{{Short description|none}} {{good article}} [[File:Xylocopa 9789.JPG|thumb|250px|A male ''Xylocopa virginica'' (Eastern Carpenter bee) on Redbud (''Cercis canadensis'')]]
Bees can suffer serious effects from toxic chemicals in their environments. These include various synthetic chemicals, particularly insecticides, as well as a variety of naturally occurring chemicals from plants, such as ethanol resulting from the fermentation of organic materials. Bee intoxication can result from exposure to ethanol from fermented nectar, ripe fruits, and manmade and natural chemicals in the environment.
The effects of alcohol on bees are sufficiently similar to the effects of alcohol on humans that honey bees have been used as models of human ethanol intoxication. The metabolism of bees and humans is sufficiently different that bees can safely collect nectars from plants that contain compounds toxic to humans. The honey produced by bees from these toxic nectars can be poisonous if consumed by humans. In addition, natural processes can introduce toxic substances into honey produced from nontoxic nectar.
== Ethanol ==
=== Effects of intoxication ===
[[File:Bee1web.jpg|left|thumb|Bee showing its proboscis ]]
The introduction of certain chemical substances—such as ethanol or pesticides or defensive toxic biochemicals produced by plants—to a bee's environment can cause the bee to display abnormal or unusual behavior and disorientation. In sufficient quantities, such chemicals can poison and even kill the bee. The effects of alcohol on bees have long been recognized. For example, John Cumming described the effect in an 1864 publication on beekeeping.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Cumming |title=Bee-keeping, by 'The Times' bee-master |year=1864 |url=https://archive.org/details/beekeepingbytim00cummgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/beekeepingbytim00cummgoog/page/n168 144] |quote=bee intoxication. }}</ref>
When bees become intoxicated from ethanol consumption or poisoned with other chemicals, their balance is affected. Charles Abramson's group at Oklahoma State University has put inebriated bees on running wheels, where they exhibit locomotion difficulties. They also put honey bees in shuttle-boxes that used a stimulus to encourage the bees to move, and found that they were less mobile as they became more intoxicated.<ref name=Abramson/>
An intoxicated bee often extends its proboscis. Inebriated bees spend more time flying. If a bee is sufficiently intoxicated, it becomes unable to walk. Inebriated bees typically have many more flying accidents. Some bees that consume ethanol become too inebriated to find their way back to the hive, and die as a result.<ref name=Abramson/> Bozic et al. (2006) found that alcohol consumption by honeybees disrupts foraging and social behaviors, and has some similar effects to poisoning with insecticides.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bozic |first1=Janko |last2=Abramson |first2=Charles I. |last3=Bedencic |first3=Mateja |title=Reduced ability of ethanol drinkers for social communication in honeybees (Apis mellifera carnica Poll.) |journal=Alcohol |date=April 2006 |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=179–183 |doi=10.1016/j.alcohol.2006.01.005 |pmid=16905444 }}</ref> Some bees become more aggressive after consuming alcohol.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Abramson |first=Charles I. |last2=Place |first2=Aaron J. |last3=Aquino |first3=Italo S. |last4=Fernandez |first4=Andrea |title=Development of an ethanol model using social insects: IV. Influence of ethanol on the aggression of Africanized honey bees (''Apis mellifera L.'') |journal=Psychology Reports |volume=94 |issue=3 Pt 2 |pages=1107–1115 |date=June 2004 |pmid=15362379 |doi=10.2466/pr0.94.3c.1107-1115 |s2cid=24341827 }}</ref>
