>Yes, but maybe you can explain why a beekeeper would place his hives
adjacent to a corn field, knowing they could get dusted?

Pete, in some areas of the U.S., it is virtually impossible NOT to put your
hives next to a corn field.  But a more explanatory answer is that from
what I hear speaking to beekeepers in corn areas is that it is like rolling
the dice--in most years, any planting dust issues are minimal.  It is only
under certain unusual circumstances that they suffer from significant
kills.

>It is way more difficult to keep bees.  And I think it is a bit much to
think that beekeepers can know what the
hell is going on in all the fields adjacent to their beeyard.

Stan, this is a common assessment of the situation for many commercial
beekeepers.  This is why I am strongly pushing for our bee industries to
promote the concept to our regulators that ag lands must be "pollinator
friendly."  It is not only our honey bees that are getting slaughtered, but
all pollinators and other beneficial insects.

>Yes by putting the files on the shelf and hoping the problem will go away
>

Problems such as epidemics due to novel virus strains do "go away" on their
own.  Pesticide issues don't.  That is why I am actively involved with the
beekeepers who are addressing pesticide issues at the regulatory level.

>Why do you Randy and others say ignore it and deal with pesticide effects
in general.

Bob, I apologize for making the erroneous assumption that those on the List
also read my articles in ABJ and posted free to my website.  If you had,
you would see that I have never suggested that we ignore the planting dust
issue.  To the contrary, I have begged beekeepers to file incident reports
time and again.  It is only by filing such reports that the regulatory
agencies are made aware that a problem exists.  From the PMRA's website re
incident reports considered major in severity filed in 2010:
"Four incidents involved honey bee mortality."

PMRA took action:

"Bee mortality was reported at a commercial cranberry production site in an
environment major incident (2010-3618), which included an analysis of a
sample of dead bees. This analysis identified the presence of diazinon and
its metabolite diazinon oxon. The PMRA determined that it was highly
probable that the reported effects were due to exposure to the pesticide.
According to the 2009 re-evaluation decisions (Re-evaluation Decision
RVD2009-18), the use of diazinon on cranberries will be phased out and will
no longer be registered in Canada.

Bob, I've spent a good deal of face-to-face time with the EPA regulators,
and a bit with some from the PMRA.  They are pretty clear that we
beekeepers have only ourselves to blame, since few were filing incident
reports.  Without such reports, a problem does not "officially" exist! The
regulators have no justification for restricting the use of a popular
pesticide unless there is a documented problem.

Last year, due to unusual circumstances, there were a number of serious bee
kills in Ontario, for which incident reports were filed.  Both the PMRA and
the EPA are seriously concerned about these, and have let the registrants
know that they had better fix the problem pronto or face revocation of the
registrations.  I heartily support the agencies in moving rapidly (as far
as bureaucracies are concerned) to fix the problem.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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