I am aware that imidacloprid is being reviewed for re-registration and
would like to make comments on behalf of consumers in the state of
Florida and the Florida pest management industry. I have been a
professor at the University of Florida for 34 years, and have advised
both consumers and the pest control industry on techniques and
products to control household and structural pests. About 1/3 of urban
pest control in the United States occurs in our state. Imidacloprid is
an important and effective insecticide that is available for termite
control, is a highly effective product for ant control, and is an
important active ingredient in baits for flies and cockroaches to
prevent the development of resistance.
Before the approval of imidacloprid, Florida homeowners were
experiencing widespread failure with the use of repellent
termiticides. We documented that 25% of newly built houses in northern
Florida were infested with termites within 5 years. When imidacloprid
was used to treat houses, the rate of failures dropped to less than
0.75%. Retreatments with imidacloprid are hardly ever done; whereas,
repellent termiticides have much higher failure rates, have to be
applied repeatedly, and consequently end up using hundreds of more
gallons of insecticide applied per house. Because imidacloprid has the
lowest application rates and rarely has to be reapplied, environmental
loading of the soil underneath and around the house with insecticide
is extremely low.
Cockroaches, especially flies and German cockroaches, are known to
develop resistance to insecticides. Imidacloprid baits are a viable
product in an IPM program of rotation of insecticide groups in order
to delay the onset of resistance. In fact, imidacloprid bait is one of
the few active ingredients with an NSN number for use by our deployed
fighters in the military for fly control in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These registrations are essential to protect the health and morale of
our deployed troops.
In summary, imidacloprid has been an effective active ingredient for
control of many household and structural pests. It has a proven record
of safety in Florida and is preferred by pest control operators. If
you have any questions about imidacloprid and the need for its
continued availability in Florida, please feel free to contact me at
any time (352-392-2484 or [log in to unmask]).
Sincerely,
Philip G. Koehler
Margie & Dempsey Sapp Endowed Professor of Urban Entomology
University of Florida
* * *
from France:
In 2002, a field survey was initiated on French apiaries to monitor
weakness of honey bee, Apis mellifera L., colonies. Apiaries were
evenly distributed in five sites located on continental France. Five
colonies were randomly selected in each apiary, leading to a total of
125 studied honey bee colonies. For 3 yr (starting in autumn 2002),
colonies were visited four times per year: after winter, before
summer, during summer, and before winter.
Pollen loads from traps were collected at each visit. Multiresidue
analyses were performed in pollen to search residues of 36 different
molecules. Specific analyses were conducted to search fipronil and
metabolites and also imidacloprid and metabolites. Residues of 19
searched compounds were found in samples. Contamination by pesticides
ranged from 50 to 0%.
Coumaphos and tau-fluvalinate residues were the most concentrated of
all residues (mean concentrations were 925.0 and 487.2 ìg/kg,
respectively). Imidacloprid contents were quantified in 11 samples
with values ranging from 1.1 to 5.7 ìg/kg,
[up to 900 times as much coumaphos as IMD. Coumaphos was never
officially approved for use in hives, being a Section 18 exemption]
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