Dave Green said "The natural cleansing mechanism for insecticides in honey
is the death of the bee that processes contaminated nectar. This is not true
of contaminated pollen."

Dave Green contributes a great deal of his time and knowledge to this list,
and his thoughts are of significant benefit to beekeepers.  That said, I
personally am convinced by the arguments of those who maintain that much the
same "natural cleansing mechanism" exists for pollen as for honey.  In other
words, if contaminated pollen is collected the hive will perish before the
contamination reaches a level dangerous to humans.

The argument goes something like this:
1. Some insecticides act upon contact, and if pollen is contaminated with
these insecticides they will kill bees before they return to the hive.
2. Other insecticides are formulated to only kill after ingestion, so
contaminated pollen carried in pollen baskets will not kill bees.  However,
when this pollen is mixed with nectar/honey to make "bee bread" for larvae,
it kills the bees and, if fed, kills the larvae as well.  I understand that
this accounts for the large kills from Sevin, resulting in piles of bees
outside the hives, and also for the devastating larvae and bee kills from
pollen contaminated with Penncap-M.

In either of the two instances, the hive will be quickly de-populated and
incapable of collecting pollen.

Obviously, if the pollen contamination will not kill bees on contact it may
result in some amount of contaminated pollen in the pollen trap, before the
hive is decimated and no longer collecting pollen.  This pollen may be eaten
by humans.  I wonder how such amounts may compare with insecticide
contamination humans consume along with vegetable and fruit consumption?

I am told that the FDA, and possibly other organizations, regularly sample
commercial honey for contaminates.  My understanding is that trace amounts
of fluvalinate are found in most such samples, but at levels far below those
established as maximums.  As we all know that honey to be extracted is
frequently from cells also containing pollen, it would seem that if pollen
is contaminated the extracted honey would also contain some small levels.
Apparently those levels are either not measurable or are also far below
maximum tolerance levels.

I am not the author of the above arguments, but they make sense to me.  It
seems to me that if one argues that pollen may be contaminated, that one
must also acknowledge that honey extracted from hives collecting
contaminated pollen must also be contaminated.  If we don't have to worry
about one (extracting and consuming honey), why should we worry about the
other?

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.
www.rossrounds.com