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Subject:
From:
Ted Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 10 Oct 1996 10:47:38 -0400
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  REGARDING           Miticides minus tirades
 
Under the post "RE>More Mavrik pontification" Andy Nachbaur (10/9) delivered a
typical longwinded blast at Jerry Bromenshenk, a respected apicultural
researcher at the University of Montana-Missoula, which included the following
segment on Apistan:
 
<The fact is that paper, card board, food grade grease, cotton, wood,
sugar, even air, and many other natural and man made materials can be
just as effective as a controlled release applicator as a plastic strip
as said to be by its many protectors in the Apistan camp. To this
beekeeper Apeestan is only another farm pesticide in a clumsy
applicator and deserves little of the respect some would show it other
then what I would give any other poison and I for one am disgusted at
their advertizements showing honey and their dirty product in the same
picture and shame on those who are not and shame on those who take
their money to promote the use of their product. Some call it free
enterprise advertisement, but when there is no competition it is little
more then a bribe to a few to influence the rest of us. But then I am
only one beekeeper and I am sure others feel different>
 
I even hesitate to comment on this section because of the risk of being
included in the Apistan "camp", but here goes.  A lot of new beekeepers look
to the BEE-L for advice, and in these days of varroa mites, good advice is
crucial to the very life of their bees.  Confusion here is definitely
counterproductive, and confusion seems to be the very point of the quote
above.  The so-called "fact" referred to in the first sentence is obviously
not a fact at all, but a prelude to a tirade.
 
Lots of things kill bees: pesticides, diseases, predators, and, yes, parasites
such as mites do as well.  We must defend against all of them.  Apistan today
is the only registered miticide on the market, has been specifically
formulated to work in the hive environment, and *is* effective when used as
directed.  This is not to say that it is the only thing that works - the
essential oil methods are very intriguing and may well be an alternative.  I
plan to try this as well this winter in some, at least, of my hives.
 
But there is no grand conspiracy out there, no devious collaboration between
the Apistan commercial pipeline and the scientific investigators.  It is not
helpful to anyone to make these wild charges  (other wild charges also abound
in the aforementioned post).  Why don't we all just try to be helpful to
others here - we already have enough problems.
 
Ted Fischer

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