title: A pragmatic approach to assess the exposure of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) when subjected to pesticide spray.
abstract: Plant protection spray treatments may expose non-target organisms to pesticides. In the pesticide registration procedure, the honey bee represents one of the non-target model species for which the risk posed by pesticides must be assessed on the basis of the hazard quotient (HQ). The HQ is defined as the ratio between environmental exposure and toxicity. For the honey bee, the HQ calculation is not consistent because it corresponds to the ratio between the pesticide field rate (in mass of pesticide/ha) and LD50 (in mass of pesticide/bee). Thus, in contrast to all other species, the HQ can only be interpreted empirically because it corresponds to a number of bees/ha. This type of HQ calculation is due to the difficulty in transforming pesticide field rates into doses to which bees are exposed. In this study, we used a pragmatic approach to determine the apparent exposure surface area of honey bees submitted to pesticide treatments by spraying with a Potter-type tower. The doses received by the bees were quantified by very efficient chemical analyses, which enabled us to determine an apparent surface area of 1.05 cm(2)/bee. The apparent surface area was used to calculate the exposure levels of bees submitted to pesticide sprays and then to revisit the HQ ratios with a calculation mode similar to that used for all other living species. X-tomography was used to assess the physical surface area of a bee, which was 3.27 cm(2)/bee, and showed that the apparent exposure surface was not overestimated. The control experiments showed that the toxicity induced by doses calculated with the exposure surface area was similar to that induced by treatments according to the European testing procedure. This new approach to measure risk is more accurate and could become a tool to aid the decision-making process in the risk assessment of pesticides.
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Poquet
authors.affiliation: ANSES, French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety, 27-31 Avenue du Général Leclerc, 94701 Maisons-Alfort, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bodin
authors.affiliation: INRA, UR Ecodéveloppement, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tchamitchian
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, CRIP, National Veterinary School (Oniris), Nantes, France.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fusellier
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, Institut des Sciences Analytiques, UMR5280 CNRS Université Lyon 1, ENS-Lyon, 5 rue de la Doua, 69100 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giroud
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, Institut des Sciences Analytiques, UMR5280 CNRS Université Lyon 1, ENS-Lyon, 5 rue de la Doua, 69100 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Florent
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lafay
authors.affiliation: Université de Lyon, Institut des Sciences Analytiques, UMR5280 CNRS Université Lyon 1, ENS-Lyon, 5 rue de la Doua, 69100 Villeurbanne, France.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buleté
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tchamitchian
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cousin
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pélissier
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.affiliation: INRA, Laboratoire de Toxicologie Environnementale, UR 406 A&E, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon Cedex 9, France.
authors.forename: Luc P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Belzunces
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001830:Body Surface Area / Q000662:veterinary; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides