>>“If beekeepers can get a ban on a particularly important pesticide that is
crucial for food production, why shouldn't farmers lobby for a ban on bees
in agricultural areas? How would such an argument go?”

Peter, this part of your argument does not work for me.  I see a fundamental
difference between the carry over effect of introducing a harmful chemical
into the environment and the keeping of bees, which by themselves pose no
environmental threat, but which may suffer the harmful effects of said
chemical’s presence in the environment.  Remember also that if honeybees can
be harmed by the use of a pesticide, so can other insect pollinators, and
while to a farmer insects are more likely to be an enemy than a friend, in
general they are an important element of a healthy environment.  If a farmer
could force a ban on an otherwise legitimate activity because what he is
introducing into the environment is harmful to that activity and may result
in his being sued, then what is to say he can’t ban people from that area if
they too are placed a risk.

Having said that, there remains this question of whether imidacloprid
actually does harm bees, a question that seems far from resolved judging by
this discussion.  There does seem to be considerable cause for concern on
the part of beekeepers, though.  The question I have is how is it that,
after imidacloprid has already been in widespread use for some time now,
this matter is not more settled than it is.  The producers of imidacloprid
seem to be playing a game of catch up with the scientific safety concerns,
which shouldn’t be the case.  The field studies that Paul mentions should
have already been done by now, and it only adds to people’s cynicism and
suspicion when it isn’t all laid out there on the table for everyone to see.

>>“If beekeepers are going to claim losses due to agricultural practices,
then isn't it logical that farmers will want to know where the hives really
are, if they actually were killed by the alleged pesticides, if they contain
off-label poisons introduced by the beekeepers, and what condition they were
actually in prior to their so-called Colony Collapse

This part makes a lot of sense, even if it causes us beekeepers to squirm
more than just a little.  But again, in the area of insecticides, before
they reach widespread use, all their effects to the environment need to be
thoroughly established.  If this were the case with imidacloprid perhaps
some of this controversy would have been avoided…,or not.

Steve Noble    

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