Paul
 
Re chemicals in CCD colonies that may drive out bees.
 
We are working on this question, and we have filed our first report with  
NHB.  We have identified  more than 800 non-pesticide chemicals  in 'apparently 
healthy', failing, and collapsed bee colonies from CCD  operations. 
 
We've learned a lot, including mounting evidence of miticide related  
chemicals in 2006-2007 bee colonies when compared to 1,000s of analysis  results from 
our 8 yrs of work in MD in the 1990s.  We've also looked at  specific 
contaminants like HMF and aflatoxins.  We're still validating  final results - but 
the answer to date, we've LOTS of odd chemicals, but haven't  sorted out THE ONE 
from the 800 or so that we've looked at to date.
 
You, more than most members of this list, know that there is no single  
analysis test that does all chemicals AND no one's sure what many of these  
chemicals are doing.  So, we started with the most obvious and the most  standard 
procedures.  The chemical we are looking for may be buried in the  800+ chemicals 
that we've identified, or we may need to use other analytical  methods to 
look at yet more categories of chemical.
 
We've moved on to more controlled testing, having built a chamber that we  
can put a colony into, isolate it from chemicals in the ambient  environment.  
We've some specific ideas about what may be producing the  elusive chemical.   
All of this takes time and money.  If you  want a faster answer, we're always 
happy to take a donation to help the  beekeeping industry.  
 
Jerry



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