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<>Date:         Sun, 26 Feb 1995 05:37:00 -0700
<>From: Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
<>Subject:      Give me a break!
<>
<>At risk of doing what I am objecting to -- getting into politics rather
<>than bees, I will make one last post on this rather political and partisan
<>subject, then let it lie. Unless, of course, it does become an objective
<>discussion of the merits of isolation and methods of ensuring quarantine.
 
/ . --- end of quotes --- / .
 
   Thanks for your reply Allen,
 
     The attack and run approach is a good one. You posted a reply to
a beekeeper who has taken a honest but political side on a problem that
should concern all beekeepers, regardless of nationality or industry
affiliation. And many of us do have better things to do with our time.
But it was you who came back with an attack on the original post,
which I thought was well thought out. Maybe you could explain better
what you read as half truths in the original post without flames or half
truths of your own or trying to limit debate so you get the last hit.
 
     It seems to me that it is your side that wants something from
the other side, even if its only the landing rights in Hawaii. To flame
the beekeeper from Hawaii who has real concerns for other beekeepers
and then limit debate is not going to enlighten others on how rule
making comes about.
 
     As it stands at this moment what Canada and New Zealand have asked
for is about to be come law only because it is politically correct in
the US. Your personal attacks on the opposing views may have added the
fuel to at least for a 2nd look at this rule change with more then the
jaundice eye of the politician. Maybe the politicians need a little more
input from the scientific community and less from those who want the
change one way or another. With only one or two queen breeders in Hawaii
it does seem incredible that there is any opposition at all which
indicates the concern of the opposition is greater then just a few $$$
in lost sales to Canada.
 
     As a beekeeper who has shipped 600 two pound packages to Maine
one year by air to get 200 to a customer I do know from experience
that bee's do get lost and end up in someone else's hives then whom
they were intended. Banks and packages of queens are no exception as
any shipper can testify. There is a danger, even if remote that for
what ever reason bees, no matter how well regulated by numerous laws
and government agencies the bees will end up in the wrong place. The US
has had laws for generations to protect its beekeepers, they have not
worked. It would be a sad loss to see the last island of clean bee
stock wasted without serious study and thought when there is a chance
it could be kept free of any new bee problems.
 
    I know no way of insuring or discussing the merits of quarantines
that is not political as regrettably so much of what we beekeepers do
in our daily routines. And even more certain a pest and disease free
area as large as Hawaii should be of interest the the world scientific
community as represented by the subscribers to the BEE-L and not just
a disagreement between those who want something and those who want to
preserve something, if only a clean environment for bees in their own
home land.
                       ttul Andy-
 
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