Exposure to alcohol can have a prolonged effect on bees, lasting as long as 48 hours.<ref name=Beer>[http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art28240.asp ''Happy Hour Bees, Mythology and Mead''], Carolyn Smagalski, BellaOnline, The Voice of Women, 2007 describes a prolonged effect from ethanol consumption by honey bees as similar to a "hangover".</ref> This phenomenon is also observed in fruit flies<ref>Ulrike Heberlein's group at University of California, San Francisco has used fruit flies as models of human inebriation and even identified genes that seem to be responsible for alcohol tolerance accumulation (believed to be associated with veisalgia, or hangover), and produced genetically engineered strains that do not develop alcohol tolerance<br/>{{cite journal |last=Moore |first=Monica S. |last2=DeZazzo |first2=Jim |last3=Luk |first3=Alvin Y. |last4=Tully |first4=Tim |last5=Singh |first5=Carol M. |last6=Heberlein |first6=Ulrike |title=Ethanol Intoxication in Drosophila: Genetic and Pharmacological Evidence for Regulation by the cAMP Signaling Pathway |journal=Cell |volume=93 |issue=6 |year=1998 |doi=10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81205-2 |doi-access=free |pages=997–1007}}<br />{{cite journal |last=Tecott |first=Laurence H. |last2=Heberlein |first2=Ulrike |title=Y Do We Drink? |journal=Cell |volume=95 |issue=6 |year=1998 |issn=0092-8674 |doi=10.1016/s0092-8674(00)81695-5 |doi-access=free |pages=733–735}}</ref> and is connected to the neurotransmitter octopamine in fruit flies, which is also present in bees.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Degen |first=Joern |last2=Gewecke |first2=Michael |last3=Roeder |first3=Thomas |title=Octopamine receptors in the honey bee and locust nervous system: pharmacological similarities between homologous receptors of distantly related species |journal=British Journal of Pharmacology |publisher=Wiley |volume=130 |issue=3 |year=2000 |issn=0007-1188 |doi=10.1038/sj.bjp.0703338 |doi-access=free |pages=587–594|pmc=1572099 }}</ref>
=== Bees as ethanol inebriation models ===
In 1999, David Sandeman suggested that bee inebriation models may be valuable for understanding vertebrate ethanol intoxication, given the homology and convergence of insect and vertebrate nervous systems.<ref name="Sandeman 1999">{{cite journal |last=Sandeman |first=David |title=Homology and Convergence in Vertebrate and Invertebrate Nervous Systems |journal=Naturwissenschaften |date=3 August 1999 |volume=86 |issue=8 |pages=378–387 |doi=10.1007/s001140050637 |pmid=10481825 |bibcode=1999NW.....86..378S }}</ref>
The bees are fed ethanol solutions and their behavior observed.<ref name=Abramson>{{cite journal |last1=Abramson |first1=Charles I. |last2=Stone |first2=Sherril M. |last3=Ortez |first3=Richard A. |last4=Luccardi |first4=Alessandra |last5=Vann |first5=Kyla L. |last6=Hanig |first6=Kate D. |last7=Rice |first7=Justin |title=The Development of an Ethanol Model Using Social Insects I: Behavior Studies of the Honey Bee (''Apis mellifera'' L.) |journal=Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research |date=August 2000 |volume=24 |issue=8 |pages=1153–1166 |doi=10.1111/j.1530-0277.2000.tb02078.x |pmid=10968652 }}</ref> Researchers place the bees in harnesses, and feed them varying concentrations of alcohol in into sugar solutions.<ref name=Abramson/><ref name=ScienceDaily>[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041025123121.htm ''Intoxicated Honey Bees May Clue Scientists Into Drunken Human Behavior''], Science Daily, October 25, 2004</ref> Tests of locomotion, foraging, social interaction and aggressiveness are performed; functioning is impaired much as in humans.<ref name=ScienceDaily/> The interaction of bees with antabuse (disulfiram, a treatment for alcoholism) has been tested as well.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Abramson |first=Charles I. |last2=Fellows |first2=Gina W. |last3=Browne |first3=Blaine L. |last4=Lawson |first4=Adam |last5=Ortiz |first5=Richard A. |title=Development of an Ethanol Model Using Social Insects: II. Effect of Antabuse® on Consumatory Responses and Learned Behavior of the Honey Bee (''Apis Mellifera'' L.) |journal=Psychological Reports |volume=92 |issue=2 |year=2003 |doi=10.2466/pr0.2003.92.2.365 |pages=365–378}}</ref>
== Bee exposure to other toxic and inebriating chemicals ==
=== Synthetic chemicals ===
{{main|Pesticide toxicity to bees}}
Bees can be severely and even fatally affected by pesticides,<ref name="popsci/bees-flowers-electric">{{cite news |title=Bees can sense a flower's electric field—unless fertilizer messes with the buzz |url=https://www.popsci.com/science/bumblebees-flowers-cues-electric-fields/ |access-date=16 November 2022 |work=Popular Science |date=9 November 2022}}</ref><ref name="bees-electric-fields-flowers">{{cite news |title=Bees Can Sense the Electric Fields of Flowers |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228063621/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bees-can-sense-the-electric-fields-of-flowers |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |access-date=16 November 2022 |work=nationalgeographic.com |date=21 February 2013}}</ref><ref name="10.3389/fmicb.2016.01255">{{cite journal |last1=Kakumanu |first1=Madhavi L. |last2=Reeves |first2=Alison M. |last3=Anderson |first3=Troy D. |last4=Rodrigues |first4=Richard R. |last5=Williams |first5=Mark A. |title=Honey Bee Gut Microbiome Is Altered by In-Hive Pesticide Exposures |journal=Frontiers in Microbiology |date=16 August 2016 |volume=7 |page=1255 |doi=10.3389/fmicb.2016.01255 |pmid=27579024 |pmc=4985556 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="10.1038/d41586-020-00282-3">{{cite journal |last1=Graham |first1=Flora |title=Daily briefing: Genetically engineered gut microbes can protect honey bees |journal= Nature |doi=10.1038/d41586-020-00282-3 |date=31 January 2020 |s2cid=242243957 }}</ref> fertilizers,<ref name="agris/PL9700535">{{cite journal |last1=Chorbinski |first1=P. |last2=Tomaszewska |first2=B. |title=Toksyczność nawozów mineralnych dla pszczół w warunkach laboratoryjnych. Cz.I. Toksyczność mocznika i saletry amonowej |trans-title=Toxicity of mineral fertilizers to honey bees under laboratory conditions. Pt. 1. Toxicity of urea and ammonium sulphate |language=pl |journal=Pszczelnicze Zeszyty Naukowe |date=1995 |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=79–86 |url=https://docplayer.pl/52928318-Toksycznosc-nawozow-mineralnych-dla-pszczol-w-warunkach-laboratoryjnych-cz-i-toksycznosc-mocznika-i-saletry-amonowej.html }}</ref><ref name="10.1093/jee/tow044">{{cite journal |last1=Rodrigues |first1=Cleiton G. |last2=Krüger |first2=Alexandra P. |last3=Barbosa |first3=Wagner F. |last4=Guedes |first4=Raul Narciso C. |title=Leaf Fertilizers Affect Survival and Behavior of the Neotropical Stingless Bee Friesella schrottkyi (Meliponini: Apidae: Hymenoptera) |journal=Journal of Economic Entomology |date=June 2016 |volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=1001–1008 |doi=10.1093/jee/tow044 |pmid=27069099 }}</ref><ref name="10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac230">{{cite journal |last1=Hunting |first1=Ellard R. |last2=England |first2=Sam J. |last3=Koh |first3=Kuang |last4=Lawson |first4=Dave A. |last5=Brun |first5=Nadja R. |last6=Robert |first6=Daniel |title=Synthetic fertilizers alter floral biophysical cues and bumblebee foraging behavior |journal=PNAS Nexus |date=9 November 2022 |volume=1 |issue=5 |article-number=pgac230 |doi=10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac230 |doi-access=free|pmid=36712354 |pmc=9802097 }}</ref> copper sulfate (more lethal than spinosad),<ref name="acsh/organic-fertilizer-killing-bees">{{cite news |last1=Kava |first1=Ruth |title=Organic Fertilizer Is Great at Killing Bees |url=https://www.acsh.org/news/2016/04/21/organic-fertilizer-is-great-at-killing-bees |access-date=16 November 2022 |work=American Council on Science and Health |date=21 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="10.1093/jee/tow044"/> and other chemicals that man has introduced into the environment.<ref name="Tosi Costa Vesco 2018">{{Cite journal |title=A survey of honey bee-collected pollen reveals widespread contamination by agricultural pesticides |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=615 |pages=208–218 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.09.226 |pmid=28968582 |year=2018 |last1=Tosi |first1=Simone |last2=Costa |first2=Cecilia |last3=Vesco |first3=Umberto |last4=Quaglia |first4=Giancarlo |last5=Guido |first5=Giovanni |s2cid=19956612 }}</ref>
