<Paul van Westerndorf wrote>
 
>    While there is a genuine danger for the beekeeping industry to lose
>    Apistan as a valuable tool of control, there appears no imminent
>    arrival of other effective controls.  The only alternative available
>    in Canada is formic acid which under favorable conditions may offer
>    good control.  But formic acid, as cheap as it is, has to be handled
>    with care and may not always be good to the bees.  It is therefore in
>    everyone's interest to retain Apistan's effectiveness as long as
>    possible:
>
>        .       Use Apistan only when needed,
>        .       Do not use alternate Apistan application methods,
>        .       Always remove strips upon treatment completion,
>        .       Do not re-use Apistan strips (I know it's tempting),
>        .       Alternate with other (registered) products (eg. formic
>                acid).
 
While I agree 100% with all your comments we are still missing one more
control and that is biological.The Varroa trap, locking up the Queen, call
it what you will. It really is a viable method, used in Europe for many
years. In fact some organic beekeepers use nothing else!!! The only drawback
is that it is very labour intensive, not really suitable for commercial
operations. Perhaps this is worthy of more discussion, privately or in open
forum?
        One final point, has anybody thought of the effect of formic acid (a
dangerous corrosive) on the sensory pads of bees feet.?
   ************************************************************
   * David J. Eyre CEO    9, Progress Drive, Unit 2,     *
   * The Beeworks        Orillia, Ont, Canada, L3V 6H1 *
   * [log in to unmask]    (705) 326 7171           *
   * http.//www.muskoka.net/~beeworks                     *
   *************************************************************