>Hmmmm....  Might work if there is enough media coverage. Here is another gun
>for the battle:
>
>The label directions for malathion prohibit application while bees are
>foraging. The applicator is legally required to obey the label directions.
>Application of malathion during the daytime hours without a monitoring system
>to determine when bees are foraging is in violation. A wilful violation is a
>criminal act.
>
>The applicators know what the label says, and they refuse to check when bees
>forage. They would rather evade the directions by notifying beekeepers.
>
>Get a camcorder and record the applications in progress. Then show bees
>foraging at the same time.
>
 
Having been involved as a witness in some large bee kills, you should have
a third party (who does not work for you or is not related to you) do the
filming or any sampling.  Because the beekeeper has a vested interest in
the matter, any sampling, etc. done by the beekeeper will be called into
question.
 
The lawyers for the applicators will argue that the beekeeper purposely
adultered samples used for residue analysis or "doctored" the time of
filming, etc.
 
Some very strong pesticide kill cases have been lost because the beekeeper
handled the samples (remember all of the "chain of custody" issues from the
Simpson case?).
 
This is a tough one.  In Montana, our large beekeepers may go 2-3 weeks
before visiting a yard.  Walking into a yard with a severe kill and piles
of bees in front of the hives is a sad experience.  More than one beekeeper
has rushed back to the truck to get a bag or bottle to collect some samples
(which the court throws out).  Better to step back, go to a phone, and get
someone else (preferably a bee inspector) to come, look over the situation,
and take photographs and samples for residue analysis.
 
And by the way, insist that any samples taken for residue analysis are kept
separate by hive (I suggest that the inspector rank each sampled hive by
degree of kill and write it down in a log - be sure to give the hive an
identification number), store the samples in clean glass bottles or foil
bags (never plastic), and freeze the samples immediately.  Taking dry ice
to the site is the best approach.  Otherwise, hard freeze the samples as
soon as possible.
 
Also, the person who collected the samples should keep a log book and send
a tracking (custody) form with the samples.  Each time one person hands the
samples to another (say collector to the postman, postman to analytical
chemist, etc.) the form is to be signed by the person receiving the sample
(and preferably by the person handing off the sample).
 
The tracking form should be kept so that it can be produced in court.
 
The other benefit to having a bee inspector out is that she or he can
inspect the hives and rule out mites, disease, poor management as likely
causes of the kill.  Piles of dead bees and planes flying overhead just
before the kill may seem obvious, but the lawyers will and have argued that
the cause was poor management or disease.
 
And finally, if your area requires you to register the exact locations of
your apiaries, do put your bees on the proper sites.  We had one MT
beekeeper who lost lots of bees from industrial chemicals, but couldn't sue
the company because his bees were not on the legally registered locations.
In other words, he broke the law first.
Jerry J. Bromenshenk, Ph.D.
Director, DOE/EPSCoR & Montana Organization for Research in Energy
The University of Montana-Missoula
Missoula, MT  59812-1002
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel:  406-243-5648
Fax:  406-243-4184