This problem has been the object of growing concern. For example, researchers at the University of Hohenheim are studying how bees can be poisoned by exposure to seed disinfectants.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000116034737/http://www.uni-hohenheim.de/i3ve/00217110/01458041.htm "Honey bee intoxication caused by seed disinfectants"], Dr.sc.agr. Klaus Wallner, University of Hohenheim. Accessed on July 17, 2009.</ref> In France, the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned an expert group, the Scientific and Technical Committee for the Multifactorial Study on Bees (CST), to study the intoxicating and sometimes fatal effects of chemicals used in agriculture on bees.<ref>[http://www.apishealth.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 ''Recent Issues Related to Bee Troubles in France''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004221953/http://www.apishealth.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=22 |date=2007-10-04 }}, J.N. Tasei, report to International Apis Health Assessment Committee (IAHAC), Bologna, Italy, May 6, 2004. This report included the results of a study of the toxic effects on bees of the seed dressings imidacloprid and fipronil.</ref> Researchers at the Bee Research Institute and the Department of Food Chemistry and Analysis in the Czech Republic have pondered the intoxicating effects of various chemicals used to treat winter rapeseed crops.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=František |last1=Kamler |first2=Dalibor |last2=Titěra |first3=Jiřina |last3=Piškulová |first4=Jana |last4=Hajšlová |first5=Kateřina |last5=Maštovská |title=Intoxication of honeybees on chemical treated winter rape: problem of its verification |journal=Bulletin of Insectology |volume=56 |issue=1 |pages=125–7 |year=2003 |url=http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol56-2003-125-127kamler.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070923105545/http://www.bulletinofinsectology.org/pdfarticles/vol56-2003-125-127kamler.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-23 }}</ref> Romania suffered a severe case of widespread bee intoxication and extensive bee mortality from deltamethrin in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Daniela |last1=Nica |first2=Elisabeta |last2=Bianu |first3=Gabriela |last3=Chioveanu |title=A case of acute intoxication with deltamethrin in bee colonies in Romania |journal=Apiacta |volume=39 |pages=71–7 |year=2004 |url=http://www.apimondia.org/apiacta/articles/2004/nica_1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927061450/http://www.apimondia.org/apiacta/articles/2004/nica_1.pdf |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref> The United States Environmental Protection Agency has published standards for testing chemicals for bee intoxication.<ref>[https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=P100IRF8.txt ''Ecological Effects Test Guidelines OPPTS 850.3030: Honey Bee Toxicity of Residues on Foliage''], EPA 712-C-018 January 2012.</ref>
=== Natural compounds ===
Bees can be substantially affected by natural compounds in the environment besides ethanol. For example, Dariusz Szlachetko of the Department of Plant Taxonomy and Nature Conservation, Gdańsk University observed wasps in Poland acting in a very sleepy (possibly inebriated) manner after eating nectar derived from the North American orchid ''Neottia''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nelis A. |last=Cingel |title=An atlas of orchid pollination: America, Africa, Asia and Australia |publisher=CRC Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-90-5410-486-5 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUGL1TAaEtEC&q=An+atlas+of+orchid+pollination:+America,+Africa,+Asia+and+Australia&pg=PP1}}</ref>
Detzel and Wink (1993) published an extensive review of 63 types of plant allelochemicals and their effects on bees. 39 chemical compounds repelled bees (primarily alkaloids, coumarins, and saponins), while three terpene compounds attracted bees. They report that 17 out of 29 allelochemicals are toxic at some levels (especially alkaloids, saponins, cardiac glycosides and cyanogenic glycosides).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Detzel |first1=Andreas |last2=Wink |first2=Michael |title=Attraction, deterrence or intoxication of bees (''Apis mellifera'') by plant allelochemicals |journal=Chemoecology |volume=4 |issue=1 |date=March 1993 |doi=10.1007/BF01245891 |pages=8–18 |bibcode=1993Checo...4....8D |s2cid=27701294}}</ref>
Various plants have pollen toxic to honey bees, in some cases killing the adults, as in ''Toxicoscordion''; in other cases weakening the brood, as in ''Heliconia''. Other plants with toxic pollen include ''Spathodea campanulata'' and ''Ochroma lagopus''. Both the pollen and nectar of the California Buckeye (''Aesculus californica'') are toxic to honeybees.<ref>{{cite web |title=School Native Plant Gardens and Nature Areas |url=http://www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/nora.htm |publisher=California Native Plant Society |access-date=2007-04-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817165802/http://www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/nora.htm |archive-date=August 17, 2007}}</ref>
=== Heavy metals from plants === Heavy metals are naturally occurring on terrestrial environments, by anthropogenic activities (such as mining, pesticide use, and industrial waste) are responsible for increasing exposure of toxic metals in soils. <ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Musah |first=Baba Imoro |date=2024-12-03 |title=Effects of heavy metals and metalloids on plant-animal interaction and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems—an overview |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-024-13490-5 |journal=Environmental Monitoring and Assessment |language=en |volume=197 |issue=1 |pages=12 |doi=10.1007/s10661-024-13490-5 |issn=1573-2959|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Plants that grow in soils with high concentrations of heavy metals can affect the health and foraging behaviour of pollinators, including honey bees and bumblebees, by assimilating heavy metal compounds into honey or pollen.<ref name=":0" />
=== Bee inebriation in pollination ===
[[File:Coryanthes verrucolineata Orchi 04.jpg|thumb|Bucket orchid ]]
Some plants rely on using intoxicating chemicals to produce inebriated bees, and use this inebriation as part of their reproductive strategy. One plant that may do this is the South American bucket orchid (''Coryanthes'' sp.), an epiphyte. The bucket orchid attracts male euglossine bees with its scent, derived from a variety of aromatic compounds. The bees store these compounds in specialized spongy pouches inside their swollen hind legs, as they appear to use the scent (or derivatives thereof) in order to attract females. The flower is constructed in such a way as to make the surface almost impossible to cling to, with smooth, downward-pointing hairs; the bees commonly slip and fall into the fluid in the bucket, and the only navigable route out is a narrow, constricting passage that either glues a "pollinium" (a pollen sack) on their body (if the flower has not yet been visited) or removes any pollinium that is there (if the flower has already been visited). The passageway constricts after a bee has entered, and holds it there for a few minutes, allowing the glue to dry and securing the pollinium. It has been suggested that this process may involve inebriation of the bees.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dodson |first1=Calaway |last2=Frymire |first2=G. |title=Natural Pollination of Orchids |journal=Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin |date=November 1961 |volume=49 |issue=9 |pages=133–152 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/bee_lab_da/170/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Pierre |last=Jolivet |title=Interrelationship Between Insects and Plants |publisher=CRC Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-57444-052-2 |page=192 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5sTAB_mymwC&q=euglossine+drunk&pg=RA3-PA192 |quote=The first hymenopteran to visit has difficulties coping with the rostrellum but the later ones to arrive easily escape, soaked, drunk, and often having completed their pollinating function.}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/Hymenoptera.htm bumblebee.org article on Hymenoptera]</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=William C. |last=Agosta |title=Thieves, Deceivers, and Killers: tales of chemistry in nature |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-691-00488-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hy91lg-OK_IC&q=bee+intoxication&pg=PA56}}</ref>
Van der Pijl and Dodson (1966) observed that bees of the genera ''Eulaema'' and ''Xylocopa'' exhibit symptoms of inebriation after consuming nectar from the orchids ''Sobralia violacea'' and ''Sobralia rosea''.<ref>{{cite book |first=Nelis A. |last=Cingel |title=An atlas of orchid pollination: America, Africa, Asia and Australia |publisher=CRC Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-90-5410-486-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUGL1TAaEtEC&q=bee+intoxication&pg=RA6-PA116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Leendert |last1=Van der Pijl |first2=Calaway H. |last2=Dodson |author2-link=Calaway H. Dodson |title=Orchid Flowers Their Pollination and Evolution |url=https://archive.org/details/orchidflowersthe0000pijl |url-access=registration |publisher=University of Miami Press |year=1966 |isbn=978-0-87024-069-0 }}</ref>
