Thanks for Peter digging up the imidakloprid study from France. I was very 
concerned about imidakloprid until that study. But when the beehives fed with 
that neonicotinoid for a year did not have more problems than control hives in 
same apiarys I changed my view. 

I think we all agree that neonicotinoids are not totally friendly for bees. In 
large amount they kill, in less they cause proven problems for bees in learning 
and muscle problems etc.. Several studies have been referenced in discussions 
here.  

Misuse or problems end up in dead colonies like case in Germany with pneumatic 
seeding and insecticide not attached well enough into seed. But as beekeepers 
we are mainly concerned with simple question. Does the normal use of 
neoicotinoids hurt our colonies so bad that we can see the negative effects or 
dead hives. This far I have not seen much evidence on that. I would very much 
like to see more studies like the one in Harvard. But done with amounts of 
neonicotinnoids seen in the fields and with some controls and some groups 2x  
to  10x field amounts. 

I wonder why these tests are not done, as they seem quite easy and cheap?  

Would also like to see more experiments done with all types of neonicotinoids 
spiked to pollen that is fed to colonies.
 
Agree with Randy that there is no prove that Harvard bees died because of 
treatment. 

Ari Seppälä
Finland

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