Hello Brian & All,
Hard to say Brian what the study means for your operation. If you have used
none of the products then in my opinion little.

 I will add a few comments.
The first is that commercial beekeepers were NEVER told prior to use that
apistan & checkmite were such a wax contaminate. Especially with apistan.
Some research ( and there has been a bunch) showed fluvalinate might be
causing some minor drone sterilazation but fluvalinate is the most widely 
used
mitacide in the world. Not surprising at all the most found chemical but the
levels are a bit puzzling.

I know Randy will disagree with what I am about to say as the maker of
Apistan swears the formula was not changed (only the wording of tau
fluvalinate) but many beekeepers reported problems at the time and some
independent research showed bee kills.

*Perhaps* what happened was the level was getting high in wax and was the
problem instead of a different formula. My phone rang off the hook at the
time with questions but I had already dropped apistan so was of little help
other than saying to switch to another way of controlling varroa.

Checkmite (coumaphos) was pushed into service ( 1997 Florida /1998
Missouri)  when huge numbers of bees were crashing as fluvalinate had lost
its effectiveness. Bayer (to be honest) did say that wax contamination could
result but honey contamination would not. Checkmite was only to be a quick
industry fix.

I used for three years ( with super varroa control) and then replaced all my
coumaphos & fluvaliante comb. Bell Honey in Florida did the same. Private
testing showed high levels of both in comb in the Bell operation and the
outfit had only used legal strips. I was consulted in a case of a 600 hive
yard in which hives were crashing from varroa. Were the apistan strips
failing was the question? The pettis test said no!

 Horace Bell found the  unopened boxes of apistan strips in the bushes
around the yard. The employees were fired! So I know any contamination came
from legal use of both products.

1997 was the last year I used apistan and 2000 was the last year I used
checkmite.

>Fluvalinate stands out above all other chemicals found in 98% of the 259
>wax samples, 88% of the 350 pollen samples and 83% of the 140 bee samples.

>What is most disturbing is the mean sample value of 7239 ppb in wax, puts
>some of the samples above the LD50 level (LD50 =lethal level)  of 15860 ppb

I am not sure what the lab said the levels were in the Bell operation but*
if * the levels were close to the LD 50 I would have been told. Both Horace
Bell & myself would never place another apistan or checkmite strip in a hive
and most likely would not have done so in the first place if we would have
been informed of the comb contamination issue. All that was EVER published
about both products during the early years were drone sterilization with
apistan ( disputed by Zoe con) and queen issues with checkmite ( disputed at
the time by Bayer).

The defenders of the products said drone sterilization and queen issues
would only be issues in queen rearing operations and commercial beekeepers
should not be concerned. One seller of both products was very vocal at bee
meetings on the subject!

Brushy Mountain ( Steve Forrest) had registered Api Life Var ( thymol
product) which he and I promoted at the national conventions and we were met
with much criticism to say the least. Allen Dick attended the convention and
might remember me getting up and saying I had switched to thymol. I did
disagree with Steve on some of his statements at the time about being able
to handle with bare hands ( remember Allen?) as an employee of mine became
sick from smelling the fumes alone. I suggested keeping api life var outside
the truck cab and only handling with gloves.
Still Steve went along with my recommendations as I was the first beekeeper
in Missouri to receive api life var and had used the season before the
convention.

>A logical question that comes from that data table is how representative is
>this data to beekeepers across America?

To those which are still using both products ( and a recent call to a bee
supply house says the products are still being purchased) I would say the
study should be an eye opener. However to be honest I know of many outfits
which are still using comb on which both products have been used and still
run good bees.
maybe a few lurkers will step forward and say they are one of those
beekeepers.

>In the US, chlorothalonil (trade name Bravo) a fungicide, is used
>predominantly on cranberry, blueberries, almonds, peanuts, potatoes, and
>cucumbers. It is also used on golf courses and lawns and is the 3rd most
>common fungicide in the USA. .

These are sprayed on bees which the bees are on the bloom. Clover in yards
and golf courses.

Brian lets try and get along and share information. I have many of the 
answers you might be looking for.
I have direct knowledge of migratory beekeeping in Texas, California  & 
Florida . Few beekeepers have worked bees in all three of the major 
beekeeping areas. All different in many many ways.

bob

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