Perizin
Behandlungsmittel
Perizin was a coumaphos-based veterinary medicinal product for Varroa control, applied as a trickle treatment.
Perizin was a coumaphos-based veterinary medicinal product for Varroa control, applied as a trickle treatment. The diluted solution was applied to the bees in the comb spaces. The active substance coumaphos belongs to the organophosphates and acts as a nerve poison on the mite.
For present-day practice, what matters is that the product is no longer on the market and no longer available in Germany. It has not been sold since 2017. In Switzerland, the authorization expired in November 2017. Coumaphos no longer appears since then in the specialist overviews of veterinary medicinal products approved for bees in Germany, and the current overviews from the bee institutes no longer list any coumaphos-based product either.
In practice this means: anyone planning treatment today plans without Perizin. Remaining stock should not be applied but disposed of as hazardous waste. Whether a medicinal product may be applied always depends on its current authorization and market status; when in doubt, a veterinarian or advisory service can provide information.
The reasons for its loss of relevance are well understood professionally. Coumaphos is strongly fat-soluble and accumulates in the wax cycle of a beekeeping operation, from which the active substance can pass back into the honey. Added to this is the resistance problem: in large-scale studies from Spain, coumaphos showed the weakest efficacy of the three synthetic active substances tested, with expected efficacy in the majority of the beekeeping operations studied clearly below two thirds. For Germany, coumaphos resistance had not been demonstrated.
One point that should also be considered historically: coumaphos also affects the human nervous system, so direct contact was to be avoided, and protective gloves were prescribed when preparing and applying it. Anyone who still comes into contact with old stock today should exercise the same caution and dispose of it through a hazardous waste collection point.
Quellen (4)
- Die Honigmacher (Landwirtschaftskammer NRW): Perizin
- Tierarzneimittel-Archiv der Universität Zürich: Perizin ad us. vet., Zulassung erloschen am 07.11.2017
- Emmerich, I.: Zugelassene Arzneimittel für Honigbienen in Deutschland, Berliner und Münchener Tierärztliche Wochenschrift 2018
- Hernández-Rodríguez, C. S. et al.: Large-Scale Monitoring of Resistance to Coumaphos, Amitraz and Pyrethroids in Varroa destructor, Insects 12(1):27, 2021