> By 2010 we finally saw the DDT complex more or 
> less disappear from beehives (although I imagine 
> one can still find it in localized areas of the US).

We had one case where we stumbled over DDT and its breakdown products in a
single pesticide screening sample from Brooklyn, NY.
(At the time, we were verifying that a clear and widespread bee-kill was
exactly what we thought it was, some grandma who did a ground-drench on her
prized late-blooming roses with undiluted Imidacloprid that should have been
diluted.  The label is the law, but grandma needed new glasses...)

Anyway, so here we have this one hive's samples that showed solid "N.Ds"s
("not detected" - yes, some places are pesticide and herbicide-free), the
same single ground-drench pesticide hit as the other hives, and DDT, DDD,
and DDE, the 2nd and 3rd being breakdown products of DDT.  Yep, DDT.  DDT?
WTF?

But the hive had not taken a big hit at all in terms of visible mortality.
It turns out that bees can tolerate even a massive DDT load with no problem.
It was just the scare factor of the possible impact on a honey crop, as no
one had pulled their basswood harvests at that point.

We actually found the DDT itself!
Drew a 1 mile circle around the hive with the detection, and asked "who has
the nicest lawn and garden in the area?"  3 candidates emerged, and speaking
with the homeowners, we found that only one had a hired gardener, and were
not sure what was used.  He was from China, and had asked a friend or
relative to mail him a very effective product that he had used in China with
good success.  After all, he wanted to make his clients happy.  He realized
the problem, and took the can down to the firehouse for proper haz-mat
disposal.   We never found the grandma who did the ground drench.  Too many
people with well-cared-for late-blooming roses within flight range of the
affective hives, which is such a good thing for a beekeeper, he goes out and
buys pollen traps.

But that was the first time I ever experienced a physical frisson of
adrenaline rush from a set of lab results.

That said, in the battle against malaria, DDT is still a very effective
tool, far less costly and error-prone than bednets and other passive
approaches.
It was over-use that was causing the problems with bird eggs.

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