Investigation of the use of honey bees and honey bee products to assess heavy metals contamination

Forty-four water samples from eleven sampling points were collected from four highly polluted rivers of northern India once in each four seasons during 1988–1989. The samples were analyzed for phenol, chlorophenols, a few bromophenols and other organics. Phenol was found to be absent in all the analyzed samples. Trichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol were frequently detected. Comparatively, the Ganges river was most polluted at Kannauj followed by Narora, Kachala and Fatehgarh. Maximum phenols were found at Mathura downstream of the Yamuna river followed by Mathura upstream, Okhla, ITO and none at Wazirabad. No phenols were detected in the water of the rivers Hindon and Kali at Ghaziabad and Aligarh, respectively. Some other organic pollutants were also identified by their mass spectra and supported by data from the computerized library, but, not quantified.To whom correspondence should be addressed.