Considerable advances have occurred in recent years in the scientific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, the mechanisms underlying these benefits, and in the clinical management of breastfeeding. This policy statement on breastfeeding replaces the 1997 policy statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics and reflects this newer knowledge and the supporting publications. The benefits of breastfeeding for the infant, the mother, and the community are summarized, and recommendations to guide the pediatrician and other health care professionals in assisting mothers in the initiation and maintenance of breastfeeding for healthy term infants and high-risk infants are presented. The policy statement delineates various ways in which pediatricians can promote, protect, and support breastfeeding not only in their individual practices but also in the hospital, medical school, community, and nation.

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Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk

Background: Recent declines in honey bees for crop pollination threaten fruit, nut, vegetable and seed production in the United States. A broad survey of pesticide residues was conducted on samples from migratory and other beekeepers across 23 states, one Canadian province and several agricultural cropping systems during the 2007–08 growing seasons. Methodology/Principal Findings: We have used LC/MS-MS and GC/MS to analyze bees and hive matrices for pesticide residues utilizing a modified QuEChERS method. We have found 121 different pesticides and metabolites within 887 wax, pollen, bee and associated hive samples. Almost 60% of the 259 wax and 350 pollen samples contained at least one systemic pesticide, and over 47% had both in-hive acaricides fluvalinate and coumaphos, and chlorothalonil, a widely-used fungicide. In bee pollen were found chlorothalonil at levels up to 99 ppm and the insecticides aldicarb, carbaryl, chlorpyrifos and imidacloprid, fungicides boscalid, captan and myclobutanil, and herbicide pendimethalin at 1 ppm levels. Almost all comb and foundation wax samples (98%) were contaminated with up to 204 and 94 ppm, respectively, of fluvalinate and coumaphos, and lower amounts of amitraz degradates and chlorothalonil, with an average of 6 pesticide detections per sample and a high of 39. There were fewer pesticides found in adults and brood except for those linked with bee kills by permethrin (20 ppm) and fipronil (3.1 ppm). Conclusions/Significance: The 98 pesticides and metabolites detected in mixtures up to 214 ppm in bee pollen alone represents a remarkably high level for toxicants in the brood and adult food of this primary pollinator. This represents over half of the maximum individual pesticide incidences ever reported for apiaries. While exposure to many of these neurotoxicants elicits acute and sublethal reductions in honey bee fitness, the effects of these materials in combinations and their direct association with CCD or declining bee health remains to be determined.

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High levels of miticides and agrochemicals in North American apiaries: implications for honey bee health.

Comparison of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents: a review of the environmental impacts.

Les sources de contamination des produits du rucher peuvent provenir soit de l'environnement, soit des pratiques apicoles (Fig. 1). La premiere partie de cette revue de synthese decrit les principaux contaminants d'origine environnementale : les metaux lourds, tels le cadmium, le plomb et le mercure, les isotopes radioactifs, les polluants organiques tels les biphenyles polycycliques, les pesticides (insecticides, fongicides, herbicides et bactericides), les bacteries pathogenes et le materiel genetiquement modifie. La contamination par le plomb et le cadmium, trouvee par divers auteurs, est resumee dans le tableau I. Le tableau II presente la contamination des abeilles, du pollen et du miel par les pesticides, d'apres l'article de Fleche et al. ( 1997). La pertinence des risques possibles de contamination est discutee pour chacun des contaminants, de meme que le role du miel et des autres produits du rucher comme marqueurs de l'environnement. De tous les contaminants issus de l'environnement, les pesticides sont les plus importants pour la contamination du miel et du pollen, tandis que le plomb compromet la qualite de la propolis. Dans la seconde partie on discute des divers contaminants issus des pratiques apicoles. Des acaricides de synthese lipophyles et persistants sont utilises dans de nombreux pays contre l'acarien Varroa destructor. Les acaricides les plus utilises sont presentes dans le tableau III avec leur limite maximale de residu. Ces substances polluent principalement la cire d'abeille, alors que le miel est relativement peu touche (Tab. IV). Des acaricides non toxiques tels que les acides organiques et les composes d'huiles essentielles (thymol par ex.) ne compromettent pas la qualite du miel. Les taux trouves dans le miel sont faibles et sans danger, mais ne compromettent pas la qualite du miel alors que ceux trouves dans la cire d'abeille sont bien plus eleves (Tab. V). Les antibiotiques utilises contre la loque americaine et la loque europeenne sont aujourd'hui une source importante de contamination du miel. Divers antibiotiques, appartenant a 7 classes differentes, sont actuellement detectes dans le miel (Tab. VI) : sulfonamides, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, amphenicols, macrolides, beta-lactams et les metabolites du nitrofurane. Actuellement on trouve principalement a l'echelle mondiale des tetracyclines, de la steptomycine, des sulfonamides et du chloramphenicol. L'apiculture fournit aussi d'autres contaminants : le para dichlorobenzene, utilise contre la fausse-teigne, des insecticides (par ex. le coumaphos) contre le Petit Coleoptere des ruches, des repulsifs utilises lors de la recolte du miel, des pesticides, pour proteger le bois, et des substances qui diffusent dans le miel a partir des futs. Les contaminants les plus importants pour les produits du rucher et qui proviennent des pratiques apicoles sont les antibiotiques pour le miel et les acaricides pour la cire et le pollen. Les niveaux de residus trouves dans les produits du rucher ne presentent en general pas de risques pour les consommateurs, mais alterent l'image des produits du rucher comme produits naturels et sains. La conclusion de la synthese est que les contaminants issus des pratiques apicoles sont actuellement plus importants pour la qualite des produits du rucher que ceux issus de l'environnement.

