David Bernard wrote:
>In my opinion, isn't the EPA supposed to go after the largest users and
>hazards first?   Shouldn't the largest user of ETO, the medical industry,
>be the ones to lose their permits?  It is the medical industry that could
>afford to switch to gamma irradiation more easily than the beekeeping
>industry.  Does picking on the bee industry seem like a political and not
>regulatory act?  Am I so naive to think that the EPA would go after the big
>(ab)users first before the little guy?
Carol Browner and the EPA are a government agency that must constantly
fight for their existence by pointing out all of these areas where they
need to protect us from ourselves.  If they didn't, they would not
receive additional funding from the Congress.
 
BTW, Carol Browner is one of the few Clinton appointments that was made
in the early days of the Clinton Administration.  These appointments
had the undue influence of Hillary Clinton who is a marxist.  Carol
Browner therefore is most probably a marxist or has very marxist
tendencies.  She believes that the government's job is to protect you
because you can't protect yourself.  Beekeepers tend to lean towards
the other end of the scale.  We like to help ourselves and find new
ways to do so.
 
Why aren't they pushing this on the Medical industry?  Keep in mind
they tried to take this industry over and failed.  I don't think that
the administration is ready to take on the medical industry any time
soon, they're too big and too powerful.  Beekeeping, in comparison, is
peanuts compared to the medical industry and offers little resistance.
This gives Ms. Browner and the EPA the precedent for the day they are
ready to go after the medical industry.
 
Sorry for the politicization of the issue but it's a political
situation.  A situation that you probably can't win unless you can get
Mike Wallace and Morley Safer to knock on the EPAs door.  Write your
local congressmen and senators as well.  The more pressure you can put
on them the better.  Once you start putting pressure on them, beware.
This administration will use the IRS and whatever other instruments to
make your life hard.  Read this past Monday's copy of the Wall Street
Journal to see what they have done with the IRS against their political
enemies.
 
 
Ted Wout, 3rd year beekeeper, 8 hives, adding 4 this spring
Red Oak, TX