On Wed 30 Oct 1996  Stan Sandler in Canada asked for further
comment about the legality of mailing bees around the world.
 
He said "Hopefully it is NOT LEGAL to just mail bees from
a country where tropilaelaps exists to another continent where it
doesn't (although with all the problems in Nicaragua I'm sure
that bee inspection is not much of a priority}."
 
In general the legality of such an action depends on the
importing country, which sets its own laws to protect the health of
its bee population.  Some countries may have limited, or no, bee
health protection measures, in which case the importation of
bees infested with tropilaelaps might well be 'legal'.  Many
pest/disease introductions have been effected through 'legal'
movements of bees.
 
I don't know about the current bee disease laws in Nicaragua.
The International Bee Reseach Association published a
bibliography reviewing bee disease (and beekeeping)
legislation around the world, though it might not be very current.
 
As tropilaelaps has become an issue in international trade
'relatively' recently it is not covered by the "International animal
health code; mammals, birds, bees";  produced by the OIE (the
world organization for animal health) as a guide to official
veterinarians setting health-protection measures for
international trade.  A current project I am involved with is the
review of the chapters of this Code which relate to bee diseases,
and tropilaelaps will certainly be looked at as part of this review.
 
In the meantime I guess we should remember that even though
things are lawful, they may not be helpful
 
Andrew Matheson
 
(Personal opinion; not necessarily that of the New Zealand
Ministry of Agriculture)