Radioactivity of honey in central and southern Poland

Radioactivity evaluation and radiation dosimetry assessment in Greek honey

Greek honey was examined for ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U, ²¹⁰Pb, ²¹⁰Po, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs levels. ²³⁸U was calculated from 0.013 ± 0.007 Bq kg^-1 to 0.10 ± 0.02 Bq kg^-1 while ²³⁴U ranged from 0.017 ± 0.009 Bq kg^-1 to 0.11 ± 0.03 Bq kg^-1. ²¹⁰Pb measured from 0.04 ± 0.02 Bq kg^-1 to 1.70 ± 0.26 Bq kg^-1 whereas ²¹⁰Po activity determined between 0.02 ± 0.01 Bq kg^-1 and 2.31 ± 0.34 Bq kg^-1. ⁴⁰ K found at the range of 7.9 ± 1.6 Bq kg^-1 to 102.2 ± 19.7 Bq kg^-1 and ¹³⁷Cs 0.3 ± 0.1 Bq kg^-1 up to 0.8 ± 0.1 Bq kg^-1. Uranium isotopes and ²¹⁰Po were determined via alpha spectrometry. ²¹⁰Pb was also indirectly determined by alpha spectrometry. ⁴⁰ K and ¹³⁷Cs were measured through γ-ray spectrometry. An annual dose calculation was performed for different age groups.

Sources of Polonium 210Po and Radio-Lead 210Pb in Human Body in Poland

This article contains and discusses the results of research on the source of polonium 210Po and radio-lead 210Pb in the human body of adults living in Poland. An adult inhabitant of Poland receives an effective annual radiation dose of 309 µSv from inhalation and absorption of 210Po and 210Pb. The main sources of both radionuclides in the body is cigarette and marijuana smoking. In terms of food, the consumption of fish, cereals, vegetables and fruit as well as mushrooms have the largest contribution to annual dose. This study highlights the importance of cigarette smoking and the growing importance of marijuana hash smoking as the main source of 210Po and 210Pb for adults living in Poland. The calculated dose that results from the decay of both radionuclides in body is 1/10 of the annual radiation dose received by a Polish inhabitant from natural sources (2.8 mSv) and is almost five times lower than the dose resulting from the inhalation of 222Rn.

Review of harmful chemical pollutants of environmental origin in honey and bee products

Honey is a natural food with many pro-health properties, which comprises a wide variety of valuable ingredients. It can also be the source of chemical contaminants of environmental origin, including POPs that can contribute to adverse health effects to human. Monitoring the degree of pollution of honey/bee products with hazardous chemicals is important from a nutraceutical point of view. In the present work, overview of recent literature data on chemical pollutants in honey/bee products originating from the environment was performed. Their MLs, MRLs and EDI were discussed. It can be concluded that huge amount of research concerned on the presence of TMs and pesticides in honey. Most of the studies have shown that honey/bee products sampled from urban and industrialized areas were more contaminated than these sampled from ecological and rural locations. More pollutants were usually detected in propolis and bee pollen than in honey. Based on their research and regulations, authors stated, that most of the toxic pollutants of environmental origin in honey/bee products are at levels that do not pose a threat to the health of the potential consumer. The greatest concern relates to pesticides and TMs, because in some research MLs in individual samples were highly exceeded.

The Honey Bee: An Active Biosampler of Environmental Pollution and a Possible Warning Biomarker for Human Health

Member states of the European Union are required to ensure the initiation of monitoring programs to verify honey bee exposure to pesticides, where and as appropriate. Based on 620 samples of dead honey bees—42 of pollen, 183 of honey and 32 of vegetables—we highlighted the presence, as analyzed by liquid and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometric detection, of many active substances, mainly tau-fluvalinate, piperonyl butoxide, chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, permethrin and imidacloprid. Among the active substances found in analyzed matrices linked to honey bee killing incidents, 38 belong to hazard classes I and II, as methiocarb, methomyl, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and permethrin, thus representing a potential risk for human health. We have shown that, at different times between 2015 and 2020, during implementation of the Italian national guidelines for managing reports of bee colony mortality or depopulation associated with pesticide use, pesticide pollution events occurred that could raise concern for human health. Competent authorities could, as part of a One Health approach, exploit the information provided by existing reporting programs on honey bees and their products, in view of the close correlation to human health, animal health and ecosystem health.