>It has been pointed out previously that beeswax traded internationally
>*must*  be full of AFB spores as must commercial wax foundation, since
>Canadian and US practice is to melt AFB combs for the wax.  It would be
>interesting to take samples of wax foundation from the market and to check
>for spores.
 
In his book on beekeeping (1949) the french well known beekeeper
Perret-Maisonneuve said he tried to get AFB with contaminated wax
foundation : more than 15 times : without succes.
 
Perhaps you could find the reason of this in the works of Feldlaufer et al
(1993) from the Shimanuki group :
 
Apidologie 24 (1993) pp 89-99
 
They showed that some fatty acids and specially "lauric acid"
CH3-(CH2)10-COOH inhibit the development of AFB spores.
 
Now : "lauric acid" is about 6 % of the acids content of the beeswax.
 
Seems it's easy to conclude !
 
Jean-Marie Van Dyck