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Subject:
From:
"Walter T. Weller" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 25 May 1997 19:14:00 -0500
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On Sat, 24 May 1997 21:52:08 -0700 Vince Coppola <[log in to unmask]>
writes:
>Walter T. Weller wrote:
>
>
>>Is there any reliable information that fluvalinate has adverse
>effects on
>> humans, in the quantities likely to be absorbed by the honey?
>>
>> I strongly doubt it.  If this were a real hazard, the FDA would
>never
>> have approved fluvalinate for uncontrolled use by beekeepers.  Some
>of us
>> idiots would surely "misuse" the material, and the Feds wouldn't
>accept
>> this possibility if there were any real risk.
>
>        Fluvalinate is hardly approved for uncontrolled use. It is
>only approved
>to be used according to the directions on the label just like other ag
>chemicals.
>Supposedly beekeepers can be trusted to use this material properly.
 
Hi, Vince.  Thanks for the note.
 
Let's get real, shall we?  Don't you think that if the FDA were as
trusting as you seem to suppose, we would surely have more acaricides
approved for our trusted "controlled" use than just fluvalinate alone?
 
And this is not the same situation as the use of commercial agricultural
pesticides with proven harmful effects, nor of prescription drugs either.
 In each of those cases, a trained and licensed applicator is "trusted"
with the deployment of the stuff in a proper manner, subject to loss of
license and other penalties for misuse.  If fluvalinate were indeed
harmful to humans, we would assuredly have to call in licensed
applicators to put strips in our hives and to take them out again.  Have
you tried to treat your termites yourself?  Try to get the stuff to kill
them with -- the good stuff that the Orkin man uses.
 
Do you have any solid information on the subject, one way or the other?
That's what I'm asking for.
 
I don't, and can't find any.
 
I'm being forced to the conclusion that fluvalinate is probably as
harmful to humans as it is to bees -- that is, not at all.  If the FDA
thought otherwise fluvalinate would not have been released for us amateur
hobbyists to put into beehives.
 
But fluvalinate is a "pesticide", and therefore must be "controlled".
There have to be rules.  So we have rules.  The rules we have are easy to
follow, absolve the FDA of nonfeasance or negligence, and avoid public
outcry.  So everybody is happy.  Bureaucracy at its benign-est.  Best of
all possible worlds.  What we pay taxes for.
 
I've about decided that it doesn't really matter whether my honey gets
some fluvalinate in it as long as I don't sell it to others.  Eating it
isn't going to hurt me.
 
In the meanwhile, though, (being a compulsive obeyer of rules), I will
continue to keep the strips out of my hives during honey flows.
 
Walter

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