> There are certainly aspects of our commercial model that are hard to 
> classify as sustainable. For example, if not for the release of Tylosin, 
> the "control AFB with Terramycin" was not sustainable.

Oxytet was never a very effective drug -- especially after sulfa was not 
available as an alternative.

Oxytet _never_ really worked when used as recommended.   Anybody who 
followed the recommendations had breakdowns.

Sulfa was fantastic, but it turned out to have human health problems.  In 
those days, one ppm was an unimaginably small amount.  Today we argue over 
ppb.

Sulfa was _so_ good that it derailed the movement to breeding for AFB 
resistance and set us all back along time.  Decades were wasted, but lots of 
equipment and bees were saved.  (Read Philips).

Tylosin is similarly effective.  Is that a good thing?

If you are facing 1/3 of your outfit broken down and your oldest kid is 
about to go to university, it is a godsend,  BUT, there is a difference 
between an emergency measure to save your bacon, and something that can be 
used in perpetuity.

We cannot do that.  We have to manage without those aids as soon as we can.

THAT is the problem.  Our researchers have thrown us lifelines so we could 
make it one more year and learn new ways, but some have thought that these 
temporary, emergency measures could serve them forever -- and abuse that 
lifeline.

> The organic beekeeping group are to be commended for keeping bees with 
> minimal synthetic inputs

Very much so.  We all aspire to managing without drugs and treatments.  We 
just have eat and keep our bees alive until we can get there.

Just because a few have been able to do so does not mean that everyone can. 
Some are just plain lucky, and not necessarily great managers or even 
"right".

> but I would prefer that they not be so self righteous.  "Natural 
> beekeeping" would mean that colonies would not be crowded into yards, 
> hives would be up in trees, no honey would be extracted, so that colonies 
> would swarm freely, and a large percentage of colonies would die naturally 
> each year.

You said it.

> The "unnaturalness" of any of our approaches is more in degree, rather 
> that black or white.

I doubt anyone starts beekeeping with the goal of stepping on a chemical 
treadmill.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/4dot9/
---
To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.
Stanislaw Leszczynski (1677 - 1766) 

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