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Contaminants of bee products

Until 1985 discussions of pesticides and honey bee toxicity in the USA were focused on pesticides applied to crops and the unintentional exposure of foraging bees to them. The recent introduction of arthropod pests of honey bees, Acarapis woodi (1984), Varroa destructor (1987), and Aethina tumida (1997), to the USA have resulted in the intentional introduction of pesticides into beehives to suppress these pests. Both the unintentional and the intentional exposure of honey bees to pesticides have resulted in residues in hive products, especially beeswax. This review examines pesticides applied to crops, pesticides used in apiculture and pesticide residues in hive products. We discuss the role that pesticides and their residues in hive products may play in colony collapse disorder and other colony problems. Although no single pesticide has been shown to cause colony collapse disorder, the additive and synergistic effects of multiple pesticide exposures may contribute to declining honey bee health.

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Pesticides and honey bee toxicity – USA

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroambientali, University of Bologna, Via Filippo Re, 6 40126 Bologna (Italy). Tel. +39 051 2091556; Fax +39 051 251052; E-mail: cporrini@entom.agrsci.unibo.it 2 Istituto Nazionale di Apicoltura, Via di Saliceto, 80 40128 Bologna (Italy). Tel. +39 051 2091556; Fax +39 051 251052; E-mail: istnapic@inapicoltura.org Istituto di Scienze Chimiche, University of Bologna, Via S. Donato, 15 40127 Bologna (Italy). Tel.+39 051 242052; Fax +39 051 249770; E-mail : girotti@biocfarm.unibo.it

Honey bees and bee products as monitors of the environmental contamination

Use of honey bees as bioindicators of environmental pollution in Italy.

Samples of honeybees (Apis mellifera, n = 92) from 14 beehive monitoring stations located in 3 townships in the province of Bologna were analyzed from April to October 2000. The concentration of 32 organophosphorus pesticides and 5 carbamates was determined through liquid-liquid extraction followed by gas chromatography with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry using atmospheric pressure chemical ionization in positive and negative ion modes. The most contaminated samples were from Granarolo Emilia where cereals (wheat, sorghum, and corn), sugar beets, and potatoes are the main agriculture products. Thirty-five pesticides were detected, with organophosphorus being the most abundant ones. Malathion was detected in 58% of the samples (mean level 0.360 mg/kg) followed by fenithrothion in 53% of the samples (mean level 0.544 mg/kg) and pirimiphos methyl in 48% of the samples (mean level 0.006 mg/kg). Temporal trends showed that the maximum detection frequency occurred in late spring and was associated with the use of treatment products and less rainfall. The obtained results demonstrated the feasibility of using honeybees for assessing pesticide exposure in agriculture settings.

Occurrence and distribution of pesticides in the province of Bologna, Italy, using honeybees as bioindicators.

Application of matrix solid phase dispersion to the determination of imidacloprid, carbaryl, aldicarb, and their main metabolites in honeybees by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry detection

Severino Ghini

Papers

Honey bees and bee products as monitors of the environmental contamination

Use of honey bees as bioindicators of environmental pollution in Italy.

Occurrence and distribution of pesticides in the province of Bologna, Italy, using honeybees as bioindicators.

Application of matrix solid phase dispersion to the determination of imidacloprid, carbaryl, aldicarb, and their main metabolites in honeybees by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry detection

Multiresidual method for the gas chromatographic analysis of pesticides in honeybees cleaned by gel permeation chromatography.