Hello All We recently talked on the Irish List about impending changes in EU legislation requiring beekeepers to observe a strict code of practice in the purity of beeswax used for making cosmetic products. The recent exchanges on this subject make for gloomy reading. I know of some beekeepers in Ireland who are making a tidy sum from selling these products and fair play to them. But they must now be wondering when the inspector cometh. But when I think of the EU and Ireland authorising Bayvarol and then turning around and telling us that our wax is polluted, then this Irishman's blood begins to boil. It appears to me that we are slowly but inexorably sleep walking our way into a horribly polluted world and beekeeping is slowly but surely going down the tubes. And the entire scene is being assisted by the failure of organisations like FIBKA (The Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations) who are doing nothing about it, except covering their legal asses, as they did recently at the AGM of the Galtee Bee Breeders. Granted some of the FIBKA personnel are putting together a grand show for Apimondia 2005 in Dublin, but when all of the glitz and the razamatazz is over, and everybody has thanked everybody else, and the delegates have returned to their own countries full of the joys of an Irish visit, we will still be slowly sleep walking like zombies towards a beekeeping scenario full of pollution as they have in the USA. And the tragedy is that it could be different in Ireland at least, if FIBKA led rather than followed. But I suppose that you cannot teach dinosaurs of any age new tricks. Maybe that is why we no longer have dinosaurs in the wild! Sincerely Tom Barrett Dublin Ireland :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::