a couple of Peter Borst snips (yes I know these are not your own thought Peter) followed by> my comments///

The latest research on mites, and another avenue
to control them is welcomed. However, the recent research
and surveys and the current “Mite-A-thon”
obfuscates the real cause of the bee health crisis: their
toxic environment.

>I am pretty certain obfuscate would not be the word I would use since determining prime cause and distinguishing this from secondary cause seem to me to require the question... 'so what' or does it matter if the varroa and the insecticide can kill you individually or collectively?  The Mite-a-thon 'thingee' was about the poorest thought out idea I have ever heard... you might think someone was trying to distract you from why their last large idea or program produced no real results????

The focus on varroa mites, as the sole pest to honey
bees, detracts from a primary factor affecting the health
of honey bees: pesticides.

Varroa or pesticides is the source of funding for much bee research.  As I have to constantly warn students and BIP folks just because you are a hammer all the world is not a nail.  Historically bees were dying long before we had varroa or pesticides.  Certainly if you even casually consider the data from the Honey Bee Health Initiative the long list of pesticides and chemical compounds in hives from coast to coast should produce a large warning and imho more importantly the degree and extent of beekeeper applied chemical to combat varroa should not go unnoticed <if you participated in this program one of the larger benefits is you got to see not only what and how much was in your own hives but what also showed up collectively in the data(coast to coast with an even distribution of novice, side liners and commercial operations).

Pesticide exposure alters the varroa- to-bee-relationship
allowing varroa to overrun the hive.

>not certain about that.... but certainly chemical in the hive do not make the hive more robust or stronger to resist a long list of problem.

If it is just varroa mites impacting
the health of honey bees, what has caused the decline
in Monarch butterflies?

>speculative notion at best... COULD BE the same mechanism or could be something quite different. There is also the problem of historical benchmarks in that we generally have no good clue to natural variation in population.  IMHO some chemical (cheap in this case is never better) certainly do not enhance either the world for the butterfly or the bee.  My long and well established BIAS is the means/method of application of some chemicals may well be more important (in it negative impact on honeybees) than the form of the chemical itself.

Gene in Central Texas

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