>
> >I said back then when a few on the list were trying to *nail me to a
> cross*


Give it a break old buddy!  Trying to nail you to a cross would be like
trying to nail jello to the wall!

All anyone ever did was to ask you to give evidence to support your
hypothesis.
Your hypothesis is duly noted, but 20 years of intensive research has
failed to lend it much support.

None of us have ruled out your hypothesis, and some of us eagerly read
every new study to see if there is any support for it.

As far as the recent study that you mentioned supporting your hypothesis, I
agree with Pete that you should take the time to read the entire paper,
including all the tables and methodology.  It's at
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029268

Some of us dealing with pesticide issues have gone over it with a fine
tooth comb, and find a number of deficiencies and wild extrapolations.  For
example, when the dead bee samples were picked up from the planting dust,
no samples of that dust were taken from the substrate to see how much of
the chemical came from the dust that the dead bees were lying in.

We could go on and on picking the "study" apart.

I wrote the owner of the hives in the study, which had heavy clothianidin
dust blown right into the entrances.  All colonies recovered fully.

As I've previously stated, planting dust is indeed an issue that must be
addressed.  But that study did little to add to our knowledge.

The EPA has no qualms about revoking a label, as they recently did for
clothianidin on cotton.  But they are not going to revoke or change a label
until there is clear evidence of adverse effects.  So beekeepers can
protest and hold their breaths until their faces turn blue, but only good
data is going to actually result in any changes.

The beekeeping organizations are currently considering a proposal for
pesticide testing to be run by beekeepers.  It is clear that colonies kept
in industrial agriculture often go downhill.  We would like to determine
why. No one has ruled out any particular chemical.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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