On 5/12/2012 1:21 AM, Dan O'Callaghan wrote:
> How does a beekeeper confirm a pesticide kill in the US? If someone on 
> the list knows, please post...

Honestly there is no reason why a beekeeper would know what to do unless 
they've done it before.  It's not well publicized, is hard to find, and 
often there are roadblocks to reporting effectively.

In Ohio, you can report it to the Ohio Department of Agriculture.   Our 
experience this year has been they are slow to respond and for the first 
case of bee kills in Ohio, they were not returning calls until the media 
got involved.   Even then there still are issues with response time, 
chain of custody (of the samples), etc.   more information and tips on 
reporting, what to do, etc.  can be found here: 
http://www.ohiostatebeekeepers.org/resources/pesticides-and-honeybees/
In short the ODA is suppose to come out, take samples and in 3-4 months 
they will provide you with a report of their findings.  They may or may 
not be able to tell you who the applicator was.  See the OSBA website 
for more info.

The Ohio State Beekeepers are also collecting data on bee kills in an 
effort to push the ODA to fix their system so pesticide applicators can 
notify the beekeepers as required by Ohio Law.  Currently it depends on 
who you talk to if they will help at all, and their databases are so 
antiquated its apparently very hard for them to tell a pesticide 
applicator which beekeepers to notify.   Filling out the form will also 
report it to the EPA.

The EPA's website is http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/ecosystem/pollinator/
It's not easy to find.  Until very recently (we've been giving them lots 
of feedback) the email address was not obvious and they mentioned an 
online form that apparently didn't exist.

The NPIC (National Pesticide Information Center) is a clearing house for 
reporting all pesticide issues (not just honey bees)  http://npic.orst.edu/
This is a joint effort between the EPA and Oregon State University.
They do have a form to report bee kills, but it's very hard to find.   I 
can only find a page on bees covering CCD.  You need to select 'Report a 
Problem -> Environmental Incident'
Ignore their advice to contact your State Environmental Agency (at least 
in Ohio, They've told us that they don't handle pesticide problems).   
You can call their 800 number or fill out the 'Ecological Pesticide 
Incident Reporting' form: http://pi.ace.orst.edu/erep/

In fact, the instructions on the form were the only place I saw it 
mention bees and beekeeper on their site (other than the page on CCD in 
their index).   Note however, that unless they have changed it in the 
past week, you must know either the pesticide applicators registration 
number, or the pesticide used and it's active ingredient.   This is a 
huge problem for beekeepers.  Few beekeepers would have any idea how to 
fill this out.

So, I really don't see how any of the above is easy to find or common 
knowledge for beekeepers.   It's a hodgepodge of efforts,  and even each 
organization doesn't seem to know what the different parts of it are 
doing (EPA vs state EPA vs NPIC.  Each reports differently and gives 
different advice.  ODA also will tell you different things depending on 
who you contact.)  None are well publicized.    (I've been told NPIC 
hasn't done the advertizing they intended due to budget cuts.   They 
also said they didn't know if they could do anything to fix their 
website so it can be found more easily due to the same.)

I only know the above from pushing the ODA and any contact we have at 
the EPA and elsewhere on behalf of the Ohio State Beekeepers 
Associations effort to get something done for our members about this issue.

-Tim

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm