[PDF] ‘Inert’ ingredients are understudied, potentially dangerous to bees and deserve more research attention | Semantic Scholar (2024)

Results show that pesticide co-formulants should not be assumed inert and should instead be included when assessing pesticide risks, and suggest that the trade secret “other ingredients” in the formulation mediated the learning effects, either through exerting their own toxic effects or by increasing the toxicities of the active ingredients.

Recommendations are made to pesticide applicators, product manufacturers, regulatory agencies, and researchers regarding adjuvant toxicity to Honey bees with the goal of reducing risks that adjuvants pose to honey bees and other beneficial insects.

In vitro rearing of stingless bees’ larvae is a useful tool to elucidate the sublethal effects of agrochemicals, and copper sulfate, glyphosate, and spinosad commonly used in crops affected the behavior and gut microbiota of the stingless bee.

Results demonstrate that hydroxy‐capped trisiloxane surfactants can negatively affect queen oviposition and methyl‐capped trisiloxane surfactants cause increased replication of Deformed Wing Virus in workers, suggesting that trisiloxane surfactant use while honey bees are foraging may negatively impact colony longevity and growth.

This work raises awareness to the danger the chronic exposure to high dietary levels of pesticides can pose to the public, especially considering their prolonged effects on the gut microbiome.

In vitro assay systems have shown higher sensitivity to pesticide exposure than the in vivo assay system, and the sensitivity of the in vitro assay Systems increases with the elongation of the chain of conjugated chemoenzymatic reactions.

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It is suggested that gut damage explains the reduction in appetite, weight loss and mortality, with bees dying from energy depletion, and that co-formulants can be more toxic than active ingredients.

Urgent action is needed to lift the veil on the presence of adjuvant in food and human bodily fluids, as well as in the environment, and to characterize their toxicological properties to protect the environment and general human population from some toxic adjuvants that are currently missing from risk assessments.

This mini review is the first to possibly link spray adjuvant use with declining health of honey bee populations and this database archives every application of a spray tank adjUvant with detail that is unprecedented globally.

This review found that most studies have been carried out in Europe and the USA, and investigated effects on honeybees, and certain effects are well represented in the literature in comparison to others, such as sub-lethal effects.

As some surfactants were demonstrated to be toxic to bees in laboratory trials, which suggests they may be toxic when used in the field, they should go through the agrichemical registration process and honey bee warning labels should be included where appropriate.

It is suggested that effects on the individual bee should be linked to both mechanisms at the sub-individual level and also to the consequences for the colony and wider bee populations as bees are increasingly facing multiple interacting pressures.

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