Ok,

I had to pull our book chapter off the shelf and see what we reported
finding in beehives, using sorbent chemistry techniques.  Glad to see
that  the Fed
Labs have finally caught up, we've been using these  analytical technologies
since 1995.

I couldn't remember what we found  with respect to 2-heptanone --
the fact that we identified over 200 volatile and  semi-volile organic
compounds inside beehives might have something to do with it  -- or maybe
its old age
and poor memory.

Whatever, 2-heptanone was one of the materials that we found in beehives in
Montana and in Maryland in the mid- to late 90s.

We weren't using it to control mites.  It was already in the  hives.

According to the literature survey that we did, this compound  is produced
by the
mandibular gland of guard bees and functions as an alarm or  defense compound
and marker.

Which leads to the next obvious question, what's the temperament of the
treated colonies?

One thing that I am glad of, until USDA found that wax was a chemical sink,
we were one of the few cautioning about build up of residues in wax - and not
only of things injected for mite treatment, but we found all kinds of
materials,
including by-products of burning gasoline and diesel, industrial solvents,
and  the list goes on.

The other down side is that wax may hold on to some chemicals for  years.  As
such, I'll be the first to jump on the bandwagon and lobby for  comb rotation
-- out of the hive, not simply to another spot in the hive.

I'll also lead the charge against fogging things like sheep dip into the
hives.  Great way to bring the industry to its knees -- unregistered
chemicals and pesticides partitioning into and out of wax and honey.  Wait
until the honey consumer in the grocery store reads about contaminated
honey.  If you think transfer from strips is a problem, think what a fogger
can do in terms of speeding up the process and virtually guarantees
contamination.

Cheers, I think.

Jerry

Ref:

Smith, G.C., J.J. Bromenshenk, D.C. Jones, and G.H. Alnasser.   2002.
Volatile and semi-volatile compounds in beehive atmospheres.   In:  Honey Bees:
Estimating the Environmental Impact of Chemicals.  J.  DeVillers and M-H
Pham-Delegue, eds.  Chapter 2: 12-41.

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