It has recently come to my attention that fumagillin may be a hazard to beekeepers, so I would like to take a brief moment to remind folks about IPM. In a nutshell, IPM means you don't treat for a problem you don't have. We have seen that there are a lot of folks out there who do NO monitoring for varroa, nosema, etc., but use various legal and illegal treatments.  

Nobody wants to lose bees, but be certain that you have the need for treatment before you undertake it, and use safe and approved methods. You certainly can't rail against Big Ag for dangerous practices if you do them yourselves. These treatments are all detectable in honey, and render it unsaleable in some markets.  

Fumagillin has been shown to cause chromosome damage. What does this mean? Chromosome defects can lead to a variety of disorders in human beings, most notably Down Syndrome. Evidently a lot of different drugs are now being used in hives, including fluroquinolones. These are not approved for use in bees, so not much is known about the harm they could cause.

There are two major concerns here: 1) contaminating honey is a bad idea, bad for the consumer and bad for honey's reputation. 2) use of potent drugs is dangerous to the beekeeper as well. There are a lot of young people employed in the beekeeping industry that may not be properly advised and protected by their employers against the gamut of dangerous substances currently being used in the industry. Do not handle stuff like coumaphos, formic acid, fumagillin, etc. without proper protection. If in doubt, call the Poison Control Center (in the U.S. call 1-800-222-1222)

PLB

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