Hello All,

Thanks to those which took the time to author the "open letter"!

>We have not claimed that IAPV is the cause of CCD.

Vauge wording in press releases indeed gave the impression. The Science
article gave the impression. CNN gave the impression. Papers all over the
country gave the impression.

Those of us familiar with bees & virus said. " Now just wait a minute!" when
the news broke. The IAPV/ *cause of CCD * hypothesis was pulled from CNN
within hours.

>We have said that IAPV is highly associated with CCD and should be pursued
as a potential trigger for disease.

Bailey tried for decades to stir beekeeping virus research but his pleas
fell mostly on deaf ears. Mainly because all you can do is document. The
only solutions for virus issues are well known among most beekeepers. We
will never be able to drop by Mann Lake and pick up a cure for IAPV (or
other viruses) in our hives.

>We also have not said that bee imports from Australia should be
banned; in fact, this is not a decision to be made by any of the members of
this research group.

There are indeed reasons why an Australian import in the future could be
stopped but IAPV is not the reason.

 >Indeed, the fact that IAPV has now been found in the US, Australia, Israel
and China (royal jelly samples) means that the virus may already be globally
distributed.

Why was the above left out of news releases?

The best point about the CCD research going on is that we will learn things
about bees we never knew before. Many will not have a bearing on CCD but
will be valuable in the future.

> The bee industry deserves state-of-the-art accurate science
and full disclosure.

The bee industry is on the endangered spiecies list. Less commercial
beekeepers each year. The number one value of the industry to the U.S. is
pollination.

We still have not figured a way to replace the lost feral colonies. The
USDA-ARS has said over and over the U.S. lost over 90% of the feral colonies
after mites entered the U.S.in the 1980's. Many areas seem to getting small
isolated populations back but the last estimate I  heard said we are still
missing 80% of feral colonies twenty years later.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison
Midwest beekeeper


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