>
> >This may be an important discussion for the posters, but probably not for
> most readers of BEE-L.
>

Thank you for the perspective, Jeffrey.  This discussion is likely closer
to the heart of some of us than to others.

Behind the scenes, there are currently major decisions being made by our
beekeeper lobbying groups, the EPA, and pesticide companies.

Many of us receive requests  to sign on to some sort of petition, or to
join in some sort of lawsuit, against the EPA or some manufacturer to pull
this or that product from the market.

There are major political implications to such decisions, especially if
such actions result in a battle between the beekeeping community and the
powerful farm lobby, or if the beekeepers continue to insult the EPA with
defamatory articles such as some recently published in national journals
(editors take note).

To my great distress, I find that some of these lawsuits come from a
completely misinformed positions.

There are several downsides to beekeepers supporting unsubstantiated
lawsuits:

1.  They have no chance of winning, and may be a complete waste of time and
money.

2.  They make those who signed on look like extremist and misinformed fools
to the regulators and legislators.  The beekeepers then lose credibility
with those who count.

3.  They stand the chance of pitting the beekeeping community against the
farm lobby.  IMHO, we should be working together with farmers, not as
enemies.

4.  The most important problem is that such frivolous, misinformed suits
and petitions greatly hamper the sort of cooperative progress on legitimate
pesticide issues at hand.

The moment that a lawsuit is enjoined, it poisons the atmosphere of
cooperation between the parties.  I've sat at tables with all parties--we
are all on the same page, and all are trying to do the right thing.

 I feel that we should be working together with the pesticide
companies--they are going out of their way to work cooperatively with
beekeepers.  BASF met with us at the recent California Queen Breeders
meeting, and is paying for one their chemists from Germany to spend three
months in California to try to get to the root of the Pristine question.
 Bayer also is actively working cooperatively with beekeepers.  I recently
shared a taxi ride to the airport with a major Bayer official (I am not the
least bit embarrassed by full disclosure, and will take advantage of a free
cab ride any time).  He made it clear that the moment a lawsuit is
enjoined, all communication between the parties is off.  This is not where
I think that beekeepers should go!

I can assure you that the EPA, the major pesticide companies, and
researchers are indeed making substantial progress toward resolving
pesticide issues.  It may seem slow, but that is simply due to the fact
that it takes time to run experiments, do testing, and change laws and
regulations.

So, Jeffrey, the main problem that I see is simple lack of good information
getting to the beekeepers and to the environmental activists.  When I read
through the text of the petitions and lawsuits, I am appalled by the lack
of information and the misinformation within (I read through a lengthy one
last night).

So this discussion is indeed tedious.  I had a conversation two nights ago
with a major beekeeper activist who strongly feels that seed treatments are
the cause of CCD.  But the fact is that CCD appears to have disappeared
this year, even though the use of seed treatments continued unabated.

Contrary to the common wisdom, there are more live hives of bees in the
U.S. right now than there have been for a number of years.  There is
currently a glut of hives in California, engaged in cutthroat bidding
against each other for the few remaining almond pollination contracts.

My point?  This appears to be on the ground evidence that the seed
treatments were not the cause of CCD.  Yet some environmental groups are
currently engaged in preparing a suit against the EPA that is based upon
the claim that seed treatments cause CCD.  Those groups want the beekeeping
community to join them in this misinformed suit.

As you may have noticed, when some of us attempt to get accurate
information out to the community, we may be painted as sellouts by those
with strong preconceived positions and prejudices.  It would be so much
easier to join the lynch mob and head for the guillotines.  But to some of
us, our consciences demand that we take the unpopular position of playing
defense attorneys in the kangaroo court that we call the blogosphere.

Tedious and repetitive, yes.  Necessary, yes.

Those of you in the silent majority may wish to contact our industry
leaders and the editors, since in my humble opinion, the extremists are
currently speaking for us.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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