> In 1970, Congress authorized the Beekeeper Indemnity Program.	This program was administered by USDA and partially compensated beekeepers for colony losses due to exposure to agricultural pesticides that had been approved by the federal government. Beekeepers who exercised reasonable precautions to avoid pesticide damage but still lost bees were eligible to apply for indemnity payments after January 1, 1967. This program expired in 1977. -- Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines March 26, 2007 Renée Johnson, Analyst in Agricultural Economics

> Many beekeepers were indemnified for losses to pesticides in an 11 year federal program during the 1970’s. Beekeepers were paid (indemnified) for dead bees killed or injured by pesticides - often repeatedly usually by the same pesticide in the very same location each year. --  MAAREC Publication, 4.8 February 2000

> The federal government responded to beekeepers worsening injuries by initiating a Beekeeper Indemnity Payment Program, administered by the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASOS). under the U.S.D.A. Like all government efforts to administer first aid to a system founded on ecologically misconceived practices, the indemnity program is expensive. I was surprised to learn that the total for 1976's payments came to $732,157.60 in Washington State. Last year, 29 Yakima County beekeepers received $436,298.00 for bee colonies damaged or destroyed by insecticide poisoning. Beekeeping is a big business and an important one. The indemnity program has probably saved many commercial beekeepers from switching occupations due to losses. 

> But bee poisoning seems also to have been worsened by the increasing use of a particularly destructive insecticide material — Pencap M. Pencap M is a recent innovation marketed by the Penwalt Corporation & consists of methyl parathion encapsulated in a porous plastic sphere. The spray is actually a suspension of tiny plastic balls, about 50 microns in diameter, containing the actual insecticide. The intent of this novel formulation is to make the poison more persistent in the crop environment, more toxic to a wide range of pests for a longer time, while being safer for the humans involved in handling it. Methyl parathion alone is one of the more volatile and dangerous insecticides to handle, but in the “little tiny time pills” which release the volatile material slowly, over a long period of time, it is much safer for the applicator. -- Honey Bee Poisoning By: Woody Deryck in: The Tilth Newsletter Summer, 1977

> The 1970 Act authorized payments to beekeepers who, through no fault of their own, had suffered losses of honey bees as a result of pesticide use near or adjacent to the property on which the beehives were located.

> This program became unwieldy because it was difficult to tell the difference between legitimate and falsely reported claims, and was finally discontinued.  -- Insecticides And CCD, Part I Do these ag chemicals play a role? By: Malcolm T. Sanford in:  Bee Culture June 2007

The last two are particularly telling. Is it the beekeeper's fault if he or she knowingly leaves bees in or near a field that is being sprayed? The program was killed because beekeepers were attributing any dead or empty hive to pesticide kill. That is the reason why many of us are opposed to indemnity for CCD losses. How do you prove you lost bees to CCD? And not to mismanagement ...

Pete

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