I am unsympathetic to Australians wanting to export their bees or honey
anywhere.  I purchased a sampler of New Zealand honey which was
confiscated by Australian customs on the grounds that it endangered the
Australian honey industry even though I had no intention of opening the
jars until returning to California.
 
Jim Shaver,
Los Angeles
 
 
On Mon, 22 Dec 1997 13:33:59 -1000 Walter Patton <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>Dear BEE-L readers
>        The USDA is poised to allow Australian and New Zealand honey
>bees into the
>United States. It has not been in the federal registry and they would
>like
>to allow this to start in Spring of 1998. The USDA already has
>circumvented
>the intent of the Honey Bee act of 1922 with a sloppy (possibly an
>illegal)
>rule making process a couple of years ago that effectively did away
>with
>the Honey Bee Act which was established in 1922 by Congress with the
>intent
>" to prevent the introduction and spread of pests and disease of Honey
>Bees" by prohibiting the import of Honey Bees from any where to the U
>S .
>        History lesson over the USDA is ready, in 1998, to allow the
>Australian
>and NZ honey bees into the US. The problem is that the Australians and
>the
>New Zealand bee keeping industry needs easy access to the Honolulu
>International Airport as a break and distribution hub to facilitate
>the
>business of exporting their bees to the US, Canada, Korea, and of
>coarse
>China. In the last rule making the USDA  tried to ignore that this
>transiting of NZ honey bees through Honolulu airport constituted an
>entry
>into the state of Hawaii which has been prohibited since 1985 by
>Hawaii
>State Statue in an attempt to protect the Hawaiian Honey Bees from the
>introduction of Honey bee mites and other diseases. Hawaii queen bees
>are
>certified to be mite free.
>        Now after more consideration the USDA has recognized that this
>transiting
>is an entry and that the concerns of the State of Hawaii and the
>Hawaii bee
>keepers should be given a little additional thought. In addition to
>the
>request of New Zealand and Australia other Asian countries according
>to Dr.
>Robert Flanders with APHIS/USDA have been making inquiries about
>transiting
>through Hawaii to export markets. A quick fix was proposed  that if
>the
>State of Hawaii would not object to the transiting of NZ and Aus.
>Honey
>bees that Hawaii would be excluded from the import of the NZ and Aus.
>Bees
>leaving this issue of other countries to be decided at a later date.
>        To date the Hawaii Dept. Of Ag has said no to the quick fix
>and is
>developing a protocol proposal for the testing of the Hawaii honey bee
>populations. The question is what is needed for a true risk assessment
>to
>be meaningful? How many of the 12 or 14 diseases reported to be
>present on
>the NZ bees should we look for on our bees? Proving a negative being
>much
>more difficult then proving a positive what percentage do we have to
>check.
>100% or
> 5 % of total colonies? What is the health status of other nations
>wishing
>to ship through Hawaii and do we screen for those also?
>I really and truly do not have a clue as to the answer to these
>questions.
>The Hawaii Dept. Of Ag.is seeking input from the industry and I would
>appreciate any suggestions from the group.
>Thanking everyone for their considerations in advance and wishing
>everyone
>the Happiest of Holidays-
>                        Aloha   Walter Patton   Hawaii
>