Copy to Bee List FYI: This is a request for emergency action. If you are in a
similar situation with massive mosquito spraying, you may wish to make a
similar request of your state authorities:

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Dr. Von H. McCaskill, Department Head, Dept. of Pesticide Regulation
Cecil Hernandez, Regulatory Specialist, Charleston
Barry Kostyk, Regulatory Specialist, Horry County
Lee Galloway, Pee Dee Research & Experiment Center
Dr. Mike Hood Apicultural Specialist, Clemson Universtity

Sent at 11:30 am, October 6, 1999
Dear Sirs:

    As you know, I provided the Department of Pesticide Regulation a report
of a clearcut violation of the pesticide label in Horry County Sunday. We all
know there are many more violations going on, but I cannot monitor the entire
situation. I have donated about a week of my time for this public service
monitoring, but I also am self employed and have to pay my bills.

    Bees will be foraging heavily today, and for the next few days.
Goldenrod, a prime bee forage plant is in full bloom; asters are beginning.
There are also many other fallflowers along the roadsides and in fields that
are foraged by bees. Applications in violation, of materials that prohibit
application while bees are foraging, will cause massive damage to our
pollinator populations. Growers who have lost their crops to drought and
flooding this year may lose them next year to lack of pollinators. The second
loss is from an entirely human cause, and is preventable, simply by requiring
that applicators obey the law.

    Bees began carrying pollen this morning at about 10 am. I expect they
will be carrying it heavily throughout the afternoon, reaching peak foraging
in mid to late afternoon and, based on experience should end around 6 or 6:30
pm.  The latter time is an estimate, and actual application should be based
on actual figures.

   I request the following emergency action:
1.  That the Department of Pesticide Regulation make spot checks during the
hours that bees are foraging, to determine that applicators are in compliance
with the bee-protection label directions.
2.  That the Department require applicators to determine, prior to
applications, by actual obervance, not by guess, that bees are not foraging,
with all materials that prohibit application during bee forage times.
3.  That State Apiary Specialist, Dr. Mike Hood, provide assistance to
applicators by monitoring the times that bees are foraging, to provide an
official source of information to applicators, and to personally come to the
area experiencing these widespread post-hurricane applications to assist
beekeepers in monitoring and enforcement.
4.  That the Department of Pesticide Regulation no longer condone applicator
evasion of the label requirements, by requiring beekeepers to protect bees.
Besides being an illegal scheme, it is an impossible scheme, as beekeepers
have enough problems with flooding, mud, downed trees, little funds and the
normal responsibilities of making a living.
5.  That the Department of Pesticide Regulation seek to require violators to
make restoration, just as those who poison a stream are required to restock
fish. Horry County should be required to restock honeybees by March 20, 2000
at the rate of 2 hives per square mile, to replace honeybees and other
pollinators lost in these violations.

    This is also a Freedom of Information request from each of the named
addresees for documentation of the response to this letter.

David L. Green

Pot o'Gold Honey Co.
Hemingway, SC