Brian Fredrickson writes “seems silly to me to even debate if moving bees spreads problems: I don’t recall anyone saying that moving bees does not result in spreading of problems. At issue here is whether shutting down the movement of bees solves more problems than it creates, given all the factors to be considered, including how to enforce it, who benefits and who is harmed by it, and how effective it would be at solving the problems. In order to arrive at a decision as a society, the case for halting what is now a very integral part of a very firmly entrenched agricultural system will have to be a much stronger one than I have heard anyone on this list make yet. At least that is my impression of the current reality and I could be wrong. I do not think what some consider just plain common sense will be enough to counter the argument against disrupting the system as it currently exists. It will have to be shown that keeping bees stationary can result in a significant fulfillment of the nations pollination needs. If the economics of this possible shift in our way of doing things can be shown to work for more people than it doesn’t, then things will gradually move in the direction Brian and others would like to see, even if the heavy hand of politics doesn’t come into it. And it is always better if the politicians can be kept out of it. That path can be so inefficient. Steve Noble ****************************************************** * Full guidelines for BEE-L posting are at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm * ******************************************************