In recent posts, bee-l subscribers have talked about the repercussions on
honeybees of malathion spraying to control mosquitoes. Last year, New York
used malathion intensively in response to the discovery of West Nile Virus in
human and mosquito populations around New York City. Officials in other
states (Massachusetts, for example) have vowed to resort to malathion if they
decide it is needed to control the mosquito population that carries West
Nile. Malathion is extremely deadly to honeybees.
   Anecdotes reported in both the media and by beekeepers show sporadic,
widespread misapplication of malathion in past actions taken by public health
officials, in ways that threaten both human and honeybee health. Public
health pesticide (mis)application by the state or federal government is an
issue to watch for beekeepers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.

West Nile virus here to stay, officials say
From Reuters wire service by Maggie Fox
   "The West Nile virus, which killed seven people and made more than 60
others sick in New York City last year, is probably in the United States to
stay, government health officials said Tuesday.
   "But they said there is plenty people can do to control the mosquitoes
that carry the virus and said they were doing their best to track its spread.
   "And, they said, if the public and health-care workers are aware of the
symptoms of serious illness, they can be ready to treat those at risk of the
deadly encephalitis and meningitis that the virus can cause.
   "'This virus is here and we have to understand that it is not feasible to
think about eliminating this virus in the Western hemisphere,' Dr. Stephen
Ostroff, West Nile virus coordinator for the U.S. Health and Human Services
Department (HHS), told a news conference.
   "Checks on mosquitoes spending the winter in sewers and elsewhere show the
virus remained in New York. So far it does not seem to have spread farther
than Baltimore, where one infected crow was found last year."