Several of us have mentioned that all the attention on neonics may be distracting us from a far more serious problem: Fungicides are the most abundant and common of the plant protection products found in bees and bee products because fungicides can be applied during bloom when bees are present. While fungicides generally appear safe for adult bees, these compounds may, in certain situations, produce harmful effects. For instance chlorothalonil (Bravo), the most commonly detected fungicide in bees and bee products, was found in "entombed pollen" in colonies suffering from colony collapse disorder Pre-treatment of bees with the fungicide chlorothalonil increased the toxicity of both thymol and tau-fluvalinate. The actual exposure bees receive to formulated acaricides, sequestered acaricides in beeswax, and fungicide applications in agriculture need to be quantified to accurately assess the risk posed by interactions. Johnson, R. M., Dahlgren, L., Siegfried, B. D., & Ellis, M. D. (2013). Acaricide, Fungicide and Drug Interactions in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera). PloS one, 8(1), e54092. *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html