Tim Arheit  wrote:

>>http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-08162007-092313/ 


I had not seen this study before and found it to be quite an eye opener.
However, it must be kept in mind that while these miticides have a negative
on bee colonies, the parasites against which they are used are much worse
for the colony. Miticides don't kill colonies, and without these treatments,
I suspect that beekeeping would have almost disappeared by now, at least in
Northern climates. So, before we blame all our problems on miticides don't
forget the negative effect of the parasites themselves:

> "Decreased flight performance and sperm production in drones of the honey
bee (Apis mellifera) slightly infested by Varroa destructor mites during
pupal development" by Pedro Duay, David De Jong and Wolf Engels

> ABSTRACT. We developed a bioassay to measure the flying power of drone, in
order to determine which drones could reach a drone congregation area. ...
Drones parasitized with one mite flew as long as control drones; however,
those that had been infested by two mites flew significantly less. ...
Drones infested during development with one or two mites produced 24 and 45%
fewer sperm, respectively.

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