>
> >Schacker goes on to say that the group has suppressed the French
> report which has all the proof we need.  Unfortunately, it's in French
> so who knows what it says.


I just went through the summary.  It was a review of studies, many
conflicting.  The authors were very, very cautious.  " don't read French,
and rely on Google translate.

The summary is based upon calculations of wide ranging levels of pesticides
extrapolated from pollen and nectar data.  Here is an example for corn:
"Regarding the strengths in the corn pollen,
 validated data show average levels of imidacloprid 0.75 and 3.5 ppb for
pollen of flowers and trapping respectively."

  Here is the translation of the final paragraph of the summary:
"In the present state of knowledge, according to the scenarios developed to
evaluate
exposure and the uncertainty factors selected to assess the hazards,
PEC / PNEC obtained are of concern. They are consistent with observations
Field reported by beekeepers in many areas crops (maize,
sunflower) on the mortality of foraging (scenario 4), their disappearance,
their
behavioral disorders and some winter mortality (scenario 5).
Accordingly, the seed coating sunflower Gaucho (R) led to a risk
significant for bees of different ages, with the exception of the ingestion
of pollen by
the foraging at the making of balls (scenario 3).
Regarding the coating Gaucho (R) seed corn, the PEC / PNEC
is, like sunflowers, worrying in the context of consumption
pollen by nurses, which could lead to increased mortality from these and
be a part of the explanation for the weakening of bee populations
still observed despite the prohibition of Gaucho (R) on sunflowers.
Finally, given that other factors may contribute to the weakening of
colonies of bees, should be continued research on the frequency,
mechanisms and causes of these symptoms."

My take on my reading of the translated document is to read the last
sentence above.  Basically, the authors did not come to any definitive
conclusion, and used a lot of "coulds" and "mays."

Randy Oliver

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