Allen said"
The status quo has amazing inertia, and, oftentimes, all it takes is a few
loud and illogical objectors to stall even the most beneficial change"

Thanks Allen for your reply
I have been involved in arranging for getting the data from Europe. The
European colleagues were generous to allow sharing with us all published
and unpublished data.  Canada will pay for getting these data based on the
number of hives in the same way that any European country paid for sharing
the costs of registration. If the information is available on the net and
it will not cost money as suggested, the CHC would not request any money.
The requested money also will pay for a professional person to get the
application done and the application fees, translations, etc. Yes, anyone
can walk to the drug store and get the product, but it is illegal to apply
it in the hives. For the very same reason, its availability makes a bee
supplier reluctant to pay to get the product registered. Therefore, the
CHC is stepping in to help the industry and bee suppliers obtain OA for
legal use. We would like to make sure that beekeepers would not be subject
to any legal action from the regulators.

There are regulations administered by the Pest Management Regulatory
Agency (PMRA), we have to follow these regulations to get the proper
registration of OA in Canada. Based on work from Quebec colleagues, the
PMRA accepted the advice of Provincial Apiculturists and the CHC to allow
the data from Europe and the limited data from Canada (Nasr 2001& 2002;
Skinner 2002 & 2003; Giovenazzo (Quebec) 2003) in support of an
application to register the OA in Canada.

In a nutshell, we have been working hard on this issue on behalf of the
beekeeping industry. I hope that the Canadian beekeepers will stand to
support the OA registration as the European beekeepers and their
governments have done in Europe.

Happy Holidays

Medhat
Medhat Nasr, Ph. D.
Alberta Provincial Apiculturist
Crop Diversification Centre North

17507 Fort Road
Edmonton, AB, Canada T5Y 6H3
Tel: (780) 415-2314    Fax: (780) 422-6096
Mailto:[log in to unmask]

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