Hi George,
Great post as usual! I agree with the points you made and would like to
add a few.
>
> Perhaps the loss of 3 hives out of 10 (30%) is not of great importance to a
> hobbyist,
> but a 30% loss to a full time commercial beekeeper might put him out of
> business.

Very important point bacause  if all beekeeping in the  U.S. was done on
a hobby level there wouldn't be very many medications registered for use
on bees. Cost of reg. being the problem. Its hard now because there are
about half as many full time beekeepers as ten years ago. Chemical
companys are not going to register a product they can't make a profit
on. Behind the scenes beekeepers such as Mr. Bob Stevens for the gell
and one in the case of checkmite from Bayer out of Kansas have put forth
effort to push these products through the government "red tape". Thanks!
I have had two high winter loss years. Both times i was ready to quit. A
survey i read once said only 7% of beekeepers keep bees for the money. I
cleaned up those dead outs and with a jump start from my fellow
beekeepers was going again! 30% loss can be trouble.
>
> The new APICURE, formic acid gel, recently approved by the Federal Government
> is
> supposed to kill 100% of all tracheal mites and 70% of Varroa Jacobsoni mites,
> which is enough population control to prevent colony loss by Varroa.

Those ARE the best figures i have seen. I have seen others. I believe
the gell WILL kill 70% of varroa under ideal conditions. I believe we
should hope for the best and expect the worse if weather conditions are
not ideal. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY NOT BLAME THE PRODUCT FOR US NOT GETTING
TREATMENT ON EARLY ENOUGH OR US NOT CHECKING IN 7 DAYS TO MAKE SURE THE
PRODUCT IS WORKING so we can take other action to keep from having 30%
and up losses!
    BTW, the ONLY approved
> chemical in Denmark
> for both mites is formic acid and they have had excellent results.

I am not familiar with its application?

  Our US
> government refused to approve the use of liquid formic acid as too dangerous
> to the beekeeper.

As a former orchard grower which used chemical sprays i find the
U.S.D.A. position unrealistic. I have used chemicals MUCH more dangerous
then formic acid. I have made appications with rubber suits on, chemical
gloves and signs around fields barring entrance. Seems to me a maker of
formic acid would have to only add honey bees to their label and list
the U.S.D.A. requirements for application. Has a maker of formic acid
liquid ever been contacted? Maybe Blane will respond? Agreed most hobby
beekeepers should stick with the gel!
>
> Thanks again for the post George! Looks to me like you are not afraid to speak your mind on important issues facing beekeeping today! Maybe like me you  figure if we don't solve these problems and get a couple products in use for AFB and the different mites there might not be beekeeping in the end of this century! On New Years eve this year i stayed home and looked at all the things which have happened in beekeeping in the last century. How many of those problems are still there and being masked by chemicals? More than our researchers would like to admit. Another scarry item is that in Europe when mites became resistant to fluvaliant the also became resistant to Amatraz and choumaphos! I called a pest control place in K.C. and the number of resistant to chemicals insects in the world is huge. Good thing they are not the size of air planes!
Bob Harrison U.S.A.

Bob Harrison U.S.A.