>  But that is by now 'old' information.  What may not be 'old', is that 
> these irresponsible practices continue.

I heard from a state apiarist for a large beekeeping state that they tallied 
up the amount of legal treatments sold and that they were insufficient to 
treat even a tiny portion of that state's bees once.  It is also an open 
secret everywhere and beekeepers will tell you they are using 'a treatment 
not approved in the state'.

I hear the word, 'irresponsible' and have to ask, what is the 'responsible' 
alternative at this point?

Many if not most are so far into this they cannot stop without total loss. 
The authorities, I assume, know this and tread with caution.  The 
alternatives are at the point where they 'almost work' but are cumbersome, 
unreliable, require special equipment, timing, or do damage to the 
usefulness of the bees.  For whatever reason, there is not wide acceptance 
of new strains of bees bred to stand up to mites.  Why is that?  Maybe they 
are not easy to get.  Or maybe they cannot stand up to the rigours of 
commercial work.  Or maybe they cannot live on the contaminated combs.

What are the risks of continuing down this road?

Well, we already have some degree of resistance to almost every known 
chemical that works or has worked reliably, so that is not such a huge issue 
except for those who have not gotten the news yet.

We already have widespread hive collapse.

How much more can we ramp up the doses and add to the cocktails?  There has 
to be a limit and I think we are there.

Are we getting food contamination?  Apparently not, although I cannot 
imagine why not, unless it is like BSE in the US.  Hear no evil, see no 
evil...

That said, I saw some good-looking healthy hives in a commercial outfit when 
I was travelling. 

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