What is "neonicotinoid"

n. Any of a certain class of insecticides that act on the central nervous system in a similar way to nicotine.

Neonicotinoids (sometimes shortened to neonics ) are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine. In the 1980s Shell and in the 1990s Bayer started work on their development. The neonicotinoid family includes acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. Imidacloprid is the most widely used insecticide in the world. Compared to organophosphate and carbamate insecticides neonicotinoids cause less toxicity in birds and mammals than insects. Some breakdown products are also toxic to insects.

In the late 1990s neonicotinoids came under increasing scrutiny over their environmental impacts. Neonicotinoid use was linked in a range of studies to adverse ecological effects, including honey-bee colony collapse disorder (CCD) and loss of birds due to a reduction in insect populations. In 2013, the European Union and a few non EU countries restricted the use of certain neonicotinoids.