Mark

I'd be interested in a description of their sampling protocol as you observed it.  Did they randomize hives to be sampled?  What percent of the hives in apiary were sampled?  How did they obtain the samples?  From what parts of what kinds of frames and how many frames per hive?  Or, did they use pollen traps?  If so, new traps?  If not, how were the traps cleaned prior to sampling?  Did they wear disposable gloves, or just standard bee gloves or bare hands?  What did they use for sample containers - foil, glass, paper?  Were they  using dry ice to freeze the samples?  Blue ice gel?  Standard ice? Any cooling at all?  If the samples of pollen were pollen in comb, did they separate the pollen from the comb?  Did they have field transit standards to assess chemical stability?  All of these factors can affect the levels and sometimes the kinds of chemicals  found in samples.

A description of exactly what they did (sampling protocol) would be most helpful in interpreting your results.  The part about 'new at being around bees' could be a concern - if they were new around bees, how did they know how to properly sample for pesticides?  Sorry to sound like a know it all, but I did do almost 30 years of sampling of bees and beehive materials for EPA, DOE, and DoD on Superfund sites and other places where presence of pollutants and/or pesticides were of concern.  Our work revealed many factors that affect results.

<I was glad to be on site when those samples were collected when my hives were in SC. The Apiary Inspectors were nice to work with. They were new at being around bees. But I find the SC Apiary Inspectors willing to learn and willing to take instruction and advice on how to handle bees and beekeeping equipment.>




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