Peter said> I haven't found where anyone has ever measured glyphosate levels in nectar or shown that it ever winds up in the honey bee food sources. In fact, it was declared to be a non-issue, because ingestion is so unlikely.


Thanks, Peter, very entertaining post and there's also a warning in the offing. It's my prediction that glyphosate is destined to become the next poster-child chemical that falls victim to the belief that all things chemical are bad and must be banned. In those emotional rants, no amount of objective facts to the contrary will suffice to win the day- it will require a ritual sacrifice to restore the purity of those Elysian wheat fields before the masses are appeased. We are, as far as I can tell, in a great leap backward.  

As far as measurements go check out this study. 

>Samples of honeybee products (nectar and pollen) and larvae
were analyzed for residues of glyphosate acid equivalents.
Glyphosate residues in nectar samples taken from forager bees
before the application were not detectable (<0.3 mg a.e./kg).
Residues in nectar samples taken at various time points after the
application and originating from forager honeybees ranged
from 2.78 to 31.3 mg a.e./kg and declined over time.

Evaluating Exposure and Potential Effects on Honeybee Brood (Apis mellifera) Development Using Glyphosate
as an Example

Helen M Thompson, Steven L Levine, Janine Doering, Steve Norman, Philip Manson,
Peter Sutton, and Georg von Mérey 

https://setac.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ieam.1529

Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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