Brian Fredericksen wrote:

> this gets even more interesting is a chemical that's commonly mixed and sold as a premix with 
> fluvalinate for labeled Ag uses lowers the LD50 to  .0094 mg/bee and is very very toxic to bees. 
> the implication was that off label use (blue shop rags) could have unintended results. oops!

Even though there may not be a one-to-one correlation between CCD and the unauthorized use of fluvalinate , it 
certainly does account for at least some of the CCD reports and does answer the observation that bees on the 
same foundation exhibit CCD symptoms but the same bees on new foundation are fine. Also that bees are also fine 
on honey supers from the same hive that suffered from CCD, since honey supers are not on when the colony is 
"treated".

The news that all fluvalinate is not alike (there are several isomers) and the new form is found in wax, means 
that any data concerning fluvalinate concentrations needs to discern just which one we are talking about, since 
the original isomer formulation is the weak cousin of the variant now also found in wax.

If beekeepers are applying their off label treatments as if it was the old formulation, you will get bees in 
very bad shape and very susceptible.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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