Those sugar/yeast/formic acid glove-on-jar experiments look like fun. An interesting way to test an initial hypothesis.  

Let's look at the doses of formic acid used.  Commercially available formic acid starts at an 85% concentration and then goes higher.  85% is 850,000 ppm.  Formic acid vapor concentration in a beehive, when used for killing varroa, starts being effective around 10 ppm and the bees like to keep it below 30 ppm. The trail with the gloves and drops of liquid formic acid would  have formic acid concentrations far higher than is found in a hive undergoing Mite-AwayII treatment.  Since the yeast tested did not become inactive when testing the lower doses, I can't see how yeasts would not continue to cause fermentation due to Mite-AwayII treatment.  Even if 65% was the formic acid concentration used in the trial it is 650,000 ppm concentration, or 50% it is 500,000 ppm, etc.  

If you run the trial again please make sure you know the concentration of the active ingredient that you are testing and a more precise volume of the sugar solution with the yeast in it.  A 10 ppm comparable when 100% FA is used would require about 100,000 drops of sugar/yeast solution per drop of FA, etc.  Then at least you are looking at a concentration equivalent,even though then it would be liquid instead of vapor contact. 

If you could think up a simple experiment testing low concentrations of formic vapors impact on viruses, that would be great!  

regards,
David VanderDussen  


--- On Mon, 5/19/08, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> We've been doing some research (and actual
> "kitchen experements"), and feel ready to share
> our thoughts and results.  


      

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