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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • March 5, 2002
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ISLAND
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| Beekeepers'
plight not caused by Admire: study Natalie King natalieok@hotmail.com Admire, a pesticide widely used on Island farms, shouldn't be causing problems for Island beekeepers because it is only present in trace amounts a year or more after application, a recent study has found. Dr. James Kemp, a botanist and UPEI professor conducted the study. He said the findings are accurate, although what they mean is up to interpretation. "Just from the information we have it's extremely unlikely that it was creating a problem." Kemp said. "That's not to say that it didn't." He said the provincial government commissioned the study to find out how much Admire is still present one to three years after application, and they found only low levels. Kemp said many of the results had less than measurable levels and anything beyond that will have to be found with more study. The study used fields in P.E.I. and a few in New Brunswick, with a variety of crops and took samples from July to September 2001. Some soil, runoff water and plant leaf samples found traces of Admire Ñ the pesticide Imidocloprid Ñ in very small amounts, but samples of nectar and pollen from bees, and clover flowers found no trace of Admire. "Ten of the clover fields out of 10 had Imidocloprid in the soil. In the runoffs we had one field out of the 7 had a very low level of imidocloprid," said Kemp. "The main things were the flower samples because that's where the bees were going of course, and (samples of) the nectar, pollen and honey were all below the detectable limit of two parts per billion." Kemp said finding no Admire doesn't necessarily mean it's not present, but the independent lab used for the study can only measure down to an amount of about two drops in 500 barrels, so whatever Admire they can't find would be a very small amount. Kemp said a small amount may or may not make a difference and he would like to study some other possibilities for the illness some beekeepers have been finding in their hives. Dick Rogers, an entomologist hired to help with the study said diagnosing illness in bees is possible, but a little tricky. "Stressed colonies exhibit disease behaviours," Rogers said. "Their population can fluctuate up and down. (Or it can be the more subtle things) like bees might not take care of the brood quite as well or they might not feed each other quite as well, or they might not forage quite as aggressively." Rogers said the feeding habits of bees are also a problem for a study, because they can fly up to two kilometres away from the hive to feed and bring back contamination from other fields. Kemp said the results won't be applicable for every beekeeper because only some hives were troubled. "There are beekeepers on the Island that have hives relatively close together and one will have problems with their hives and the other will have no problems with their hives," said Kemp. Al Picketts, one of the Island beekeepers who was pushing for the study said it doesn't really give an accurate picture because last summer was much drier than usual. "I'm not discouraged by the findings at all. In fact, I'm almost encouraged by them, because I wasn't seeing the same effect in the bees last year as the year before either." Picketts said the study hasn't convinced him of anything, and Admire isn't off the hook for his bee problems as far as he is concerned. "I also don't think they are looking in the right places for the chemical." Picketts said. "They should be looking for an accumulation of the chemical in the beeswax and to date they haven't looked there."  FREE FOTO.COM PHOTO Some Island beekeepers believe the pesticide Admire is causing health problems in their hives, but a UPEI botanist and an entomologist have found no evidence to support their claims. |
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