Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:48:28 -0400 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Greetings list,
Coupla questions;
For Randy Oliver
How does; “some degree of risk that the pests are present is inherent
in the use of
sampling procedures for inspection” arrive at; “once the missed pathogen
inevitably slips through?" In other words how do you jump from a “degree
of risk” to an “inevitability”? Also, I would like to know what is of
more risk to you as a pollinator of almonds, viruses that come from
Australia or the ones that come from Michigan via Florida with stopovers in
Idaho and Arizona with mutations along the way?
For Jim Fischer
In the quest for freedom from risk, at what point does the level of
certainty required become a de facto ban on imports? If what Peter Detchon
said about the rigor of inspections being done on the Aussie side is true,
and then on top of that you add very rigorous inspections on the American
side would you not be well into the red as far as profitability goes for
imported Australian bees?
Also, who has more at stake in making sure no bad stuff gets through,
the people whose livelihood depends on selling bees to U.S. beekeepers or
overworked and under funded U.S. federal inspectors like the ones who were
watching toys from China? Let’s assume that the mother of all pathogens
threatening bee kind is not more likely to come from without the U.S. than
from within. I mean who’s to say a colony of San Diego Africanized bees
carrying some deadly virus won’t hitch a ride on one of those Princess
Cruise ships headed for the South Pacific, fattening up on leftover
maraschino cherry juice all the way? Honestly, I’m not for or against
importing bees from Australia. I just think that if you don’t want any
risk at all from imports, then you should ban them, period, end of
discussion. But then how safe will you be? It’s clear to me from this
discussion that no one knows what the risk is, or how to assess it. But
neither does anyone know how much safer we are if we do ban imports,
because no one knows if the risks from bees and bee pathogens that are
already here is at least as great as that from Australian imports. The
reason we don’t know these things is because it would cost to much to find
out. That is also the reason you will most likely not see a rigorous
inspection regime accompanying imports of honey bees. Australian package
producers would just go out of business. I think.
I Guess that’s more than a coupla questions
Steve Noble
Go Rockies. sniff… sniff….
******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm *
******************************************************
|
|
|