== Toxic honey ==
A number of plants produce alkaloids which can taint honey made from their flowers in different ways. The plant genus ''Coriaria'' produces poisonous honey, due to the toxin tutin.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/animalproducts/publications/info-pamphlet/bee-products/toxic-honey.htm |title=Background on toxic honey |publisher=New Zealand Food Safety Authority |access-date=12 October 2024}}</ref> Morphine-containing honey has been reported in areas where opium poppy cultivation is widespread.<ref>{{cite book |first=Alistair |last=McAlpine |title=Adventures of a Collector |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86508-786-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_2iZ2RMLmEC&q=%22opium+honey%22&pg=PA40}}</ref> ''Tecoma stans'' is a nontoxic plant, but honey from its flowers is poisonous.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anand |first1=Mukul |last2=Basavaraju |first2=R. |title=A review on phytochemistry and pharmacological uses of Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth |journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology |date=January 2021 |volume=265 |article-number=113270 |doi=10.1016/j.jep.2020.113270 |pmid=32822823 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=K. |last1=Pallavi |first2=B. |last2=Vishnavi |last3=Mamatha |first4=K. Vanitha |last4=Prakash |first5=A. |last5=Amruthapriyanka |title=Phytochemical investigation and anti-microbial activity of Tecoma stans |journal=World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research |volume=3 |issue=2 |date=2014 |pages=2070–2083 |url=https://www.wjpr.net/abstract_show/633 }}</ref> Plants including ''Rhododendron'' and heathers (Ericaceae) produce the neurotoxin grayanotoxin. This is toxic to humans but not to bees. Honey from these flowers can be psychoactive, or even toxic to humans.<ref name="Jansen">{{cite journal |last=Jansen |first=Suze A. |last2=Kleerekooper |first2=Iris |last3=Hofman |first3=Zonne L. M. |last4=Kappen |first4=Isabelle F. P. M. |last5=Stary-Weinzinger |first5=Anna |last6=van der Heyden |first6=Marcel A. G. |title=Grayanotoxin Poisoning: 'Mad Honey Disease' and Beyond |journal=Cardiovascular Toxicology |publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC |volume=12 |issue=3 |date=19 April 2012 |doi=10.1007/s12012-012-9162-2 |doi-access=free |pages=208–215 |url=https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/CausesOfIllnessBadBugBook/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130625000711/http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodborneIllnessContaminants/CausesOfIllnessBadBugBook/ |archive-date=June 25, 2013 |pmc=3404272 }}</ref> Honey can ferment and produce ethanol. Animals, such as birds, that have eaten honey fermented in the sun can be found intoxicated.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kettlewell |first=B.D. |title=A Story of Nature's Debauch |journal=The Entomologist |volume=88 |issue=1101 |pages=45–47 |date=February 1945}}</ref>
== See also ==
* Colony collapse disorder * Honey bee starvation * Pesticide toxicity to bees * Diseases of the honey bee * Pollinator decline * List of honey plants
== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}
== Further reading ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070204053751/http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/pnw0518/pnw0518.pdf ''How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides''], D.F. Mayer, C.A. Johansen, C.R. Baird, PNW518, A Pacific Northwest Extension Publication, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Copyright 1999 Washington State University. Includes an extensive list of toxic chemicals such as pesticides that affect bees. ([http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/20772/pnw591.pdf WSU 1999 version of the same publication])
Toxic chemicals Category:Beekeeping Category:Honey Category:Environmental effects of pesticides Category:Sustainable agriculture