> It has been awhile since we visited the way pests & disease are spread. I have said many times that *package bees* are the number one way.

I would think that your friends who sell bees for a living would expect you to produce *some evidence* of this, before making such a sweeping condemnation. What about nucs, or the sale of whole outfits? And why do you suppose these practices are somehow more to blame than the practice of taking half the bees in the United States and mixing them up in California every February? Not to mention taking a quarter of them to Florida and mixing them up down there, and then mixing them up some more in apples and cranberries. I don't say one or the other is "worse" because I have no data. But when the surveys are compiled, no clear picture of disease transmission has ever emerged.

PLB

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm