Hello All,
When those subscribers( which are also members of BEE-L )to the American Bee
Journal read my April article on the neonicotinoid systemic insecticides you
will find a very toned down version of the BEE-L discussion. Being the first
(to my knowledge ) article in a bee magazine on the subject I only wanted to
make beekeepers aware of possible problems in the future.

I even left out Bayer's name in ABJ ( Bayer has the registration for 
imidacloprid) .
I could have presented many of the points made on BEE-L( and information
from the many lawsuits against Bayer)  but all journeys begin with the first
step.

After watching the Daytona 500 race today I turned to the program 60 minutes
and guess what was on.

A presentation on the trouble scientists had getting Bayer & the FDA to
restrict the use of the Bayer drug Trasylol. A two year battle which the 
scientists won in the end!

The scientist said if Bayer had voluntarily restricted the drug (instead of
fighting their  research) then over a 1000 lives a month could have been
saved. Over 24,000 lives which in the scientists opinion would still be
alive today if Bayer and the FDA had restricted the trasylol use when
research (other than Bayer's) proved people were dying because of the drug.

Trasylol has been banned in some countries. Bayer would not comment when
asked to by the program 60 minutes but sent a written statement saying Bayer
had research showing trasylol was safe within FDA guidelines.

The program ended with saying Bayer has posted record profits for 2007 and
many lawsuits over the drug trasylol have been filed.

I feel the above is important to the current discussion to point out the
trouble beekeepers will have *if* imidacloprid is found to cause problems
with non target insects. In my opinion if Bayer has to choose between record
profits and the loss of bees then the bees will lose out. If those
scientists from the 60 minutes program had not stood up to Bayer and pushed
for its restriction then in their opinion a 1000 people a month would still
be dying.

The scientists pushed for an outright ban of trasylol but instead surgeons
can use the drug in certain situations like they can the drug
chloramphenical.

Did others see the program? Comments?

bob



-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.

****************************************************
* General Information About BEE-L is available at: *
* http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm   *
****************************************************