# Info on Amitraz products



## Aurora (Jul 6, 2010)

Hey gang, Joe here from Aurora Apiaries in B.C., Canada. In the spring we had a couple hives turn up mites so we treated instantly with Apivar. The main ingredient is Amitraz 3.33% so we wanted to know how much of the wax and honey was tainted and for how long. Apivar says not to use during a honey flow and / or with a honey super on so our main concern was that the bees will move their own honey reserves from a brood super into a honey super when you put it on and taint the new honey. We did NOT want to waste this awesome nectar flow we got a couple weeks ago so I went on the hunt for info. Here's the abstract for the Degradation of Amitraz from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf010787s *"Amitraz degrades after 1 DAY in BEESWAX and 10 DAYS in HONEY."* Obviously AFTER you stop treatment. We also got in touch with some old friends at Bee-Maid (a honey co-op) in Alberta and they hooked us up with the provincial inspector and I'm quoting loosely... "What's acceptable is that chemical in the 100 ppB (parts per billion) range and what we're talking about now is in the 1 to 2 ppB range." I did note that the abstract i linked to above mentioned that there is something called DMF left behind after degradation and I've been on the hunt for info on that. Also, I read some posts on people using Taktic(sp?) at around 12.5% so please do the math and know that a higher concentration will take longer to degrade. Hope this helps. Joe


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

There is a withdrawal time between using the honey supers and pulling the Apivar off the hives. Somehow i think it is 14d between the two.
Apivar is also a 42d treatment so you need to plan when using this stuff. You need a total of 56d between start of treatment and when you can put the supers on. That in reality is two months. So if your honeyflow is July 1, you need to plan to have the apivar in by April 30th at the latests.
As well, if you are worried about honey being moved up, do not feed so much. Let them consume what they gather or take in. You do not want the brood chambers honey bound anyways.
Finally, the Canadian Honey Council is recommending that brood frames not be extracted for the very reason of contamination.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Here is some technical data:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=c68ea3e0303f05c8e82caef5b52d9df3
Voltammetric analysis of the acaricide amitraz and its degradant, 2,4-dimethylaniline 




References and further reading may be available for this article. To view references and further reading you must purchase this article.


R. Brimecombea and J. Limson, a, 

aDepartment of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa

Received 4 July 2005; revised 13 May 2006; accepted 29 June 2006. Available online 26 July 2006. 

Abstract
Amitraz is a formamide acaracide used in the control of ticks and mites in livestock. An electrochemical method for the determination of total amitraz residues and its final breakdown product, 2,4-dimethylaniline, is presented. Cyclic voltammetry at a glassy carbon electrode showed the irreversible oxidation of amitraz and of 2,4-dimethylaniline. A linear current response was obtained with an extrapolated limit of detection of 2 × 10−8 M for amitraz and 1 × 10−8 M for 2,4-dimethylaniline. The biological degradation of amitraz and subsequent formation of 2,4-dimethylaniline was readily monitored in spent cattle dip. Amitraz and 2,4-dimethylaniline was also monitored in milk and honey samples.

Keywords: Amitraz; 2,4-Dimethylaniline; Pesticide; Degradation; Cyclic voltammetry

Article Outline
1. Introduction
2. Experimental
2.1. Reagents
2.2. Methods
2.3. Procedure for the analysis of amitraz and 2,4-dimethylaniline in environmental samples
3. Results and discussion
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgements
References

Ernie


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Here is another reference:
http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=445333

Study of acaricide stability in honey. Characterization of amitraz degradation products in honey and beeswax. 
Author: Korta, E : Bakkali, A : Berrueta, L A : Gallo, B : Vicente, F : Kilchenmann, V : Bogdanov, S 
Citation: J-Agric-Food-Chem. 2001 Dec; 49(12): 5835-42 
Abstract: A study on the possible degradation of amitraz, bromopropylate, coumaphos, chlordimeform, cymiazole, flumethrin, and tau-fluvalinate during the storage of honey was carried out by HPLC. Except amitraz, the other acaricides are stable in this medium for at least 9 months. Degradation studies of amitraz in honey and beeswax were carried out; the degradation products detected in both matrices were 2,4-dimethylphenylformamide (DMF) and N-(2,4-dimethylphenyl)-N'-methylformamidine (DPMF). The reaction rate constants and the half-lives of the amitraz degradation in honey and wax were calculated. Amitraz was nearly completely degraded within 1 day in beeswax and within 10 days in honey. When amitraz-spiked combs are recycled into new beeswax, DMF was found to be the principal degradation product left in pure wax. 
Review References: None 
Notes: None 
Language: English 
Publication Type: Journal-Article 
Keywords: None 
URL: http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jafcau/index.html 

Ernie


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## Aurora (Jul 6, 2010)

Thanks honeyshack. We haven't fed in a long time and they've got gorgeous storage around the brood. Thanks for the reminder re: not extracting brood supers. I hope people aren't doing that as it is. We're relieved that the provincial inspector relayed the info too as we're getting a good nectar flow now. How are things in MB?


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## honeyshack (Jan 6, 2008)

another very, extremely wet year!


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## svbeeco (Feb 12, 2010)

Regarding post #1.....

Hi Joe.

You've read posts saying Taktic is being used as a 12.5% solution? That may not be the case.
Actually, I believe 12.5% is the concentration of amitraz contained in Taktic. I've heard of some bkps using a 1:10 dilution of this 12.5% solution; so, would that make the final dilution of amitraz in the neighborhood of 1.25% 
(1% of 12.5%)? If so, that would be about 1/3 the concentration of amitraz contained in Apivar.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Guys that I know who use taktic mix equal parts Taktic and cooking oil. Not that I am recommending its use.

NYS did, for a few years, a study of chemicals in honey, taken from the bulk tanks of willing participants. Mostly commercial beekeepers, but some noncoms too. The levels of fluvalinat and chumophous were extremely below the ppb tolerances. I found this to be very interesting, especially in one case in which I know that Apistan strips are left in the hives all year around.

What is going on? Are these pesticides not migrating into the honey as much as previously reported or suspected? Orare they breaking down into some other, as yet undetected, unlooked for, chemical.

Lots of times tests are chemical specific, not wide. The report doesn't give an accounting of all of the different kinds of chemicals in the honey. That could be pretty expensive.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Hey, Svbeeco,
Is my calculator broke?
1% of 12.5= .01 x 12.5

DOGGONE IT!!
This stupid calculator keeps coming up with .125


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## Beadtalker (Jul 12, 2010)

Well, 1:10 is 10 percent or .1


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

:scratch:
What is 9 parts : 1 part?
Ernie


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

0.9 ----- guess I need 5 Char.


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## svbeeco (Feb 12, 2010)

Harry,

You're right. The dilution that I referred to as 1:10 should have corresponded to 10% (not 1% as I stated). 

But the final dilution I believe was correct. Thank you for the correction.

Thank you,

Bill


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## svbeeco (Feb 12, 2010)

It's supposed to be 10% of 12.5= .1 x 12.5


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