> Some of us were talking last year about getting motions passed at the AHPA > and ABF meetings to get formic and oxalic approved for use the USA. As far as formic acid goes the following approvals were obtained: 1) During 1996 through 1999, "For-Mite" obtained various approvals from the EPA, including a "tolerance in beeswax and honey". It is not known why no product was marketed by the applicant after all the effort, but Mann Lake (the applicant) can be assumed to have been happier selling CheckMite strips than Formic Acid, likely due to liability concerns. 2) Later on, the USDA itself developed Formic Acid Gel, and BetterBee took it all the way to a full-bore "Section 3" EPA approval. Some gel-packs were shipped, but they tended to have the same impact on dealer warehouse shelves and floors as the green slime that the creatures "bleed" in the "Alien" movie series, so back to the drawing board. 3) Most recently, the Mite-Away folks have worked with the EPA to get what is said to be full "Section 3" approval for their product, rumored to be slated for this winter. If this many approvals can be obtained, clearly "approval" is not the problem, is it? Anyway, such resolutions are not worth the paper they aren't printed on. If a large group of beekeepers want change, they should realize that 1,000 paper letters from 1,000 real beekeepers to their individual elected representatives would have a lot more impact than anything from either of the self-proclaimed representatives of all US beekeepers. Elected officials listen to their constituents more than they listen to what they view as "trade groups" or "pressure groups". (From a practical standpoint, neither group has anywhere near as many attendees as the Ohio Tri-County meeting each March, so if one wanted to talk about constituencies, they would both be competing to be #3, as EAS would clearly be #2 in terms of numbers of beekeeper members.) Of course, both organizations want to claim to represent more of the large beekeepers, ignoring the fact that large-scale beekeeping has about as much in common with small-scale beekeeping as marching bands have in common with string quartets. Even if a US Congressperson or Senator agreed that the plight of beekeepers was severe, "breaking" the system to grant relief to beekeepers on pesticide regs would be like amending the law to exempt beekeeper's trucks from all safety inspection and licensing requirements - indefensible nonsense. The Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee happens to be my congressperson, so I know for certain that while such resolutions would get a polite response, it would not prompt action that would do more harm than good. One must think with care about one's goal before one starts lobbying. (For example, ABF's position on bee imports was "just say no". This was a childish demand in light of the WTO treaty, which does not allow "just say no". The ABF was an embarrassment to those of us who were trying to make tangible progress towards biosecurity.) The good news is that the system isn't broken. Mite-Away sailed through EPA approval with ease, and is rumored to be due a full "Section 3" registration just in time for Christmas, clear proof that anyone who wishes could register anything they wished. After all, regulators who will approve an organophosphate clearly have approved something just short of weapons-grade plutonium in terms of human toxicity. Would all beekeepers be willing to sign a waiver of liability indemnifying the manufacturer and dealer of any/all liability resulting from use or handling of either Formic or Oxalic as a precondition to buying either? Somehow I doubt it. > My perception is that many, if not most, US beekeepers are > simply not well informed... I was so shocked at the conviction with > which misinformation about formic and oxalic was presented by people > I very much respect... Would YOU admit to being "well-informed" on a technique that would not only imply at least fines, if not criminal charges, but might also cause your entire honey crop to be rejected by your buyers if the story "got out"? For an object lesson, let's wait and see what happens to those that are implicated in the sodium cyanide incident. I can detect the faint odor of burning woodenware from here. Did you ever stop to think that otherwise well-informed people making statements and asking questions so clueless might be indulging in some deliberate misdirection to give the impression that they had not even thought about doing something that they really had been doing for a while? Beekeepers are a highly creative group of people. Yeah, "creative" - that's the ticket. jim (The worst defense is a bad offense) :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::