Hello,

I've been lurking on this list for awhile to get a feel for it.  I keep 4
hives organically (all bustling so far this spring) on Prince Edward
Island. I'm also an environmental activist involved mainly in agricultural
issues for the past 7 years - specifically pesticides.

Al posted that as far as he knew imidacloprid is the only in-furrow
pesticide used on PEI.  Al and I know each other and I could have answered
him privately but in case any one else is interested, there are others
applied this way.  Phorate, an organophosphate, is a granular systemic
insecticide used in-furrow. It's persistant in soil, a known groundwater
polluter and horribly toxic to birds, fish and other wildlfe.  Environment
Canada reports Canada geese were poisoned by phorate during spring snow
melt in a PEI potato field treated the previous spring with granular
phorate.

It's commonly used on PEI and registered for potatoes and corn, among other
crops.  I've never seen any research looking at carry over to crops planted
in succeeding years.  All formulations but one are banned in the USA.

Almost as insidious as imidacloprid are the synthetic pyrethroids
(insecticides) - also commonly used on PEI and elsewhere.  There's a good
article on Beesource.com describing overwintering mortalities - The Effects
of Synthetic Pyrethroid Insecticides on Honey Bees in Indiana. One,
cypermethrin, has increased in use since 1995 on PEI.  And a new one was
registered for use on potatoes in 1999 for the first time.

Sharon