A little history to remind us that honey bee quarantines don't work:


Officials May Expand Quarantine of Killer Bees
Published: August 14, 1985

Government officials are debating whether to expand a quarantine area
after concluding that up to four swarms of aggressive Africanized bees
escaped from the first colony of such bees in the United States. The
discovery last week in a commercial apiary of a second colony of
Africanized bees, called ''killer bees'' because of their aggressive
nature, meant that officials also had to decide what to do with 100 to
150 commercial colonies in the apiary.

* * *

Bee Quarantine Is Set To Contain Killer Mite
Published: April 7, 1988

The Federal Government has quarantined bees in 13 states to help
prevent the spread of a tiny killer mite that threatens the nation's
bee industry, the Agriculture Department said today. The mites were
first discovered in the United States last September in a Wisconsin
apiary and since have spread to the 12 other states.

* * *

College Station, Texas - June 22, 2005

When Africanized honey bees first arrived in Texas in October 1990,
the state's officials quickly acted with U.S. Department of
Agriculture officials to quarantine 10 counties surrounding the site
near Hidalgo where the wild colony was discovered. After that, each
time a sample was confirmed in a new area, that county would be
quarantined.

After the bees were first detected in the United States (at the Texas
location), they moved westward and have since been found in Arizona,
California, Nevada and New Mexico. No other state opted to quarantine
their counties upon detection of the bees. The apiary inspection
service will no longer quarantine counties for Africanized honey bees.


-- 
Peter L. Borst
Danby, NY  USA
42.35, -76.50

picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

******************************************************
* Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at:          *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm  *
******************************************************