On Thu, 16 Nov 1995, BusyKnight wrote:
 
> Additionally, in Europe, they have a product other than
> Apistan that is approved for use in controlling Varroa.  The
> product is called Bayvarol Strips with an active ingredient of
> Flumethrin (different from Fluvalinate).  My understanding is
> that Bayvarol Strips (while not cheap) are less expensive than
> Apistan in Europe.  This of course leds one to question why
> the Apistan product would have been used to begin with?  With
> two available products to choose from; rotating between the two
> would considerably increase the time required to develop resistance.
>
> Can someone shed some definitive light on the reported Fluvalinate
> resistance of the Varroa mite in Italy?
 
Hi,
 
Bayvarol is a fairly new drug here, so it's only recently possible
to rotate these two. They are fairly close relatives of each other
anyway.  There are a couple or so other treatments available too
-- Amitraz(?) and Perizin.
 
I believe that the truth of the failure to rotate is that
fluvalinate is available as a miticide for use on plants at a
_much_ cheaper price than Apistan, and this was used in home-brew
treatments that were not well matched to efficient mite kill.
 
All of the approved bee treatment products are expensive. The drug
companies say that's because demand is insufficient for them to
make sufficient profit at a lower price to cover their licensing
for use. All the drugs were developed for other purposes and have
been 'borrowed' for use against varroa on bees. Most or all the
drug companies seem to be of the opinion (publicly at least) that
they will not be developing new drugs for the same reasons.
 
Of course if bees get _really_ badly hit, resulting in a
subsequent hit on agriculture generally, they may change their
opinions. After all they also make billions of dollars out of
being so helpful to us.
 
Best regards,
--
Gordon Scott   [log in to unmask]   Hampshire, England.
               [log in to unmask]
               Beekeeper; Kendo 3rd Dan; Sometime sailor.
The Basingstoke Beekeeper (newsletter) [log in to unmask]