[log in to unmask] wrote:

> the claims here are that it is more toxic to honeybees due to the formulation. 

The problem appears to be that they are using another stereoisomer which could have come about from either new 
starting material or a new process. Or it could be that the ratio of stereoisomers has changed.

Stereoisomers have the exact chemical formula and atom sequence, but the atoms are linked differently at one or 
more points, such as pointing right or left. I still have not heard which isomer is at fault. Tau seems to be 
the original Apistan, but I am not sure. I cannot find how may stereoisiomer there are but there appear to be at 
least two and as many as four. There is a good 1990 paper on this:

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Pyrethroids-Synthetic.htm

It points out that setereoisomers can be many factors more lethal (6x for one noted) than its approved cousin. 
So we can have non-lethal concentrations of the original stereoisomer that are actually lethal if they are the 
other stereoisomer, which is what is supposed to be reported.

The key statement in the paper (there are many), sounds like symptoms that are supposed to be unique to CCD:

 >Pyrethroids are toxic to insects whether the insects are beneficials or pests; they initially cause knock down 
(the inability of the insect to maintain its normal position) followed by recovery or death. Pyrethroids can 
also repel the insect or inhibit feeding behavior.37

It is a nurotoxin. So is Imidacloprid. It seems to have all the same toxic consequences of Imidacloprid. But it 
also has the feature of repelling bees and inhibits their feeding behavior (one of those Eureka moments). It 
also is more ubiquitous than Imidacloprid, since the beekeeper puts it in the hive.

As far as it being the one cause of CCD, it is not. But there are two different CCD camps,IMHO, one east coast 
and the other central and west coast. I think that much of the east coast's problems are less CCD and more other 
factors. How else do you explain the almost continual east coast drum beat that it is pesticides that are the 
primary cause? The last time I looked, fluvalinate was a registered pesticide. At high enough concentrations it 
gives CCD symptoms.

Truth is, I sincerely hope it is not fluvalinate. It would be devastating to find that we are our bees worst enemy.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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