> Chemical disease control will eliminate the possibility for a natural selection
> against a better resistant stock. That's why we don't use any drugs for control
> of AFB or nosema in Sweden. There is very little AFB here when we always
> kill the hives that have an outbreak of the disease. Over time the bees
> naturally
> will get a resistance. I belive we can help them in that process by selecting
> more against disease restistance. Steve Taber for example claims he has
> succeeded in doing it. But there has to be a reduction in the use of drugs to
> get a chance to do the selection.
>
> So are we really giving the genetic disease control a chance?
>
> Regards P-O
Agree on chemicals interfering with natural selection but can we not
select for resistance even while using a chemical? For instance the
frozen brood test for hygenic behavior will work whether or not the
colony is being fed antibiotic.>