>The potential of seed treatments to harm bees was looked into well before
>the media blitz and by the well-respected honey bee biologist Mark Winston.

manly at the levels the chemical companies said were the highest we would
ever find *back in 2003.*

>and systemic chemical seed and soil treatments, are often safer for
>nontarget species than broad-spectrum insecticidal sprays (Betz et al.
>2000). However, potential harm could come to pollinators if the insecticide
>is expressed in or transported to pollen or nectar.

We know now the systemics are expressed and transported in pollen & nectar.

Mark Winston:
>The conclusion of our study suggests that levels of imidacloprid at or
>below 7 ppb in pollen will not harm bumble bee colony health or foraging
>ability, whereas concentrations of 30 ppb, approximately four times the
>highest residue level recorded in any study to date, may have sub lethal
>effects on foraging.

I read the Mark Winston column every month and all his books. I have no
problem with the above. 7 ppb or below shows no *visible* effects on bees as
he wrote in 2003. Today is 2012 and I have had bees next to corn fields
which have had treated seed used on one crop or another for many years. The
systemic can linger for two years.

hard to guess the systemic levels of plants in or near those fields or
systemic levels in gutation water. The Midwest has millions of acres of
systemic treated row crops.

I do not have a problem with beekeepers which want to keep their bees in
such areas (especially my competition!).  many of us have seen enough bee
problems in those areas.

For every study which showed tobacco was bad for peoples health the tobacco
industry came up with studies showing smoking four packs a day of unfiltered
camels was in fact good for you. Think Joe Camel!

I have said enough on the subject. Each beekeeper has to make up their own
mind (exactly like camel smokers had to do. I was a pall bearer at a couple
family members funerals which chose to not believe of the dangers of
tobacco),

I do not want my bees ingesting contaminated pollen even in PPB and I try to
talk my friends out of using tobacco.

bob

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