>And heavily lobbied by activists. 

And the chemical industry did not lobby? 

> The ministers are political appointees,
not scientists.  

Impartial people looking over what is presented and making a decision.

>The majority of scientists did not agree.

When two sides of a issue are presented the sides are not going to agree.

>  Buckling to the
activists with the 2-yr moratorium was the political way out.

Your opinion ( and the talking points of the chemical companies).


 >The problems with planter dust should have been solved before the product
was released

You are right! I asked a neonic seed seller awhile back if they check before selling seed to see what style of planter was being used and not sell to those using problem planters (outlined at the pollinator summit).

He had a blank look on his face.


>No farmer is dependent upon seed treatment.  It is an option, and costs
about $12 an acre.

Bayer published you would need to plant an extra 3 million acres to make up for loss from not using seed treatment. Lets see with around a 100 million acres corn planted this year the loss for not using the treatment would be around 3% of the total crop. Ditch the seed treatment and take the 3% loss Is my opinion!


>  The problem is that the way the registration is, there is no
responsible party for a beekeeper to sue for his losses.  The farmer blames
the seed treatment company, that company blames the registrant, and the
registrant blames the farmer.

The chemical companies wrote the registration? Eh?

>  The bees and the beekeeper lose. 

Please do not say in your opinion was not by design? 
Surely you are not so naive Randy?

> If we want
to fix the problem, make someone liable, and then there would be incentive!

Its interesting you are pointing to lawsuits. Put the team of lawyers sitting around the chemical companies to work? 

There are commercial beekeepers around which have sued for hive loss. Really has not turned out for the best.

Nope lawsuits will not work. Both beekeepers and big ag understand will not solve the problem.

The issue could be tied up in the courts for years (if not decades)

Consider the case of the organic canola farmer in Canada which was sued by Monsanto for stealing GMO seed. The whole case was absurd to those watching but the organic farmer lost the case. 

I am downsizing an getting out of commercial beekeeping ( age and health) so will soon not have a horse in the race. I do not see the bees/ neonics problem having a simple solution.

Until I retire I would advise my *competition* to take Randy's advice and move their hives into areas of neonic treated crops. Only use soft treatments for varroa control.

bob 

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