> > The use of TM and
> > other antibiotics in our beekeeping practices is accomplishing only
> > one thing: fostering germ resistance! Soon there might be an
> > epidemic that no antibiotic on Earth will be able to control..
<etc>
>
Allen Dick wrote:
>
> *Perhaps* attempting to stictly control such drugs would extend the
> useful life, but there is a cost/benefit analysis that comes into
> play in all such decisions.  It's the old economic question of the
> optimal rate at which to consume vs. conserve.  By severely curbing
> the distribution of these powerful agents it might be possible to
> have the full use of them at some projected future date, but in the
> meantime, we would lose many lives, agricultural production,...
<etc>
 
Allen, I belive you are missing the point here. The use of antibiotics
as an ordinary additive to the hive can only result in a larger
susceptibility to the disease. The natural selection that was first
showed by Darvin is still valid. By feeding drugs this mechanism
is set aside, and the natural control of the disease destroyed.
 
This natural selection is the fundamental process that has brought
us to where we are today. We are now tampering with the process of
evolution by not letting the best fitted survive. Moreower, it has come
to the point where we have started to turn the clock backwards in the
interest of short term profit.
 
No one want's to stop using antibiotics where it's needed. But to
indiscriminately spread it around without the need is a waste of
money and resources. I don't belive that American beekeepers are any
less capable in managing hives than for example New Zealand beekeepers.
Like in Sweden, they are not allowed to use antibiotics in NZ, still
they (or we) don't have any great problem with AFB.
 
The process of evolution is still going on. It's slow, we don't see much
of it, but it's there and we are a part of it. We should spare a thought
for it now and then in our struggle for making that extra dollar.
 
 
--
Regards
 
P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
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