Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Agriculture and Forestry
TRURO, Thursday, February 14, 2002
The bee population went through a crisis. They were looking at one of
the pesticides that was used on potatoes.
Mr. Vautour: Yes. That pesticide is called imidacloprid. It is used on
potatoes as an interval or full-year spray. We just came back from a
study that was done on it on Prince Edward Island and in New Brunswick
by Dick Rogers and Dr. Jim Kemp from UPEI. They could find no evidence
that bees could get at it, so we were relieved. We thought that was
the source of the problem. It causes a nerve problem in the bees. If
they get it in the pollen, in the honey, the plant absorbs it, bugs
eat it and it disorients the bugs. It started in France. When they
started using that product on sunflowers, people noticed that their
bees were becoming disoriented and not finding their way back to the
hive. We thought that was a problem that was restricted to Prince
Edward Island and then we noticed it in New Brunswick. These were only
observations, and they were not based on scientific data. The
scientific data seems to indicate that is not the problem
* * *
Kentville, N.S., March 8, 2002. A collaborative research project
recently found that imidacloprid (Admire) was not found in pollen and
nectar of wild flowers and clover flowers in years following an
in-furrow application of the product.
The research project was undertaken as a result of a question raised
by beekeepers – whether imidacloprid or its plant metabolites was the
cause of the dwindling bee populations reported by beekeepers in
Prince Edward Island and other areas. Admire is a popular insecticide
for control of Colorado potato beetle and other insect pests in
potatoes.
Results of the Imidacloprid Residue Study were presented to the
Canadian Honey Council and the Canadian Association of Professional
Apiculturists in Banff on January 30, 2002.
"In response to the beekeepers question, we investigated to see if
there was detectable residue in clover leaves, clover flowers and wild
flowers following an imidacloprid application. This was a big concern
for some beekeepers," says Jim Kemp, a researcher of pollination
biology and floral morphology in the UPEI department of biology and a
co-principal investigator in the study.
Dick Rogers, the other co-principal investigator and consulting
entomologist with Wildwood Labs Inc. in Kentville, N.S., says, "Our
answers to the question are based on determining the residue levels in
parts per billion after imidacloprid was applied in-furrow.
Measurements were taken in the current year and the first and second
year after application."
Imidacloprid and its two main metabolites (hydroxy and olefin forms)
were not found in clover flowers and wildflowers, bee collected pollen
and nectar, and uncapped honey. Residues can be measured when they are
at or above the detectable limit of 2 parts per billion.
"Some beekeepers had concerns that metabolites were an even larger
problem than imidacloprid residues, and that's why they were included
in the analysis," explains Kemp.
"You have to feel for members of the agriculture industry like
beekeepers who are going through a problem that's as mysterious as it
can be devastating," says Veldon Sorensen, director of research for
Bayer Inc, makers of Admire. "We're pleased to have done what we could
toward solving one part of this problem, by funding independent
research into whether Admire affects the environment of bees. By all
appearances, it does not, which supports previous research on how
Admire performs in the field."
The study took place during the summer of 2001 in PEI and New
Brunswick. It included sampling and analysis of over 3,800 soil cores,
over 8,000 clover leaves, over 2,000 clover flowers, over 480 grams of
wildflowers and over 6,000 honeybees.
The Imidacloprid Residue Study was funded in part by the governments
of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, with major funding by Bayer
Inc. Additional partners and collaborators in the study included the
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Branch, Cavendish Farms
Research division, Jasper Wyman & Son and the potato growers and
beekeepers of the Maritimes.
For more information:
Jim Kemp
Professor
Department of Biology
University of Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown, PEI
[log in to unmask]
Dick Rogers
Consulting Entomologist
Wildwood Labs Inc
Kentville, Nova Scotia
[log in to unmask]
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