Survey of neonicotinoids and fipronil in corn seeds for agriculture.
Recently, legislative decisions withdrew or temporarily suspended the use of neonicotinoids and fipronil as seeds tanning in many countries because of their endocrine-disrupting activity imputable to the bees' toxicity. In this study, the occurrence of acetamiprid, fipronil, clothianidin, flonicamid, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam was detected in 66 samples of commercial treated corn seeds, collected in the Italian market in the frame of ministerial institutional quality control activity. Because of the lack of a validated analytical protocol for neonicotinoid detection in seeds, a routinely suitable liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) analytical method was developed and statistically validated on fortified corn seeds. Survey results demonstrated that 88% of the investigated seed samples showed the presence of residues of clothianidin, fipronil, thiamethoxam and thiacloprid, either individually or simultaneously, with values that ranged from about 0.002 to 20 mg kg(-1), which evidenced the alarming illicit use of these pesticides in seed treatments.
a Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali (MIPAAF), Dipartimento dell'Ispettorato centrale della tutela della qualità e della repressione frodi dei prodotti agroalimentari (ICQRF), Laboratory of Catania , Catania , Italy.
Leonardo
L
Sabatino
Monica
M
Scordino
Valentina
V
Pantò
Elena
E
Chiappara
Pasqualino
P
Traulo
Giacomo
G
Gagliano
D000383:Agriculture / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000691:Anabasine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000187:drug effects; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D006146:Guanidines / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000032:analysis; D007306:Insecticides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D007558:Italy; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D000073943:Neonicotinoids; D009574:Nitro Compounds / Q000032:analysis; D010078:Oxazines / Q000032:analysis; D010573:Pesticide Residues / Q000032:analysis; D011720:Pyrazoles / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D011725:Pyridines / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D000077922:Thiamethoxam; D013843:Thiazines / Q000032:analysis; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000032:analysis; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry*
D052244:Endocrine Disruptors; D006146:Guanidines; D007093:Imidazoles; D007306:Insecticides; D000073943:Neonicotinoids; D009574:Nitro Compounds; D010078:Oxazines; D010573:Pesticide Residues; D011720:Pyrazoles; D011725:Pyridines; D013843:Thiazines; D013844:Thiazoles; C480342:clothianidin; C464843:nitenpyram; C082359:imidacloprid; C464485:acetamiprid; D000077922:Thiamethoxam; C417209:thiacloprid; D000691:Anabasine; C082360:fipronil
bees; insecticides; mass spectrometry; neonicotinoids; seed treatments