I would like to echo what some others have already pointed out.. misinformation is worse than no information at all.. 

Recently, I received an e mail from a staffer to a well positioned congressman on the USDA appropiations committee chastising me for my efforts on behalf of the pollination industry.. Their take: Why should anyone have sympathy for the beekeepers loosing their bees since they truck them thousands of miles? .... They had recently watched 'Queen of the Sun'.

These 'very busy' people pinched for time to determine policy/funding mandates are influenced by snippets of information they glean from various forms of media including films. Some of you have already made up your mind about the initiative by CSBA to create a Honey Bee Commission based on your discontent regarding the provision to assess colonies. Those of you who have not made up your mind, please consider that the importance of creating this commission goes far beyond the potential to provide funding for beekeeper chosen research. To help decision makers be effective in regulatory agenices both at the state and national levels, there must be formal, credible, and most essential, enduring consistent representation by beekeepers to provide input. This commission would fulfill this very critical role with related Ca. agenices helping to ensure vital precedent beneficial to beekeepers across the U.S.
 
California beekeeping leadership has repetitively found themselves at the front line on issues affecting *ALL* beekeepers not just with pesticides but with special interest issues like the seedless Mandarin example a couple of years back. Interesting outcome on that btw. The growers of seedless Mandarin, by accepting the burden to net their trees, have actually realized increased profits because the fruit is so clean of seeds... and I have heard the larger producers even helping out smaller producers with the cost of nets who might otherwise find netting to be cost prohibitive. 
 
We are fortunate to have some super leadership out there working *overtime* to gain respect and status with the folks in EPA ,USDA ,etc, and make gains on long standing issues. We need to make sure they are supported though,,, if not, are you willing to take their place?  And if you answered 'no', what chance then do you give for more healthy bees and prosperous beekeeping industry to evolve in the future  if 'the powers that be'in these agencies/legislators will be completely reliant on skewed films or fragmented newspaper articles from which to draw their conclusions?
 
Kathy Kellison

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