A visible and vocal accuser of the Imidacloprid claims in the USA is Mr David Hackenburg. He has 
not offered up one tiny shred of evidence or data to support those claims, not even a scientific 
study showing damage somewhere else. Just his claims every time the media calls or another CCD 
related documentary is made. Its a compelling sad story every time you hear him and I hate to see 
the guy lose his bees and his way of living. 

But lets be frank He has never offered up his medications records either. Would not we all like to 
know what he used for mite control in the last year. OR how about the last ten years? 

I find my bees don;t do well on comb thats 20-30 years old. I wonder how old his brood comb is? 
We don't have any of these pieces of data though.  Bob there's an interview and article waiting to 
happen...UH?

The claims of dying bees continue in the EU where Imidacloprid was discontinued. Was there not 
recently a rigorous EU based study that looked into Imidacloprid and found nothing related to bee 
die offs? 

My own little research showed that the Corn belt IA, NE, IN IL southern MN/Wis, MO had few if any 
credible CCD claims, at least no huge losses this past year or in 06/07. Certainly that region is 
ground zero for Gaucho coated corn. 

The situation though in citrus IMO looks more concerning. They have this new greening pest, they 
don't need pollination either. In the apple industry they need the beeks and usually will work with 
a beekeeper, to not spray during bloom. The greening problem though actually calls for spraying 
before or during bloom as a method of control. When I called the FL dept of ag pesticide 
enforcement folks they acknowledged the risk but pointed out these class of chems the 
neonictinoids are very expensive and not the first choice when loading the sprayer. It would 
appear any beeks trying to collect orange blossom would want to know the grove owners and have 
some understanding of who is spraying what in the area during bloom as this new pest takes over.   
With trends in a new direction for citrus greening, wether systemic chems are used or 
organophosphates I would think beekeepers who have the citrus bloom as part of their annual 
strategy would want to think twice about the risks. 

Common sense and concern for our bees would make any beekeeper wonder about the safety of 
systemic pesticides but we really have remarkably little scientific evidence after years of finger 
pointing at Bayer.

I've kept bees for about 14 years now and will admit that since about 2002 or so its been more 
difficult. Some bees did not build up as I was used to in spring. The quality of CA queens went 
down the tubes with 50% superscedure. It got more creative to treat for mites in the post strip era. 

What changed for me is stopping the use of widely used strips and tossing 1000's of brood combs 
in to the burn pile. We now burn comb ever year - I mean spring deadouts make you wonder how 
much the comb contributed - can't see any back lit daylight though the comb - burn it. I stopped 
buying conveyor belt poorly mated queens too and became more selective in my apiary locations. 
I started charging more for my products to cover my increased expenses.

Since then I have seen a marked improvement in the overall vigor of my bees and the bees seem 
as prolific as they were in the mid 90's when I got started. 

 I'm not saying I have all the answers but I do feel that these issues I mention are real and 
documented unlike the speculative claims made about systemic chems - which to me sounds like 
a scapegoat and possible denial or reality  unless the comb contamination, mite treatment, queen 
vigor and site selection issues are not addressed first. 

It takes years to paint yourself into the cumulative  corner on these issues and years to get out. If 
these issues are affecting Mr Hackenberg for instance I would expect it would take him 2-3 years 
to move to a different management style and see some improvement. If he's not looking at his 
operation in light of some of the issues I discussed and waiting for a magic bullet to stop the 
Imidacloprid bogey man, I would think he will not last long.  Its a new era in beekeeping some will 
thrive and some will not. 

What a story line that will be if he goes down.....the hype will probably sound like its the end of 
the honeybee all over again. 

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