In the 1990s, the Bee Research Centre took part in a screening programme testing the potential effectiveness of over 100 essential oils and essential oil components against the varroa mite. Although sage, hyssop and thyme oils proved interesting, only thymol has been used in acaricide products. Thymol treatments require little effort, and there are a variety of preparations on the market. The advantages and drawbacks of thymol use are listed in the articles "Apilife VAR: A new varroacide with thymol as the main ingredient" and "THYMOVAR for Varroa control".
Kast C., Kilchenmann V., Reinhard H., Droz B., Lucchetti M., Dübecke A., Beckh G., Zoller O.
Chemical fingerprinting identifies Echium vulgare, Eupatorium cannabinum and Senecio spp. as plant species mainly responsible for pyrrolizidine alkaloids in bee-collected pollen.
Food Additives & Contaminants. Part A, 35, (2), 2018, 316-327.
Various studies have shown that bee-collected pollen sold as nutritional supplements may contain toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and thus pose a potential health risk for consumers. The level of contamination may vary according to its geographical and botanical origin. Here, we studied the PA content of pollen produced in Switzerland and analysed 32 commercially available bee-collected pollen supplements produced between 2010 and 2014. In addition, we investigated at what time period bees collect PA-containing pollen. Hence we looked into the occurrence of PAs in pollen samples collected daily during two to three consecutive seasons. Furthermore, the PA spectrum in pollen was compared to the spectrum found in flower heads of PA-plants to unambiguously identify plants responsible for PA contamination of pollen. The PA concentration of commercial and daily collected pollen was determined by target analysis using an HPLC-MS/MS system, allowing the detection of 18 different PAs and PA N-oxides found in the genera Echium, Eupatorium and Senecio, while the comparison of the PA spectrum in pollen and flower heads was performed by LC-HR-MS allowing the detection of all PA types in a sample, including saturated, non-carcinogenic PAs. 31 % of the commercially available pollen contained PAs with a mean concentration of 319 ng/g, mainly Echium- and Eupatorium-type PAs, while the PA concentrations were below the limit of quantitation (LOQ) in 69 % of the pollen samples. Bees collected pollen containing Echium-type PAs mainly in June and July, while they gathered pollen containing Eupatorium-type PAs from mid-July to August. Senecio-type PAs appeared from June to September. Comparison of the PA array in pollen and plants identified E. vulgare and E. cannabinum as the main plants responsible for PA contamination of Swiss bee-collected pollen, and to a lesser extent also identified plants belonging to the genus Senecio.
Although the use of thymol leads to residues in the wax and honey, these are negligible from a toxicological viewpoint. Since about 2008 the use of thymol-based products has been declining in Switzerland, and beekeepers making use of these products have tended to experience greater winter losses than those using e.g. formic acid.