In message <[log in to unmask]>, Harry Goudie
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>Can anyone tell me what the symptoms are of Flumethrin or Fluvalinate
>poisoning are?  Has there been any reports  of health problems associated
>with any of these products?
>Harry
 
According to the Bayer literature supplied with the product, each
Bayvarol strip contains 3.6 mg of Flumethrin.  Thus the total  amount of
Flumethrin available per treatment of a colony with 4 strips is 14.4 mg.
Now some of this is retained by the bees, some by the (dead) varroa
mites, some goes into the wax, some remains on the used strips and a
very small amount goes into the honey.  However even if I ignore these
amounts, the  dose that a beekeeper could absorb from the total amount
of one treatment must be the 14.4 mg value.
 
In reality the amounts absorbed by beekeepers are are likely to be
considerably less than this, even for the commercial beekeeper.  This
gives some likely values of maximum possible absorbed dose.
 
I have a copy of the unofficial list, compiled by the Veterinary
Medicines Directorate in the UK, of substances under EU Council
Regulation 2377/90. ( This is the EU Directive that is referred to in
the UK Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1729 restricting the substances
that can be used to treat bee diseases) .
 
On this list Tau Fluvalinate is listed in Annex 2 as a substance that is
not subject to maximum residue limits in honey. ( Incidentally,
flumethrin is not listed at all, at least not by that name in the list I
have, which was up to date as of 9th June 1998)
 
It would seem that these Pyrethroid derivative substances are not
officially perceived as a threat to health??
 
As a further comparison, Amitraz, sometimes used as a  substance for the
treatment of varroa, is listed by the EU as a substance that does have
maximum residue limits set, and for honey the MRL is provisionally set
at 200 parts per billion.  Consumption of 20 lbs of honey at this
threshold value would involve the consumption of about 2 mg of Amitraz.
 
( As a further aside relating to the use of Oxytetracyline for the
control of Foul Brood, the EU have set Maximum Residue Limits for this
substance.  There is not a limit set for honey, but the value for milk
is 100 ppb and for eggs 200 ppb, both comparable with the Amitraz values
quoted above.  Has anyone ever established the values obtained in the
honey from bee colonies treated with oxytetracyline?)
 
 
--
Mike Rowbottom
 
 
HARROGATE
North Yorkshire
UK