> Even a cursory review would have revealed that:  1) Very little corn  seed
> in the US is treated with imidacloprid (estimated at less than 1/2  of
> 1%),

Jerry is correct about today but not a few short years ago. Plenty of 
imidacloprid use in the U.S. on plants bees
visit but corn use has changed to clothianidin. Maybe future testing could
use clothianidin instead of imidacloprid.

From the June issue of Bee Culture pg. 30 :
"In 2010 , 99.8% of corn seeds planted on 88 million acres of land ( the
largest single use of arable land in North America) were coated with
neonicotinoid insecticides ; in fact, the amount of clothianidin on a single
kernel contains enough active ingredients to kill more than 80,000 honey
bees"

> Like Randy, I've also talked to labs who analyze HFCS, and none have ever
> seen any HFCS samples with imidacloprid.

I asked the largest wholesaler of HFCS and they said the product was never
checked for imidacloprid or more importantly clothianidin. *in my opinion*
the amounts would be very small but still should be investigated.
 I still feed HFCS in spring & summer but move to sucrose for winter. I am
not a researcher but my bees *seem* to winter better on sucrose.

I could not stay in business with out the HFCS & sucrose plants. Beekeepers 
are big customers.

> The only conceivable ways that imidacloprid were to show up in HFCS is via
> someone purposely adding it (as in the case of Harvard researchers),

I believe clothianidin would have been a better chemical choice *if* corn
was the focus but orange & soybeans plus many other plants use imidacloprid.

0r intentional contamination (someone spiked the syrup,
> perhaps with  the hopes of being paid damages).

You were doing good Jerry but you lost me here? Kill your own bees in hopes
of being paid by big Ag? Really! Not what I would recommend a beekeeper to 
bet the farm on!

Beekeepers wish beekeeping could return to the good old days. Hives without
field bees are worthless. Beekeepers can still speak out about problems but
many chose to keep quiet.

bob

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