Thanks, Ghislain!  Please allow me to address the points made by Janine.

>“In fact, in your protocol, there is a difference from the real situation:
> the pollen will be contaminated from the outside and not the inside. This
> causes a difference in how the bee is exposed


Exactly!  This will help to address Stan's question as to whether the bees
will be exposed as a contact insecticide, and also ensure that they are
exposed to the full dose, as exposure will not depend upon the complete
digestion of every pollen grain.


> >Jean-Marc Bonmatin(*),
> Research Fellow at CNRS/France, in his presentations always insists on the
> need to grind the grain to remove the contaminant


This is necessary only when one is trying to determine the total systemic
pesticide content of the pollen grains and would have no bearing in my
proposed trial.

>I also doubt if the amount of pollen (one pound) is sufficient for a colony
> in the winter?


The pound was not the sole nutritional source--it is an amount that I have
determined that a colony will consume each week during this period.


> >It would also be necessary to monitor the quantities of
> pollen already present in the colonies before starting the test.


This is not a nutrition trial--it is a pesticide exposure trial.

>
> >Definitely not easy to mount such tests!
>

I am completely in agreement!

From the abstract: "The averaged level of imidacloprid in pollen was 2-3
ng/g,
which is 20-30 times higher than the concentration inducing significant
mortality by chronic intoxication."

This assumption is highly questionable, which is why I plan to run this
trial at an even higher concentration (of clothianidin, not Imd).

Bob Harrison, where are you?

Randy Oliver

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