> While honey bees are unquestionably exposed to various pesticides, statements about honeybees serving as environmental indicators owing to their ‘extreme susceptibility’, or honey bees being particularly sensitive to insecticides because they have lower total numbers of cytochrome P450s than other insects, are often made with no citations given.

> Based on the available literature using adult topical bioassay data, it was found that, in general, honey bees were no more sensitive to insecticides than other insect species. While it is true that honey bees can be particularly sensitive to individual insecticides, it is not the case that they are among the most sensitive species to all insecticides. This suggests that, even though honey bees have a lower number of cytochrome P450 genes, this does not reflect a greater sensitivity to insecticides. Conversely, bumble bees tended to be less sensitive than the honey bee to various compounds across the insecticide classes.

> The economic and agricultural impact of honey bees (and other wild bees) is enormous. While they do not appear to be uniquely sensitive to insecticides as a species, all pesticides are toxic and should be used in a way that minimizes honey bee exposure, so as to minimize declines in the number of foragers and/or honey contamination.

Is Apis mellifera more sensitive to insecticides than other insects?
Melissa C Hardstone and Jeffrey G Scott
Published online in Wiley Online Library: 29 July 2010

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