Brussels, 29/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Very soon after the European Commission decision to suspend three neonicotinoid pesticides which are harmful to bees, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on Tuesday 27 May highlighted the risk of extreme danger to the health of honeybees from another insecticide, Fipronil.
This broad-spectrum insecticide, which belongs to the phenylpyrazole chemical family, presents a high risk to bees when it is used to treat maize seeds, a new EFSA report concludes, the authority having been asked by the European Commission to assess the risks associated with Fipronil, with particular attention to the acute and chronic risks to the survival and development of bee colonies and the effects of sublethal doses on bee mortality and behaviour.
EFSA's pesticide risk assessment experts examined the potential risk to bees from the active substance through a number of exposure routes.
Risk from dust drift: a high risk was identified for maize. For other field crops, including sunflower, full risk assessment could not be completed, so the level of risk from exposure to dust originating from seed drilling could not be established.
Nectar and pollen: due to gaps in the available studies (field and semi-field studies), it was not possible to establish the level of risk to honeybees from the use of Fipronil as a treatment for sunflower and maize seed. However, there was deemed to be a low risk to honeybees from the authorised use of Fipronil on vegetables, as these cannot be foraged for pollen and nectar.
The available data on other potential routes of exposure were also deemed to contain gaps, meaning that they were also insufficient to establish a level of associated risk to bees.
The experts reached their conclusions using the EFSA Scientific Opinion published in 2012 on the science behind the development of guidance for the risk assessment of plant protection products on bees. (AN/transl.fl)