> But what a PR disaster this man has caused!  

I disagree.

I think David honestly described the lack of priority
and attention that pollination has suffered with his
artful turn of phrase.  I'm impressed.  I've met Dave,
and I had no idea he was so savvy about giving a
reporter a "quotable quote".

> Consider some of the phrases used:

> "It's a lot like AIDS," Hackenberg said.

OK, perhaps a bit over the top, but like the 
"ugly stepchild" phrase, it is exactly the sort
of short, pithy, punchy metaphor that is "quotable".

If the general public gets the impression that our
bees are suffering from an AIDS-like disease, this 
will be the first time in our lifetimes that the
general public has been exposed to a message about
bees that does not focusing on stings, Africanized
bees, and so on. 

> "And the variety of fungi, viruses and mites found in 
> collapsing hives suggests a widespread failure of the bees' 
> immune systems."

Nothing wrong with the above, as Dave is simply explaining
HOW the disease at hand might be "like AIDS".

> This may strain their ability to recover from infections, the report says,

> and expose them to a wider range of diseases and toxic chemicals.'

The above was the reporter's summary of the REPORT published
by researchers, not a statement by Dave Hackenberg.

> "They forage over a large area so they pick up a lot of junk," Hayes said.

OK, not the best PR one might want for honey, but this was Jerry Hayes 
speaking, the State Apiarist for Florida and IF he was accurately quoted 
(a rare thing when one is quoted by the press), I'm sure he does not need 
any of us to remind him of the wider issue of protecting "the image of
honey".

> [The "prime suspect" for the collapse, according to Hackenberg, is]
> ...an increasingly popular class of pesticides called neonicotinoids...
> a new strain of fungus that has appeared in many of the failing hives.

Nothing wrong with talking about pesticides being a possible cause of CCD,
but I think that neonicotinoids have been ruled out as a "prime suspect"
by now.

> I am certainly glad that I do not have to try to sell honey in the US!

The St. Petersburg Times is not even a "regional" paper like the
Orlando Sentinel or the Miami Herald, let alone one with a nationwide
readership, so I don't think that much damage has been done with these
quotes. 

Regardless, don't beat up on Jerry - he's working hard to try and help
find out what's killing the hives, and does not need a bunch of
Monday-morning quarterbacks critiquing his skills as a spokesman.

Forgot... Peter's from the UK... A "Monday-morning quarterback" is a 
guy who tells everyone at the office what the actual quarterback in
Sunday's game of football (the US variety, not soccer) should have done.
(Except we ought to call them "Tuesday-morning quarterbacks", given that
the big games are now played and televised on Monday nights, but that's 
a whole 'nother level of detail you didn't care about.)

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