To Bill and Bob and anyone Bill, it sounds like you have a much more meaningful state bee program in the NE then we have here in Mn. In fact the Mn Honey Producers Association has asked the state to essentially disband the state program since it is underfunded and basically useless.. Currently we have a couple of seasonal inspectors who do nothing but look for foulbrood scale when hives are shipped out of state. We have 30 commercial migratory beekeepers in the state. There appears to be no call for bees to be shipped into the state for any pollination work. So why not close the border? I don't see the long term economic benefits from keeping 2-3 dozen outfits in business while the potential for disruption to the sideliner & hobby side is great. Why should I and others not hold the state ag peoples feet to the fire to uphold laws they have on the books to keep invasive pests like Varrora , AHB and SHB out of the state? Many of the migratory beekeepers here are good people and even better beekeepers . I have no axe to grind and feel bad to suggest we should shut them out of the state. I just can't go on blind faith that everything will work out fine in a system the appears to have no oversight and no plan. Like I said before beekeepers are always on overload during the summer. Why should I beleive that the migratory guys will be diligent in their inspecations when they have 1000's of hives, high fuel prices and little time? Yeh like I bet most migratory folks do mite drop tests before they treat right? Yeh sure. I do have history to look at as a predictor and I see mites and SHB spread over North America with the help of migratory beekeepers. We ( as beekeepers) have no real AHB plan in place as an industry and here in Mn no credible oversight so yes I'm damn worried. I guess I'm suggesting a national quarrantine and why not? Is this not standard practice in the farm animal industry? Would we not expect our fed and state governments to act swiftly and decisvely if a pest or disease was on our doorstep? Maybe we can keep avian bird flu contained by just asking poultry producers to please check your chickens? That would nice for the producers right.....but the big picture would not be addressed. I see a lot of reluctance to take ownership of this issue by the bee industry . Let me suggest that if there was a national quarrantine put in place and no hives rolled anywhere that some real ideas might come forth and some kind of mitigation plan put in place that has a chance of succeeding. I 'd feel better about giving that a chance then rolling the dice in the current free for all that is taking place. Someone please tell me how you would explain to John or Jane Doe Public why its not completely crazy to have large quantities of colonies moving around the country some of which are loaded with AHB genetics and we have no way to know how many and where they are going. And our plan is to have every beekeeper looking for AHB even though its hard to tell without DNA analysis a hot bee from an AHB. Sounds like a joke to me and the only reason its going on is that beekeeping is flying under the fed and state and public radar and nobody gives a rip what we are doing for now......... -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---