A new method to assess the acute toxicity toward honeybees of the abrasion particles generated from seeds coated with insecticides

Abstract Background Large amounts of insecticide-containing dusts produced from abrasion of the seed dressing can be released into the atmosphere during sowing operations. Neonicotinoid pesticides, introduced in the 1990s for several crops, are the leading products for seed-coating treatments in many countries. Neonicotinoid containing dusts can be effectively intercepted by bees in flight over the sowing field, inducing lethal acute effects, so that restrictions in the use of the main neonicotinoids have been adopted in the European Union. This led to the consequent introduction of replacement insecticides for seed-coating, i.e. methiocarb and thiacloprid, despite the lack of information on both the toxicity and the exposure scenarios for honeybees. Results In this study, a laboratory apparatus was developed in order to quantify the toxicity of the dusts produced from the abrasion of the seed coating. This quantification is based on (i) an airstream transporting coating particles into an exposure chamber; (ii) exposure of bees to reproducible and measurable concentrations of insecticide, and (iii) direct measurement of the exposure dose on single bees. The method allowed us to perform in vivo experiments of honeybee exposure to provide toxicity data in more realistic exposure conditions. In fact, the formulation rather than the active principle alone can be tested, and the exposure is through dusts rather than a solution so that specific absorption behavior can be studied in representative environmental conditions. The method was used to quantify the acute toxicity (LD50) of dusts obtained from the abrasion of corn seeds coated with clothianidin, thiacloprid and methiocarb. Conclusions Our results show that, surprisingly, the replacement insecticide methiocarb has a toxicity (LD50 = 421–693 ng/bee) in the same order of magnitude as clothianidin (LD50 = 113–451 ng/bee) through this specific exposure route, while thiacloprid (LD50 = 16.9·103 ng/bee) has a significantly lower acute toxicity. Moreover, dusts containing methiocarb and clothianidin show a significant increase in toxicity when, after exposure, bees are kept under high humidity conditions. This suggests that the method here presented can be used to obtain complementary toxicity data in the risk assessment procedure for the authorization of new seed-coating insecticides or new formulations.