>
> * "Apistan & Co". are extremely powerful poisons;
This is, I'm afraid, more of the usual OTT stuff regarding Apistan and
its cousin Bayvarol. This opens a whole line previously done to death
over and over again.
Fluvalinate and Flumethrin, the active ingredients in the two
treatments, are synthetic pyrethroids. This family of insecticides are
amongst the most benign treatments available. They are man made
adaptations of chemicals found in plants of the chrysanthemum family
(pyrethrums), and, when correctly administered, place small, controlled
dosages into the colony.
They are nowhere near as noxious as formic acid.
>
> * NEVER, a MD, ND etc. will accept with open and light "heart" the
>presence of these poisons in a traditional "pure", "natural" product;
I agree, yet many people advocate taking propolis regularly. A UK based
academic I was talking to fairly recently told me of research into
contamination of propolis, and the samples were ones on retail sale,
which revealed alarming levels of contaminants, especially lead which
was present in such quantities as to be downright dangerous. Quibbling
over of honey from Apistan treated colonies, and then advocating eating
propolis which is a magnet for environmental contaminants, seems to me
inconsistent.
>
> * the essential oils are NATURAL substances; in correct amounts they
>will never hurt somebody, on the contrary, it will help to get rid of
>many
>diseases, or will give just a better respiration.
The natural/synthetic debate is entirely bogus. Many natural substances
are more noxious than many of the synthetic ones on offer. You just have
to take each treatment on its merits and reach a balanced judgement.
Whether the substance has been synthetically produced or obtained direct
from nature is not particularly relevant. There are after all some
EXTREMELY dangerous 'natural' poisons out there.
>
> * if you do not want the essential oils in your products, as
>"contaminants", you can do the "aromatherapy" of your bee colonies, as
>you do now with your chemical method, AFTER you will collect your
>bee products, e.g. late in fall...
Three years ago we bought 200 hives from the widow of someone who had
been using Thymol. For exactly what I do not know and could not ask him
as unfortunately he took the reason with him. The hives smelt
differently, and it took two years to get rid of the smell. The honey
produced from the hives smelt different, and was in fact rejected in
Germany because of the smell and taste. We still catch the occasional
whiff of it. I appreciate that when it is your own hive you may be able
to put up with this, but try selling the honey on when its flavour and
smell have been tainted!
Authorities to whom I have talked warn that essential oils alone are NOT
an effective way of dealing with varroa. Their effectiveness is less
than current controls and is highly erratic. Unless you are operating on
a small scale and can treat every colony in optimum conditions you
should be very wary of adopting this strategy. Research is continuing
all the time and an effective system may become available soon.
>
>
> I do not believe that practicing alternative methods is a "threat"
>towards the bee "industry"...
Possibly not, but I would not want an 'alternative methods' user as my
neighbour. I just would not want the re-invasion problem from those
colonies of his/hers which were collapsing because treatment X or Y did
not work. Using unproven/uncertain treatments is not a friendly act to
those around you.
>
> I believe this is the ..salvation!
Again possibly, but I feel that the bee breeders are those with whom the
ultimate salvation lies.
Murray
--
Murray McGregor
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