>Unbelievable, the way you apply oxalic acid, without any protection for your
>health

I forgot to label the video "For Your  Entertainment Only.  Not a Recommendation.  
Don't Try This at Home, Kids  - Actions Performed by Professional Stuntmen.

My video is not a recommendation and neither is what follows.  Oxalic acid
under many conditions can be very nasty and dangerous. 

The following is my opinion and based on my own experience.  It is not in
conformity with many recommendations, which, again in my own opinion and
those of others I know, are alarmist and over-cautious and actually counter-
productive by emphasizing minor risks and thus concealing  the major risks.

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae8VIFy8YOA&feature=related

Nobody is going to get injured following the instructions for the verdampfer -
unless, of course the battery blows up in someone's face when attaching and
disconnecting it in the manner shown  due to the accumulation of hydrogen
inside the cells.  (The procedure shown, using clips on the terminals, is is not in
conformance with battery safety guidelines as I know them!  Having the top
blow off a battery and right in one's face is not a pleasant event.  This, I can
testify from personal experience).

Seriously, what was shown in the video I offered was an ad-hoc performance
and was a one-time application, performed by knowledgeable individuals with
first aid experience and resources at hand and not done by an uninformed and
unsupervised  employee, alone and far from assistance.

FWIW, he sort of application demonstrated, albeit in a more organized and less
hap-hazard form has a history of about a decade on thousands of hives at a time
with no reports (AFAIK) of harm to the applicators.

In this case, bare hands were safer than gloves because the acid can be seen
and felt.  There was no rain or snow to wet the acid powder.  As for fumes, we
had a breeze and were able to stand clear, although it maybe does not look like it.

Masks hinder communication and present a hazard in themselves and offer
little real protection.  The best protection is to stand upwind, and confine the
fog to the hives.  (More on this below).

If this were being done on more than 25 hives or by employees, I am quite
certain that measures would be employed to reduce exposure and risks.
Whether  the  employees  would use all the equipment supplied once out of
sight is another question.

From my experience with oxalic acid, going back to before it was used in
beekeeping, and what I can learn, the risks from oxalic acid in occasional and
light exposure are mostly related to the caustic effects on skin, eyes, and lungs.
Toxicity  is not a real issue in casual exposure to the product.

Skin contact is no issue as long as it is time-limited and there is minimal
moisture involved.  Rain, for example or even dew would alter the situation,
as would snow.

However, in the presence of water and in the case of prolonged contact
skin injury is likely. With bare hands, there is a warning by a stinging sensation,
especially at any slight cut or cuticles and the solution is to simply wash it off.

>and leaving all the holes open (effectiveness)!

As this application was experimental ,we wanted to observe and verify the
distribution of the fog through the  hives.  On the previous application, a
month ago, we did not do so and have since wondered.  The acid is cheap,
so we used a bit extra to compensate for the open entrances and the open holes.
For what I can see, there is no need to close the hives, but it could reduce the
amount of the fog in  the  yard and could be desirable for that purpose.

Confining the fog to the hives is an obvious protection for the operators.  We
would be more inclined to do that in a less ad-hoc application.

Again, the video was provided for entertainment, and my comments are my
opinions and mine alone.  The only advice I offer is to consult your local
authorities and follow your local codes.

And, no matter where you live, don't connect and disconnect current-carrying 
wires at battery terminals, especially when the batteries have been recently 
charged or discharged.  Make and break connections remotely from the battery 
to prevent explosions and acid showers.

             ***********************************************
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