>>We have already agreed on that in debunking the extender patty myth, but 
>>it the same for all antibiotics? I think not.

> Allen, I feel that many would not agree with you that the extender patty 
> influence on OTC resistance is either a myth, nor has it been debunked.

I think that this conversation is missing several key points. First, if we had the data, we could easily document the evolution of resistance in foulbrood samples. Then we could pinpoint the origins of it. But nobody has that data in hand. Secondly, the question of how tetracycline resistance originated in hives can't be separated from the bigger picture of tetracycline resistance in general. TC and many other microbicides have been sprayed on fruit and nut trees for decades. It is very easy to imagine a scenario where TC resistance was transferred from orchard microbes to bee hives. 

Distribution of Tetracycline Resistance Genes and Transposons among Phylloplane Bacteria in Michigan Apple Orchards
ELISE L. SCHNABEL AND ALAN L. JONES.  APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Nov. 1999

> Detectable numbers of TCR [tetracycline resistant] bacteria were found on apple blossoms and leaves collected from both sites included in this study, even in blocks of trees which had never received an oxytetracycline treatment. Results suggest that application of oxytetracycline to apple orchards could lead to increasing numbers of commensal bacteria inhabiting the aerial parts of apple trees which possess resistance to tetracyclines, streptomycin, and sulfonamides on plasmids which may be transferred to other bacterial species.

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