BBKA Forum

Apiarisnt wrote:For a slighly more dispassionate view on neonics, have a look at what Prof Lin Field and team have been doing at Rothamsted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtACFGJ62zU

Thanks for posting this, its well worth a view.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/artic ... ne.0189681
Neonicotinoids were present in about half of the honey samples taken before the moratorium, and they were present in over a fifth of honey samples following the moratorium


Honey samples for vet meds is different I know but interesting none the less.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... _Paper.pdf
(done every 2 months https://www.gov.uk/government/collectio ... ce-results )

It's fair to say that honeybees do well on Rape whether it's treated with neonics or not and beekeepers do not notice any problems. However I believe that research has indicated that bumblebees don't do so well with neonic treated crops. We might assume this to be the case with other pollinators as well.
Of course the lack of bugs means the lack of food for songbirds etc which is also a worry

A few years ago there were lots of concerns about pesticides and chemicals getting into wax. Particularly in the USA as they were hunting for the cause of CCD. However that worry seems to have died down (not CCD of course but nasty wax).
With regard to pesticides, there can be toxic mixes when fungicides are mixed with other treatments - the separate treatments are apparently "OK" in themselves but the manufacturers of them didin't test the mixes that can occur.