>>...fluvalinate...has limited partitioning (0.002 mg/L or 2 micrograms/L) into water-based liquids (honey)

Does this mean that, if you throw wax combs into water, very little fluvalinate will migrate from the wax into the water? 

>>(MSDS) for Apistan lists acute toxicity for rainbow trout as 2.7 micrograms/L in a 96 hour study!.... I'm not comfortable ingesting it myself.

I'm thinking this explains the reported damage to queens/drones.  I believe fish and amphibians are much more susceptible to toxins than mammals.

>>What was once thought of as an 'acceptable level' can be 'unacceptable' later.

I've been recently listening with interest to Gary Knoll (www.garyknoll.com) on PRI (Public Radio International)...  He says a lot of chemicals INDIVIDUALLY may have non-toxic levels for humans.  However, a lot of the scientific studies - including ones by the FDA - don't account for the interaction of the low doses of these chemicals with hundreds of other chemicals in the body.  For this reason, a lot of previously acceptable levels have been tightened.

>>Half will likely be fed back to new packages of bees.

Better feed it all to the packages than yourself, my friend. :) 

Waldemar
Long Island, NY

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