Walter Weller wrote:
 
> Let's get real, shall we?  Don't you think that if the FDA were as
> trusting as you seem to suppose, we would surely have more acaricides
> approved for our trusted "controlled" use than just fluvalinate alone?
>
> And this is not the same situation as the use of commercial agricultural
> pesticides with proven harmful effects, nor of prescription drugs either.
>  In each of those cases, a trained and licensed applicator is "trusted"
> with the deployment of the stuff in a proper manner, subject to loss of
> license and other penalties for misuse.  If fluvalinate were indeed
> harmful to humans, we would assuredly have to call in licensed
> applicators to put strips in our hives and to take them out again.  Have
> you tried to treat your termites yourself?  Try to get the stuff to kill
> them with -- the good stuff that the Orkin man uses.
>
Hi Walter,
One problem with you logic is that FDA does not regulate pesticides.
That is the domain of the EPA.  The other point is that a company (
pesticide dealer) must register a product with EPA and state
pesticide regulatory agencies ( usually state Dept. of Agriculture)
before they can sell the material.  This registration process is
expensive and few companies are or have been willing to do this for
the small market that beekeeping represents.  This is one of the
problems in the system in my view - in the US registration of a
product for pest control almost always requires a company to make a
large outlay to register their product so a small market is easily
overlooked because there is no real prospect to recover the
investment.  This results in some products not being registered not
because of problems with residue or usefullness but because they
cannot be sold to make a profit.
IMHO
blane
 
 
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Blane White
State Apiary Inspector
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
90 W Plato Blvd
St Paul, MN 55107
http://www.mda.state.mn.us
phone 612-296-0591
fax 612-296-7386
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