executive, said: “The UK leads the world in biology and we have a strong community ready and able to tackle important social and economic issues that scientific research can help address.”