I agree with both sides of this issue. Jim is absolutely right in that 
funds were needed immediately when CCD came to notice. This has been a 
major problem for me in getting a handle on just what we are really 
looking at. We see after effects but have not tracked an apiary from 
before there were symptoms through CCD.

Even now, money is needed to try and find out just what CCD is. Many of 
us see that CCD exhibits the same symptoms as prior unidentified, except 
by name, bee disappearances, such as the aptly named Disappearing 
disease. Something has happened in the past and may be happening now, so 
it is only prudent to get funding soon to see if anything can be 
learned. That is just good science. To discount it just because it has 
happened before just delays the solution. I know I want an answer so I 
can at least be a bit prepared or take preventative actions, if possible.

I also agree that the only way we will get funding is jointly with the 
"native pollinators". Politics is the art of the possible. Any well run 
Lobbyist Group knows that and will piggyback on any legislation it can 
inject itself into. It is not hijacking, it is Politics. Politics is 
never pure and does make "strange bedfellows". But we should be in there 
lobbying to get as much of the pie as possible. That is also good politics.

Along with Jim, I have less than the greatest respect for some of the 
"native pollinator" group since they seem to hold honeybees in contempt, 
at least the few I have run into. Some of their science is biased to the 
extent that it is bad science when they put their native bee against the 
honey bee. They contrive to produce the correct outcome.

So we are now joined at the hip and must make the best of bad law, which 
I am sure is close to the same feelings of some of the "native pollinators".

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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