>
> >We were told that the bees would completely metabolize the pesticide, and
> never allow a toxic dose to accumulate.
>

And that appears to be the case.


> >We were told that pest insects did not have the ability to metabolize the
> pesticide, and would die at doses far lower than would harm a bee.
>

I never heard that one.  The entire point of seed treatment is to have a
high dose in the young plant--easily high enough to kill a bee if the bee
were interested in eating that plant tissue.

>
> >But if the result of metabolization is to simply create more molecules,
> each
> which is able to block the same receptors just as easily as the
> un-metabolized pesticide
>

The metabolization does not create *additional* molecules--it can't
multiply, since it's toxicity depends upon a specific binding structure.
IMI degrades into two binding metabolites, but the sum of the two can't be
more than the original concentration, and as far as I understand, do not
exceed the toxicity of the initial dose of the parent compount (anyone
please correct me if I've got this wrong).

>
> Are there any known-harmless metabolites of imidacloprid?
>

Of course.  IMI will eventually be metabolized into CO2, water, and
ammonia.  According to Suchail, only two of the intermediate metabolites
are considered toxic.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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