>How can this be legal, and how can the operators of such equipment

> causing apparently widespread pollution off their property not be
> charged with an environmental offence now that the problem has been
> well-identified and studied for over a year?


That's an excellent question, Allen!  At least in the U.S., the planting of
treated seed is not legally considered as a pesticide application.  I
know--that sounds ridiculous, but that's the way it currently stands.
 Which then makes enforcement of drift issues complex, and tough for the
beekeeper to sue for compensation.

Then the question arises as to which of the several pesticides applied to
the seed are actually responsible for the bee deaths, and whether there are
synergies involved.

All parties are working on a solution.

In the meantime, we should keep in mind that there are numerous pesticide
kills occurring across Canada each year from other sorts of pesticides.
 The number of bees killed in these other incidents apparently exceeds
those killed by the seed planting dust (Cutler and Scott-Dupree, in press),
yet the public focus has been entirely upon the planting dust.

IMHO, we should all adjust our focus back to the bigger issue of pesticide
effects in general, rather than upon solely this specific problem, which is
being actively addressed.

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

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