> I suggest taking a look at some of the data from the Moran lab.  The
>  chart we have posted here (along with a link to the full
> study):http://www.beeuntoothers.com/index.php/beekeeping/articles/105-antibiotic-resistant-gut-microbes-in-honey-bees

I followed the link and right off, I saw this, "Here is the latest study
out, and it includes comparisons of the antibiotic resistance of the
microbes in the guts of Dee Lusby's untreated bees to those at the
Tucson Bee Lab...virtually down the road".

"Virtually" is a lot farther than any bee can fly, at least last time I
went to the Lab and to Dee's and her outyards.  My estimate is 35 miles
or so, just to her house as the crow flies.  The yards are beyond.  The 
environment is entirely different, too.

Much of Dee's stock originated, by her own report, in Tucson from
swarms caught on golf courses a decade ago, after the original stock was
virtually (there is that word again) wiped out for the second time.  At
that time, their base of operation was an industrial lot under a freeway 
in Tucson and they kept some stock there as well as out in the desert. 
http://honeybeeworld.com/Lusby/

There is a huge difference in the urban environment and the rugged
desert where Dee keeps her bees. Granted, there are cattle out there,
which may well be treated with antibiotics, but the city sewers are full
of drugs and any area with feedlots will have runoff, too.

There is enough interest in the true parts of Lusby story without
spinning it and forgetting important facts and making it into a legend.

I will read the rest sometime, but, knowing the truth, I'll stop right
there for now.   This is an interesting field of study and intuition
tells us that there should be something there, but intuition is only a
tiny part of science.  The real grunt work is to present a watertight
case, and I suspect this study fails if the intro reflects the 
underlying assumptions.  They are demonstrably false.

That said, thanks for keeping us on our toes, Dean.

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