> Varroa or pesticides is the source of funding for much bee research.  As I have to constantly warn students and BIP folks just because you are a hammer all the world is not a nail.  Historically bees were dying long before we had varroa or pesticides.

Of course, but the battle with varroa has been much more difficult to win. Ironically, the same ABJ issue that contains the aforementioned screed against pesticides, has a lead article by Tom Seeley. 

In the past few years he has been devoting a tremendous amount of time, effort and brain power into figuring out the biological basis for mite survival in unmanaged colonies. He and I both keep bees in the same general locale where pesticide use is practically nil. If my bees die, the last thing that I would suspect would be pesticides. Where would they get them? 

Anyway, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dennis, BIP, etc. even if I am critical of their methods and the application of the data set. They really are aiming for the big picture, and are not likely to single out any tool, be it hammer, pry bar or scalpel.

PLB 

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