Hi All
 
Andy, thanks for posting the bit from Sci.Agrobee onto the group.
Just a few things:
 
The original poster rekons he could test by seeing how well they
work. I am sure it would be easier to just go to a local university
and befriend somebody there and get them to run an extract of a
conventional strip (as in the one people pay too much for now) and a
sample of the Chinese one and compare the fluvalinate peak. I am sure
in any High pressure liquid chromatography catalogue there is a value
for the retention time for fluvalinate on a specific column so one
could check the concentrations on the stip quite easily. If they are
below par the number of stips can be adjusted. But then again how can
one decide on the dosage of a pesticide for something as variable as
a beehive??
 
In my world things made in China tend to be of reasonably good
quality and often far better value than things made in other
countries. Often here we could buy three chinese items for the price
of one german or america item (say a power tool). All the armaments
donated by the US and Russia to african countries fall apart within
weeks. Chinese stuff still works. Remember - in china one does not
pay a researcher in dollars, but rather a far weaker currency. Hence,
for the same investment in China one gets maybe thirty times the
work. Given the natural work ethic of chinese people this translates
to a lot of research. Given also the very high education standards in
china it helps as well.
 
Unfortuneately the chinese have a little problem with communism that
tends to colour the impression the western media dictatorship gives
us - just like what we hear about India - the country with the
biggest middle class - and therefore tax base -  in the world.
 
 
So I would go with those strips if I believed the value of research
being conducted by the patent holders on the present product was
below par - a bit like how in the '80s I would have bought an IBM
clone - why support a behemoth that is sitting on a twig on the edge
of a cliff?
 
Just my two cents
 
Keep well
 
Garth
Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
15 Park Road
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
6139
South Africa
 
Time = Honey
 
If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space!!