The 1996 Food Quality Protection Act mandates calculation of aggregate pesticide exposure, including dietary and non-food residues, for chemicals sharing a toxicity mechanism to assess exposure risks; filling the �risk cup� requires risk reduction before adding another pesticide. This concept may be applicable for eusocial beneficial insects, including Apis mellifera, the western honey bee.  The size and perennial nature of  honeybee colonies necessitate collecting pollen and nectar from a broad diversity of flower species; moreover, workers also visit other environmental features to collect water for colony thermoregulation and plant resins for propolis production. If and how bees discriminate against food containing both natural and synthetic contaminants are questions that, with rising use of systemics, have become pressing of late. Understanding how discriminatory behavior relates to detoxification ability has implications for risk assessment, and, ultimately, for implementation of sustainable pollinator management practices.

Does the honey bee �risk cup� runneth over? Estimating aggregate exposures for assessing pesticide risks to honey bees in agroecosystems

248th National Meeting (2014)

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