> This discussion is about apistan & coumaphos comb contamination. Every paper put out on CCD always links comb contamination to beekeepers using off label miticides. That's not blaming commercial beekeepers?

* Bob, it is simply not true to say "every paper" says this. That's nonsense. But it doesn't matter what every paper says; what matters is what the best minds in the business are saying. If you would take the trouble to read "Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study" by Dennis van Engelsdorp and all (I will list the other authors at the end) you will find what they ACTUALLY SAY!

> Since the late 1980’s, U.S. beekeepers have been using miticides within their beehives to control parasitic mites (primarily Varroa mites). A diverse range of pesticides, both grower- and beekeeper-applied, have been detected in hive matrices, and many of these products are known to adversely affect colony health.

* They DO NOT blame off label miticides and suggest that harmful chemicals could be coming from inside or outside the hive. They don't identify which is worse. 

> Choices of insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to analyze were based largely on their frequency of use where bees may be exposed (e.g., in-hive miticides, plant systemics), and their potential for bee toxicity.  

* They DID NOT single out one thing or another to look for, but tried to cover the whole range of potential sources of trouble.

> This descriptive study looked for differences in colony strength, morphometrics, and risk factors in CCD and control colonies. Like all descriptive studies, we cannot make any definitive statement concerning which factors do or do not contribute to or cause CCD. 

* Their bottom line is that they are NOT BLAMING anyone or any thing. Maybe this is frustrating for us, maybe it is less than satisfying, maybe it does not agree with our own pet theories, but THIS is what they are actually saying. 

Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study
PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 
1 August 2009 

AUTHORS:

Dennis vanEngelsdorp 1,2, 
Jay D. Evans 5, 
Claude Saegerman 3, 
Chris Mullin 2, 
Eric Haubruge 4, 
Bach Kim Nguyen 4, 
Maryann Frazier 2, 
Jim Frazier 2, 
Diana Cox-Foster 2, 
Yanping Chen 5, 
Robyn Underwood 2, 
David R. Tarpy 6, 
Jeffery S. Pettis 5  

1 Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 

2 Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 

3 Department of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Epidemiology and Risk analysis applied to the Veterinary Sciences, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium, 

4 Department of Functional and Evolutionary Entomology, Gembloux Agricultural University, Gembloux, Belgium, 

5 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland, United States of America, 

6 Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America 

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