Hello Paul & All,
Thanks to all which provided information to the list.

 Fumigated foods are subject
> to immediate insect reinfestation because the
> hydrogen phosphide gas doesn't leave any residue.

We have always been told there is no residue but I wonder. A friend of mine 
has a blood disorder and his doctor thinks exposure to phostoxin might be 
responsible. The only exposure he has had has been in handling comb or going 
in areas a long time after the initial treatment. he hired the chemical 
applied.

Another friend uses the phostoxin in Nebraska but hired the gas applied to 
his container. I think in certain states not everyone can get nor apply 
phostoxin but I do not know that for sure. I checked into the gas bottles at 
the local gas (welding etc.) supplier and they said they stocked the gas but 
I decided to use para on my stored supers in container. 6 pounds does a 40 
foot container if the inside vents are duck taped shut.  A couple years ago 
when unloading I found a mouse nest. when unloading. I could not believe he 
had survived. Then I found a hole he had chewed in the one inch cedar floor. 
I figure when he found himself trapped in the container he chewed his way 
out. Then he started coming and going from looking at the hole. Ever see the 
movie "Mouse Hunt". Very funny movie!

My friend in Florida s buildings contain around 20,000 deep supers each . 
Once the supers are inside the building the building is gassed with bottles 
of phosphide gas. Takes three 100 pound bottles I believe to fumigate 20,000 
supers.  The building is 50 feet wide and 150 feet long I believe. The 
entire building is coated (on the outside) with around six inches of spray 
foam to make airtight. Strange looking to say the least!

Before phostoxin cyanide was used (even by the bee labs) to store comb and 
kill hives. We were told cyanide left no residue either. Cyanide is still in 
use in many part of the world and I suspect in the U.S. as beekeepers were 
busted a couple years ago with drums of cyanide and fines were over a 
100,000 dollars U.S..

The papers (and some beekeeping publications) said the use was most likely 
varroa control. I don't think so! Comb fumigation and killing off hives like 
has been done for decades would be my guess.

Comb is a sink for chemicals. I gave my opinion to the beekeeper from Europe 
that phostoxin leaves no residue but I could find no research on the net to 
support the "no residue claim' voiced by Paul. can you point to any research 
Paul where comb has been tested after fumigation with phostoxin? I found 
information like Peter posted but not the actual research showing testing 
(which should have been done to get the product approved for comb used to 
store honey)

Although cyanide crystals were sold for decades by bee supply houses in the 
U.S.for use to store comb and kill off  hives I was always told the product 
was never registered for use on comb. True or false? If the product was 
registered why was the registration dropped? Residue issues?

In response to Brian's CCD post:

If there is a positive side to CCD it would have to be the industry taking a 
hard look at all the current large scale beekeeping practices. I personally 
welcome any and all research into honeybees. The USDA-ARS has always been a 
friend of the commercial beekeeper but they seem to always be  late at 
finding problems *before* they become problems. Examples would be KBV, IAPV 
and N. ceranae to name the most current missed finds.

On the plus side Dr. Pamela Gregory (USDA-ARS Weslaco, Texas) did research 
which proved HFCS shortened the life span of honey bees. However she only 
repeated the 1974 research done at the USDA-ARS ( Tucson, Arizona) with the 
same results. Unlike when the first papers (  Considerations in selecting 
Sugars for Feeding to Honeybees ABJ ) of Roy J. Barker were published in the 
seventies the industry took notice of Pamela's research and a large part of 
large beekeepers now feed sucrose.

You can find the research in the article I did for ABJ last April ( I 
believe from memory) about the Weslaco Bee lab.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison 


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