>I understand the desire to only have one variable in an experiment to
examine what effect that variable has on the subject.

Ted, I run trials for companies wishing to test products.  If you added
more than one variable to any bee trial, you'd need a very large number of
colonies in order to detect any effect.

> But it appears to a layman like me that the "Trial of Clothianidin"
experiment mentioned above, surrounded the bees with an abundance of
propolis producing plants, thus boosting their immune systems.

Not the case as far as I could tell.  All the canola plots were in areas of
similar vegetation, and randomly assigned as to treatment.  So there would
be no reason to expect any differences in exposure to propolis.

 >And it went out of it’s way to remove all other pests and pathogens.

As most any successful beekeeper does as normal colony husbandry.  In one
trial that I'm currently running, we held off our normal last oxalic
dribble in late November to clean up remaining varroa, and have been
watching the entire group of 90 colonies go downhill, as compared to the
rest of our operation.  I can't see any reason not to perform normal
parasite management in any trial, so long as both the treatment and control
groups receive the same treatment.

 >That is not anywhere near the 'realistic' conditions a commercial beehive
experiences today.

Ted, there are thousands of Canadian beekeepers who are already placing
bees each season on seed-treated canola, and report that they see no
negative effects.  It seems to me that you are grasping at straws (not the
one on the camel's back) to try to find fault with what appears to be a
very well-designed experiment.
-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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