I don't agree, I think there is more involved now then duragilt.

a thin sheet of plastic sheeting in a wood frame is different then an injection plastic molded frame 
with a heavier extruded rigid sheet as foundation. 

several different solvents are used to extruded plastic. unlike wood, plastic outgasses these 
solvents especially during the first year after production and in hot temps.  Their is alot more 
plastic in weight in todays typical hive then in the duragilt days. 

maybe its not the root cause behind CCD but then again smarter minds then mine have theorized 
CCD is not a one trick pony and probably is a combination of factors. 

the way I look at it is how far are we from the honeybees natural instinct of living in a stationary 
tree cavity on naturally formed comb? 

every variable we have added for different reasons to manage bees and make a living moves us 
further and further away from nature. 

i don't need millions of frames for my operation so we use crimp wired foundation without wiring 
in wood frames and get by just fine in supers and even brood comb deeps. just like not using 
antibiotics preventively or using mite treatments that contaminate combs my argument is reduce 
the variables to very few and it makes a dead or collapsing hive that much more easy to theorize a 
diagnosis. 

i understand the allure to large operations but for the small operation plastic has many drawbacks 
mainly the bees don't like it.  in a marginal season plastic could become the variable that 
prevented a decent buildup of comb and associated nectar and pollen storage.  so where's the big 
savings if the hive tanks over the coming winter? 

The Feb issue of bee culture page 50 illustrates that wood/beeswax foundation is cheaper then 
plastic even with labor to assemble. the article goes on to explain how poorly bees on a marginal 
flow will draw plastic. the article further convinced me that plastic is a waste of time in the long 
haul but its been sold as another "improvement" and IMO potentially another variable that is 
preventing a colony from prospering in an ever changing environment. 

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