Potential risk of residues from neonicotinoid-treated sugar beet in flowering weeds to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

Since the EU banned the three neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid, clothianidin (CLO) and thiamethoxam (TMX) in 2018, they can still be used if an EU Member State issues an emergency approval. Such an approval went into effect in 2021 for TMX-coated sugar beet seeds in Germany. Usually, this crop is harvested before flowering without exposing non-target organisms to the active ingredient or its metabolites. With the approval, strict mitigation measures were imposed by the EU and the German federal states in addition. One of the measures was to monitor the drilling of sugar beet and its impact on the environment. Hence, we took residue samples from different bee and plant matrices and at different dates to fully map beet growth in the German states of Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. A total of four treated and three untreated plots were surveyed, resulting in 189 samples. Residue data were evaluated using the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) BeeREX model to assess acute and chronic risk to honey bees from the samples, since oral toxicity data are widely available for both TMX and CLO. Within treated plots, we found no residues neither in pools of nectar and honey crop samples (n=24) nor dead bee samples (n=21). Although 13% of beebread and pollen samples and 88% of weed and sugar beet shoot samples were positive, the BeeREX model found no evidence of acute or chronic risk. We also detected neonicotinoid residues in the nesting material of the solitary bee Osmia bicornis, probably from contaminated soil of a treated plot. All control plots were free of residues. Currently, there are insufficient data on wild bee species to allow for an individual risk assessment. In the future use of these highly potent insecticides, therefore, it must be ensured that all regulatory requirements are complied with to mitigate any unintentional exposure. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Environ Toxicol Chem 2023;00:0-0. © 2023 SETAC.