Neonicotinoides in Estonian honey?

Our PhD student Asko Laaniste carried out an extensive study of neonicotinoides in Estonian honey samples gathered over ten years. One of the studied neonicotinoides, thiacloprid, was identified in several samples. It was observed that the fraction of samples containing thiacloprid increased from year to year, reaching up to 60% in samples form 2012. At the same time also the amount of thiaclopride imported to Estonia has increased from year to year. Our stability test showed that thiacloprid is persistent in honey and it can be assumed that these results are not influenced by the decomposition of analyte within years.

Geographical distribution of collected honey samples in Estonian counties is shown bellow. In the brackets the total number of samples acquired from corresponding region is shown (over years). The percentage shows the number of samples containing thiacloprid.

For more see DOI: 10.1080/03601234.2016.1159457