Just in time for Halloween, something scary...

On Tuesday, Oct 29th, there will be a public hearing at the Beltsville, MD
USDA facility starting at 9am to review the risk assessment associated
with New Zealand and Australia's requests to market queens, packages,
and germplasm to US beekeepers.

Now that people alleged to have been practicing their marksmanship in
the area no longer have access to a rifle, it may be possible for those
in the area to consider attending, if for no other reason than to show that
beekeepers are aware of the issue, and care about bee pests, bee diseases,
and USDA decisions regarding them.

Instructions about how to get there are here:

http://www.ba.ars.usda.gov/loc/location.html

(The only trick is to remember to take US 1 NORTH off the
Beltway, not US 1 South.  After that, it's easy.)

Any person attending the meeting may "register at the door" before 9 am
to speak their mind on the issues at hand, but this discussion is not about
"trade" or "economic" issues. This hearing is focused solely on pests,
diseases, and the risks posed by queens and packages bees being shipped
from the other side of the planet, direct to the beekeeper without any port of
entry inspection.  One must do one's homework before contributing one's
thoughts to the discussion, as the issues are complex.

But there is some potential good news in all this.

The "good news" is that the USDA may now be receptive to the idea
that existing paperwork requirements for germplasm imports do nothing
but delay scientific progress, and what is needed is a standard protocol
for the requests of legitimate researchers, rather than the current ad-hoc
"case-by-case" multi-year maze that scientists are forced to navigate.

The bad news is that the prospective live-bee exporters at hand happen
to live fairly near to Tropiaelaps and the Cape Bee, and want to sell live
bees to anyone who will pay in US dollars (overwhelmingly voted the
most popular currency on the planet every year for over two centuries).

So, we have suspense, drama, high-stakes poker over international trade,
newly-written WTO sanitary standards yet to be field-tested anywhere,
a delicate blend of epidemiology, entomology, epistemology, and etymology,
plus Latin and Greek names for pests so obscure that most of us cannot even
pronounce their names!  (Of course, not long ago, "Varroa destructor" and
"Aethina tumida" were also nothing more than obscure pests on the other
side of the planet with difficult to pronounce names...)

If you can't come to the meeting, and you are a US citizen, you can send
your comments to [log in to unmask], using "Docket No. 98-109-1"
in the subject line.  No attachments allowed, plain text only, just like this
discussion group.  Include your name and postal address to verify that you
are a US Citizen. Comments will be accepted until Nov 18, 2002.

   (Multiple entries per person and household permitted. No purchase required to enter.
   Offer void outside the United States. Odds of winning depend on the total number of
   eligible entries received, and the merit of each argument offered.  Citizens, employees,
   or agents of "New Zealand", "Australia", and their respective parent companies, affiliates,
   subsidiaries, licensees, directors, officers, agents, independent contractors and
   advertising/promotional agencies, the members of their immediate families, or those
   persons living in the same household of such individuals are ineligible to enter.
   Your mileage may vary.  Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.  Wear your seatbelts.
   Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.  Close cover before striking match.)


        jim