>http://www.statecolumn.com/2014/02/new-research-on-spread-of-honeybee-disea
ses-to-wild-bumblebees/

Perhaps they should go back a step and ask how the UK's honey bees became
infected in the first place.

I would suggest that the answer is a complete disregard for biosecurity.
Over the years, the UK has left its doors wide open and now we are paying
the price.  Bees have been imported - and are still being imported - with
totally inadequate checks:

NOTES FROM THE EAST ANGLIAN BEE FORUM, 18 SEP 2013
Bee Imports.  EU law requires at least 24 hours' notice and this can also be
done via BeeBase. In 2013 there were 216 imports.  They make a 50% check of
the paperwork and a 30% check of the bees.
Is that biosecurity?

Vast sums are spent monitoring and then reacting when a problem occurs, but
nothing seems to be done to prevent the problems in the first place; and we
all know that it is virtually impossible to do anything to eliminate
diseases and unwanted species once they are in the country.  Varroa was the
classic - endless lines being drawn and then moved as the varroa spread,
causing great disruption and expense to beekeepers - and all for nothing!

At the same time we have had huge numbers of bumblebees imported for
pollination of crops in polytunnels and glasshouses.  These originally came
from Holland, then Eastern Europe and latterly Turkey - in other words
wherever they can be produced the cheapest!
Growers are supposed to destroy these nests at the end of the season to
prevent new queens escaping into the wild, but in open-ended polytunnels
this is just not happening.  We are now in the situation where the existence
of our once  most common bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, is threatened by
Anatolian bumblebees.  Who is to say what diseases they have brought in?
Does anyone know?

But this is not just limited to bees: mink, muntjac deer, grey squirrels,
signal crayfish, New Zealand flatworms... the list is endless.

Best wishes

Peter
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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