>
> >I want to remind you that the Kiwis got Varroa in April 2000, but they are
> still free of tracheal mites as well as the Australian who still lack both
> mites. So your statement is again unsubstantiated, because none of the
> Canadian bee imports (even if transhipped to US customers), could vector any
> new disease or pest not already present in the US during the period
> 1987-2005.


Martin, you place me in the odd position of defending statements made by my
friend Jim Fischer  : )

However, your above statement implies that you are unaware that new
parasites have arrived in the U.S. during the above approximate time
period:  Nosema ceranae, Varroa Destructor Virus-1, perhaps IAPV, and who
knows what else.

I am not saying that these parasites came from Canada.  We do not know where
these parasites came from.  However, N ceranae in the US is apparently a
European haplotype,  VDV-1 was widespread in Europe, and some strains of
IAPV were from Australia.  So there is certainly the possibility that those
novel parasites arrived via imports to Canada.

Martin, I commend the genetic diversity of your Argentinian bees.  Indeed, I
would personally like to legally import Argentinian breeder queens or semen
that had gone through careful inspection and quarantine on a bee-by-bee
basis.

Randy Oliver
At the beginning of a new season, as the days begin to lengthen.

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