Bees, poisoning

Barnett, E.A., Charlton, A.J., and Fletcher, M.R. (2007). Incidents of bee poisoning with pesticides in the United Kingdom, 1994-2003. Pest Management Science 63, 1051-1057. 

The term shock when used in medicine relates to an acute state of general weakness and the restriction of many vital functions. Patients in shock are generally apathetic, their face is sunken and their expression is full of anxiety skin is moist, cold and gray, pulse is rapid and faint, blood pressure is normally low, musculature is lax and superficial blood vessels are empty respiration is superficial, basal metabolism is reduced and urine formation is considerably slower. Shock may be triggered by a variety of causes severe physical injury with excessive loss of blood, surgery or severe psychic trauma in predisposed persons it may also arise as a reaction to exogenous substances such as antibiotics or bee poison. 

Environmental. The A/-methylcarbamates generally are biodegradable and of low soil persistence with half-Hves for carbaryl and aldicarb of 1—2 weeks and of carbofuran of 1—4 months. Certain carbamates are highly toxic to birds with oral LD qS for mallard, eg, pheasant, in mg/kg carbofuran, 0.40, 4.2 mexacarbate, 3.0, 4.5 and methomyl, 16, 15 compared to carbaryl >2000. Fish toxicity of carbamates is generally low, but these compounds are extremely toxic to bees. In cases of human poisoning, atropine is a specific antidote. 

The fate of the patient largely depends on the first 30 min of an anaphylactic shock reaction. Thus persons with a known history of hypersensitivity reactions towards bee or wasp poison should always carry an emergency set during the insect season (see below). 

As pesticides are applied, large numbers of honey bees and wild bees are poisoned resulting in not only a diminished honey crop, but perhaps more important, reduced crop pollination that is vital to agricultural production (51). The estimated yearly cost of reduced pollination and reduced honey production is about 230 million (Pimentel, D., in manuscript). 

The widespread use of economic poisons has a definite impact on the animal complex on the face of the earth which provides our sustenance. Already we have seen the use of DDT for codling moth control on apples result in a relatively minor pest becoming a serious threat. The same material used as a wonder spray for fly control now fails, after a couple years of common usage, with the appearance of new, resistant strains of flies. Bees and other pollinating insects as well as helpful predators or parasites may be decimated and their important aid be lost by untimely or improper use of most of the newer insecticides. 

Anderson, J.W. and W. Glowa. 1984. Insecticidal poisoning of honey bees in Connecticut. Environ. Entomol. 13 70-74. 

Goodwin, R.M. and A. Ten Houten. 1991. Poisoning of honey bees (Apis mellifera) by sodium fluoroacetate (1080). N.Z. Jour. Zool. 18 45-51. 

A honey bee has about 150 4g of poison, but only a small fraction is typically injected. The faster the stinger is removed, the less the response. 

Animal products constitute 20% of homeopathic remedies and are collected from whole animals or their parts. Apis mellifica is prepared from the whole honey bee, Cantharis from the dried powder of the beetle, Cantharis vasicata, Sepia officinalis from the ink gland of the cuttle fish, Lachesis from the venom of the bush master snake and Tarantula hispanica from the poisonous Spanish spider (Cook, 1988). Lac caninum is prepared from dog s milk and Calcarea carbonica from oyster shell. 

Although relatively few insect species produce enough toxin to endanger humans, insects cause more fatal poisonings in the U.S. each year than do all other venomous animals combined. Most venomous insects are from the order Hymenoptera, which includes ants, bees, hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets. These insects deliver their toxins by a stinging mechanism. 

Similar, but less dramatic, symptoms were observed with bees offered 1 pg cystisine/pl. Bees fed 0.1 pg cytisine/pl were affected by cytisine, but immobilization of all 10 treated bees was not attained until 5-6 hours after treatment. The following day, 5 of the 10 bees treated with 1.0 pg had recovered and were maintained alive for 3 days by feeding them aqueous sucrose. While further observations are needed, it is evident that honey bees are susceptible to oral doses of cytisine as low as 1-10 pg. It is interesting to note that narcotic or poisonous nectar is not an isolated phenomenon. Honey bees are also poisoned by the nectar of the karaka tree (Cornyocarpus laevigata J.R. et G. Forst.), which induces weakness and inability to fly, as well as mortality (44). 

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