> The point is, that so long as we are ruthlessly selective at the queen level, there is no need to ever allow the workers on colony to die from mites.

I understand your point of view, and as a bee breeder, I would expect this. What I never expected was to see first hand bee breeders selecting breeder queens on the basis of how pretty they were (you can't make this stuff up). 

As a matter of fact, Dr. Rinderer has told me repeatedly and pointedly, that they have done the work and the bees are available to beekeepers. His question is Why are they being more widely adopted?

Which brings us full circle. For over a hundred years, progressive beekeepers have lamented that quality stock is not universally adopted by beekeepers. Many raise their own queens, many rely on supersedure. 

The bottom line is this: this is the real world and this is what we have to deal with. Beekeepers have various criteria that the base their selection on, and customers do too. Including the choice to not buy any of it.

PLB

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