Peter L Borst wrote:>The Isle of Wight disease, too, wiped out vast numbers of honey bees. Prior to the 1800s, there simply aren't records of hive losses. People, on the other hand, died by the millions from plague, famine, etc. And to single out pesticides as the thing to lay awake at night sweating about, seems to be misdirected anguish. Let's resolve to be better beekeepers, stop looking for somebody to blame, and have a good time doing what we do.<

"Eat , drink and be merry for tomorrow we die".  Surely we can do better than that with our human intelligence.

Was it misdirected to research and then ban DDT that was accumulating in mammal fat?  Misdirected to seek the cause of IOW disease and so discover tracheal mites and how to control them? Misdirected to research and ban aerosols that were destroying the ozone layer? Misdirected to research and discourage smoking that destroys human lungs?

Neonics may or may not be damaging bees at field levels. Neonics may or may not be killing off other beneficial or harmless insects and destroying the food supply for harmless wild birds.  Levels of neonics in run-offs may or may not be damaging aquatic life.  We need to know. Research to find out is not misdirected. 

But agreed we should not be looking for someone to blame - we should be working with the manufacturers.  They also need to know what their products are doing to avoid uninformed bans. 

Robin 
             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html