Curtis L. Spacek wrote:
>
> the FDA is part of the U S government right?need I say more?
 
Following are my reactions to several recent contributions to this
thread.
 
I don't know anything at all about the toxicity of fluvalinate, and so I
can't really add anthing useful on that, but I do know that a very
effective pesticide for direct application is soapy water.  Any brand of
dish washing liquid you find under your kitchen sink will do the trick,
and dish soap is a preferred method of destroying AHB colonies in places
like Texas and southern California.  It's clean and harmless (maybe even
beneficial) except to the insects that get coated with it.
 
The reason I bring this up is that the beekeepers involved in these
exterminations have a problem.  Dish soap is not a registered pesticide
and therefore is illegal for professionals to apply. My understanding is
that some people are working to get a particular brand of dish soap
registered with the EPA so they can use it.  Of coarse when they do,
they'll have to manage a load of paperwork every time they reach under
the sink!
 
But the problem isn't really the government as much as the press. The
alar thing is an excellent example.  It doesn't really matter whether
fluvalinate is toxic.  It matters if the press thinks it has a scandal
that can capture the imagination of the public.
 
Maybe we just need to figure out how to capture the imagination of the
press rather than waiting for them to imagine something on their own.
We need to know the toxicity facts about fluvalinate, and we need to let
the press know what we're up against.  And we need to keep our noses
clean in the mean time so we don't get burned.  I can't eat all the
honey my bees make, so I've got to sell it.  I seem to be staying ahead
of the mites for the most part without violating the label directions,
so I don't see this as more than an iritating bureacratic entanglement.
 
Michael Reddell
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http://www.hotcity.com/~mwr