Stan said: > I don't even want to suggest that Imidaclopid in corn > syrup is the cause of CCD. That seems to be exactly what you are suggesting. > But I don't think that it is very unreasonable to ask for > someone to do some testing of corn syrup to see if there is > any present when we know that it is present in the raw material. Here's something that may address your concerns, taken from the MAAREC FAQ on CCD: http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/FAQ/FAQCCD.pdf "Feeding: The practice of feeding was common to most of the beekeepers interviewed and surveyed who experienced CCD. Some feed HFCS, others sucrose however, some did not feed. Most beekeepers interviewed did not feed protein but some used pre-made protein supplement." So, some number of the operations hit by CCD apparently had fed no HFCS at all. More to the point, "CCD" presents a very different set of symptoms from those cited as representative of the problems in France on sunflowers. Here is what was said at the time about the situation in France (cribbed from the Bee-L archives, and numbered by me for easy reference): Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 13:40:16 -0400 From: Andre Simoneau <[log in to unmask]> Organization: MAPAQ Subject: Re Symptoms of intoxication in bees "Symptoms [of Imadocloprid poisoning, as seen on sunflowers in France] are..." 1) "...trembling, rotation on place, curving of the abdomen and a non-stop rubbing of legs together..." Not reported as a symptom of CCD, but a good match for what one sees with an overt Imadocloprid kill. 2) "...Finally bees do not come back at the hive resulting in depopulation of adult bees and a desequilibrium in the ratio [of] brood/adults..." This is close enough to call a "match" with CCD symptoms. 3) "...cares to the brood are neglected and it cools off..." This may or may not be a symptom of CCD, but it makes sense that without enough bees, brood would be lost due to chilling. 4) "...and the colony dies after a few >>>MONTHS<<< after the beginning of intoxication." Nope, not a match at all, as if it took months for a colony to die, beekeepers would have had time to notice and reoort the trembling and so on mentioned in point (1). Further, it is known that CCD seems to depopulate colonies that "looked fine" only a short time ago, so we know that it is not taking months, we are talking weeks or days. ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************