Hi Guys

Bob, I hope you're right. But that hasn't been my personal experience. I don't doubt that such beekeepers exist. But I think they are in the minority.

I stand by my assessment. Without exception, every commercial beekeeper I've had personal, hands on experience with, was mixing and putting off label pesticides into their hives. Some  occasionally. Some routinely. Some continuously.

Bob, you make my commercial experience seem dated and limited. It's true that I left full time commercial beekeeping in 2000. But, like you, I've kept my finger in the pie. That is until 2009.

Limited experience? Maybe, but while in Florida in 2008, I observed a very large commercial, well-known migratory operation putting a completely new class of pesticide in their hives. They weren't very happy with that! Exceptions? Maybe. Or setting the pace? Probably. At least that's been my experience.

Few commercial beekeepers will share what they're really doing while shooting the breeze with other beekeepers because they know it's illegal, unethical, dangerous and stupid. Others, who consider themselves really good at mixing it up, see that information as proprietary and are also very tight lipped. But it's impossible to hide those doings from an employee. And that's how I got my experience, by working for others.

I understand how my experience seems like just an assault on an already besieged profession. And I also understand Bob's desire to defend it. Yet, research has shown that most of the pesticide contamination, inside the hive, was put there by the beekeeper. And much of that is done illegally.

All of those pesticide contaminants are found in the hive products.

Dennis 

Sent from my iPod

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