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Subject:
From:
Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 12:02:08 -0400
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Hi all
Hive monitoring is of course a good idea. More the better. However, the real problem is that pesticides are now everywhere and in everything. That's just how it is. There is a reason why organic farming is based on best management practices and not testing of the product. 

> In a Belgian pilot study honey bee wax combs from ten hives were analyzed on the presence of almost 300 organochlorine and organophosphorous compounds by LC–MS/MS and GC–MS/MS. Traces of 18 pesticides were found and not a single sample was free of residues. The number of residues found per sample ranged from 3 to 13, and the pesticides found could be categorized as (1) pesticides for solely apicultural (veterinary) application, (2) pesticides for solely agricultural (crop protection) application, (3) pesticides for mixed agricultural and apicultural (veterinary) application. 

> The frequencies and quantities of some environmental pollutants bear us high concerns. Most alarming was the detection of lindane (gamma-HCH) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (including its breakdown product dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene), two insecticides that are banned in Europe. The present comprehensive residue analysis, however, also reveals residues of pesticides never found in beeswax before, i.e. DEET, propargite and bromophos.

> Just like two other Belgian studies we failed to find traces of neonicotinoids in beeswax (Nguyen et al. 2009; Simon-Delso et al. 2014). 

Ravoet, J., Reybroeck, W., & de Graaf, D. C. (2015). Pesticides for Apicultural and/or Agricultural Application Found in Belgian Honey Bee Wax Combs. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 1-6.

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