Dean asks:

1. why do beekeepers feel justified in asking everyone else (farmers,
homeowners) to reduce their pesticide usage to "help the bees", yet
never ever consider chemical contamination in the hive is in the hands
of the beekeeper?

Same reason that when I am on the interstate the guy in front of me
should "get the heck out of my way" and the one behind me should "stop
breathing on my neck."

2. either the bees themselves, or the nectar/honey they take from the
hive to pack it into the pollen baskets must be the source of
contamination.

Of course the bees have miticides on them. And they transfer it to all
items in the hive, including the mites. That's how it works

3.  it's one thing if there is some kind of "encapsulated
contamination" in the wax...but near lethal levels in the brood should
be cause for concern.

The important question is not: Are the miticide levels higher than
external chemicals -- which they would be, of course! -- BUT -- Are
they high enough to cause any harm? No one has shown that they are.
They certainly *could* be. Still speculation at this point.

4.  how would you respond to a customer who says, "i saw this video
online from a bee researcher at penn state.  they found that the
highest levels of chemical contamination in the comb, bees, brood,
beebread, trapped pollen was from chemicals put in the hive by the
beekeeper...and they are specifically not testing the honey.  i'm
concerned that these chemicals are also in the honey."

Short answer: Residues of chemicals exist in all food, including
so-called organic food. Organic food is not checked for chemical
levels on a routine basis so there is no way of comparing it to other
foods.


Further info: The residues of mite control chemicals in hives is low,
not even enough to kill the mites after the end of the treatment
period. Most conscientious beekeepers already abandoned the use of
fluvalinate and coumaphos, even before they were implicated by Penn
State. You will note that they did NOT detect formic acid, oxalic acid
or thymol products.

Environmental pollution is a serious problem which all beekeepers take
dead seriously. But the effect of not treating for mites can be
devastating, and can put a beekeeper right out of business. Now, you
could stay a beekeeper by buying new bees every year but that is a bit
of a cop-out, because you will no doubt be buying bees from someone
else who is keeping his bees alive by treating them.

The goal is to move away from harmful treatments and toward effective
biological control. Everyone has this goal. Some are proposing
practical methods (see my 3 part series in the ABJ) and some are
content to give advice based upon conjecture and arid speculation.

-- 
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

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