ed wrote:

>  The felt
> intent of putting in fungi feels gentler to me (the beekeeper) although
> obviously if I was the mite I migtht disagree. The primary negative of the
> use of chemicals is the loss of the romance of the hobby.

George wrote

 >  Because of the danger of the fungal toxins contaminating the
 >   environment, this strain of Metarhizium will have to pass EXTENSIVE
 >  safety tests before any possible commerical application. I wonder
how  >  extensive there research was?

I come from the school that beekeeping is inherently unnatural so what
we do in the hive is measured by degree and by our own biases. If we are
"holistic" our bees get that treatment. If we have no problem with
antibiotics, neither will our bees. If we put flea collars on our dogs,
we would fit our bees for them.

The thought that bringing in a fungus is natural fits my school that
nothing we bring in is natural. In fact, I am bothered by it. It is
definitely unnatural and has problems.

Gorge notes that safety tests must be run. Here are two.

1. Spreading beyond the hive. All our other treatments are confined to
the hive. Here we have one that can easily be transported well beyond
it. Currently strawberries can be treated by dusting the front of the
hive with whatever you are treating them for and allowing the bees to
transport it to the plant. It works. The bad PR that could be generated
by "Bees contaminate the environment with killer fungus- Bees
responsible for massive insect deaths" is something we can live without.

2. Fungal toxins in honey or wax. All our other methods of controlling
varroa or any pest/disease have an approved application time and
duration. Like diamonds, fungi are forever. Once introduced into the
hive, how do you limit the exposure of honey supers to the fungus? Or
the toxins in wax? Even if it could not live in honey, the headlines
would still be "Killer fungus found in Honey!" Another PR nightmare.

I am with Bob and most, what I consider, responsible beekeepers. We want
to limit what we do in the hive. But if we are responsible, we owe
something to our bees (and in the case of commercial beekeepers,
livelihood) to keep them alive as well as the profession of beekeeping
by not doing things that are harmful to the reputation of beekeeping.

If someone uses Checkmite, fine, even though I would never use an
organophosphate. It is approved in some areas so is legal and works (for
a while). Where I have serious problems is with unproven and anecdotal
treatments, most all of which are not approved, but which are touted as
natural. As I said, nothing we do is natural. We are manipulating nature
when we put them in a box. From then on, it is a matter of degree, our
own biases, and responsibility.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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