Honors College Thesis
 

Label communication of acute and residual toxicity to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) on insecticides of high-risk to Oregon hives does not align with federal recommendations

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/r494vr36r

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • BACKGROUND: Training pesticide applicators on how to understand a product’s toxicity to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) by reading the product label is a way of reducing pesticide exposure to bees. Many applicator resources focus on how to interpret the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA’s) recommended language for communicating this toxicity. To effectively educate applicators, it must be determined if labels follow USEPA recommendations in how they communicate toxicity to honey bees, and if not, what patterns exist in these deviations from the recommended language (hereafter, errors). RESULTS: As a case study, the USEPA master labels of insecticides used in 16 high- risk situations to Oregon hives were compiled. Of the 232 labels analyzed, 31.5% had at least one error. The percent of labels with at least one error varied across application situations and chemical subgroups, and between commercial products and garden products. Errors were not limited to one particular high- risk situation or one particular chemical subgroup, and were not exclusive to commercial products or to garden products. The most common error represented a direct contradiction between USEPA language used and toxicity class of product active ingredient. CONCLUSION: Exclusively educating applicators on how to interpret USEPA- recommended language on how to communicate toxicity to honey bees does not fully prepare applicators to interpret the labels they see in the field. Applicator education should incorporate information on how to interpret a label that uses non-USEPA-recommended language to communicate its toxicity to honey bees. Key Words: pest control, environmental impact, insecticide, pest management, toxicology
License
Resource Type
Date Issued
Degree Level
Degree Name
Degree Field
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Advisor
Committee Member
Citation
  • Bucy MT. Label communication of acute and residual toxicity to honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) on insecticides of high- risk to Oregon hives does not align with federal recommendations [undergraduate honors thesis]. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University; 2019
Non-Academic Affiliation
Subject
Rights Statement
Funding Statement (additional comments about funding)
  • Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Continuing Researcher Support Program, GloryBee, Oregon State Beekeepers Association, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) Pollinator Health Fund
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Embargo reason
  • Ongoing Research
Embargo date range
  • 2019-04-24 to 2019-07-02

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details BucyMatthewT2019-2.pdf 2019-05-31 Public Download