In my opinion, this June 22 2012 article in The Western Producer reveals an unhealthy amount of bias by the researcher, before the research project had been completed:
 
 http://www.producer.com/2012/06/field-trial-to-study-insecticide-effects-on-bees%E2%80%A9/
 
 "....“The results show that honeybee colonies will, in the long term, be unaffected by exposure to clothianidin seed-treated canola,” Scott-Dupree wrote in 2007.
 

 However, the EPA no longer accepts the conclusions of that study. The agency decided the canola fields were too close together, which meant bees may have migrated between fields rather than remain on the seed treated canola fields.
 

 Scott-Dupree altered the protocols for her latest field trial to accommodate the EPA’s criticism.
 

 “In this study that we’re doing this year, all fields are separated by 10 kilometres.”
 

 Scott-Dupree knows entomologists and environmentalists from around the world will scrutinize her study, but she said she has confidence in the protocols and hopes the result will influence public policy in North America.
 

 “I would like this study … to stand in the foreground in the decision making by EPA and PMRA, in terms of what they think the kind of impact that neonicotinoid seed treatments are going to have on bees.”
 

 However, Scott-Dupree thinks that seed treatment policy will ultimately be based on public opinion and politics.
 

 “In the end, I think politics and emotion outweigh the science. It has frustrated me over the last 15 years, that often when we have really good scientific evidence, people don’t listen to it.”"
             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm