>On Wed 30 Oct 1996  Stan Sandler in Canada asked for further
>comment about the legality of mailing bees around the world.
>
>He said "Hopefully it is NOT LEGAL to just mail bees from
>a country where tropilaelaps exists to another continent where it
>doesn't (although with all the problems in Nicaragua I'm sure
>that bee inspection is not much of a priority}."
>
>In general the legality of such an action depends on the
>importing country, which sets its own laws to protect the health of
>its bee population.  Some countries may have limited, or no, bee
>health protection measures, in which case the importation of
>bees infested with tropilaelaps might well be 'legal'.  Many
>pest/disease introductions have been effected through 'legal'
>movements of bees.
>
>I don't know about the current bee disease laws in Nicaragua.
>The International Bee Reseach Association published a
>bibliography reviewing bee disease (and beekeeping)
>legislation around the world, though it might not be very current.
>
>As tropilaelaps has become an issue in international trade
>'relatively' recently it is not covered by the "International animal
>health code; mammals, birds, bees";  produced by the OIE (the
>world organization for animal health) as a guide to official
>veterinarians setting health-protection measures for
>international trade.  A current project I am involved with is the
>review of the chapters of this Code which relate to bee diseases,
>and tropilaelaps will certainly be looked at as part of this review.
>
>In the meantime I guess we should remember that even though
>things are lawful, they may not be helpful
>
>Andrew Matheson
>
>(Personal opinion; not necessarily that of the New Zealand
>Ministry of Agriculture)
 
In America we already have every critter in existnce. Protecting ourselves
from mites is like closing the barn door after the horse is out. We should
close our borders to protect the rest of the world from us. This former is
an attempt at humor but does have a point.
 
Jerry Fries