Biocide contamination of honey bees, honey and pollen

Öz

 

Honey is a natural product that is widely used for nutritional purposes. Honey like other foods is prone to various types of contaminations and adulterations. There are two major sources of honey bee pesticide contaminations: 1- Direct application of pesticides in bee hives 2- Environmental contamination which consist of four different pathways: a) Direct contact with crop protection pesticide used in plants and soils or encounter with direct pesticide spray drift. b) Consumption of contaminated pollen and nectar. c) Picking contaminants through tainted water. d) Inhalation of pesticides during daily out hive flight Microbial and nonmicrobial contaminants which include pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, or heavy metals have been reported in various honey samples all over the world. There is a serious harmful effect of pesticide residues on both consumer’s health and honey bees. Pesticide health concern varies from mild skin irritation to birth defects, endocrine disorders, nervous malfunction, even coma and death. More than 150 different pesticides have been recorded in colony samples. The highest rate of contamination belongs to varroacides, which has accumulation effect in bee breeds, beeswax and pollen. The most important persistent organic pollutants are aldrin, heptachlor, chlordane, DDT, endrin, dihedron, hexachlorobenzene, mirex and toxaphene. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are widely used and highly toxic to honey bees, have been found in analyses of honey bee pollen and comb material. Although it’s forbidden to use antibiotics in apiculture, residues of sulphadimidine, tetracyclin and streptomycin are found in 10-15% of honey samples in a study made in our country. In 2000, naphtaline residues have been detected in 32% of the samples taken from honey being exported to the European Union from our country. Several studies have demonstrated the presence of a wide range of pesticides in pollen loads at various concentrations from trace amounts to hundreds of micrograms per kilogram.

 

 

 

Keywords: biocide, honey, honey bee, pesticide

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Biocide contamination of honey bees

Kaynakça

1. Emre Özaslan, Muhsin Akbaba, Hakan Demirhindi çukurova university medicine faculty, public health department, adana