-- James Fischer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>"Pesticides can't be an explanation for why 
organic beekeepers are losing their colonies" 
- Dr. May Berenbaum

hi jim,

i have no idea who joe is...but this claim that since organic beekeepers have lost colonies, than pesticides (or beekeeper applied treatments) can't be the cause keeps getting repeated.

i can't speak for all organic operations, but i did spend 2 weeks going through virtually all of dee lusby's hives with her, and with my wife in april.  a few of her yards were affected, and samples were taken.  it would be interesting to see the results from testing these samples (for chemical contamination, and for disease organisms)...but as far as i know, testing has not yet been performed.  imho, the industry should make sure that jerry b. has funding to do this testing,  as the samples were taken last fall, and dee is in a rather unique situation...the results could be very telling.

what i can say about what we saw in this particular case is this:

1.  only yards that are in flying distance of other beekeepers hives (migratory, treated, and non-organic) were affected.

2.  dee observed the bees cleaning everything out of the hives before they disapeared...spitting pollen out the front entrance, and cleaning out the cells.

...we can't make any conclusions from these observations, but it does bring up some questions.

1.  is it possible that weaker bees being treated in the vicinity were being robbed out by these organic bees?  

2.  could they have picked up hive treatments and/or pathogens via this route?

3.  could these organic bees have gone down nearby mine shafts and picked up contaminated water (it's my understanding that these old silver mines have reasonable levels of arsenic in the water)?

it seems to me that there is more than one route to hive contamination...directly applied chemicals from the beekeeper is only one possibility.  it seems to me that no matter who you cite, that it is a rather large leap to assume that if the beekeeper isn't putting chemicals in the hive that there cannot be chemicals in the hive.  it seems to me that dee's operation is an important resource in the hunt for a cause...as her hives have never been treated, and some of her yards were affected, and most were not.

especially given that the ccd team did take samples from these yards, it seems imperative to have these samples tested, and the results made available (at least to the beekeeper).  without testing samples, at least in this particular case (which is the only one i know about in detail), one cannot claim that chemical contamination (from beekeeper applied chemicals or from agricultural/environmental chemicals ) cannot be ruled out...there are plenty of possibilities that do include chemical contamination, and ruling this out based on what amounts to a "thought experement" (that if the beekeeper is organic, than there is no chemical contamination) is premature.

deknow

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