Initial testing conducted to evaluate the potential effects of pesticides on honey bees utilizes technical grade active ingredient. When the pesticides are applied in the field they are part of a formulation or “end use product.” Higher tier studies required by the US EPA often use formulated, end use products under more realistic application conditions in the field, as well as technical grade active ingredient such as in whole colony feeding studies. Some researchers have questioned whether the active ingredient tests represent the potential toxicity of the end use product. To evaluate the relative toxicity of active ingredients versus end-use formulations, the PRTF developed and evaluated a database of laboratory studies conducted with both types of test substances.

The database contained acute oral and contact data for approximately 150 different chemicals and formulated products. The chemicals were classified according to their toxicity (high, medium, low) and the question “How often is the toxicity of the formulation significantly different from that of the active ingredient?”