Centre for Ecology, Evolution & Behaviour, Department of Biological Sciences, School of Life Sciences and the Environment, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 5;11(1):21653. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-00919-x.
Pollinators, particularly wild bees, are suffering declines across the globe, and pesticides are thought to be drivers of these declines. Research into, and regulation of pesticides has focused on the active ingredients, and their impact on bee health. In contrast, the additional components in pesticide formulations have been overlooked as potential threats. By testing an acute oral dose of the fungicide product Amistar, and equivalent doses of each individual co-formulant, we were able to measure the toxicity of the formulation and identify the ingredient responsible. We found that a co-formulant, alcohol ethoxylates, caused a range of damage to bumble bee health. Exposure to alcohol ethoxylates caused 30% mortality and a range of sublethal effects. Alcohol ethoxylates treated bees consumed half as much sucrose as negative control bees over the course of the experiment and lost weight. Alcohol ethoxylates treated bees had significant melanisation of their midguts, evidence of gut damage. We suggest that this gut damage explains the reduction in appetite, weight loss and mortality, with bees dying from energy depletion. Our results demonstrate that sublethal impacts of pesticide formulations need to be considered during regulatory consideration, and that co-formulants can be more toxic than active ingredients.
传粉媒介，尤其是野生蜜蜂，在全球范围内数量不断减少，而杀虫剂被认为是导致这种减少的原因之一。对杀虫剂的研究和监管主要集中在活性成分及其对蜜蜂健康的影响上。相比之下，农药配方中的其他成分作为潜在威胁被忽视了。通过测试杀菌剂产品阿米斯达的急性口服剂量和每个单独共溶剂的等效剂量，我们能够测量配方的毒性并确定负责的成分。我们发现一种共溶剂，乙氧基醇，对大黄蜂的健康造成了一系列损害。接触乙氧基醇导致 30%的死亡率和一系列亚致死效应。在实验过程中，用乙氧基醇处理的蜜蜂消耗的蔗糖量是阴性对照组蜜蜂的一半，体重也减轻了。用乙氧基醇处理的蜜蜂的中肠有明显的黑化现象，这表明肠道受损。我们认为这种肠道损伤解释了食欲下降、体重减轻和死亡率的原因，蜜蜂因能量耗尽而死亡。我们的研究结果表明，在监管考虑中需要考虑农药配方的亚致死影响，并且共溶剂可能比活性成分更具毒性。
