Peter said: > No evidence has been found to support the idea > that northern honey bee populations are either > polluted by African genes or that their genetic > base has been precipitously narrowed, causing > widespread collapse. This is easy to explain if one realizes that the genetics in question were self-defeating, and would prompt the "extinction" of that hybrid line quickly. No evidence has been found in CURRENT stocks of bees, true. But a very high correlation between the USDA-bred bees and "disappearing disease" in that SPECIFIC year was found. High enough for a scientist to buck his own chain of command, going multiple pay-grades above his own. And remember, Bill Wilson wasn't just a rank-and file employee of the USDA, he ran a lab. He clearly had proven his expertise, judgment, and office-politics skills, or he would not have been given the post. There must have been some VERY compelling evidence to prompt him to act in such a "career-suicide" manner. So, I agree that these stocks did not survive long due to the exact defect that caused the "disappearing disease" symptoms, but I don't think that looking after-the-fact at something that was clearly the subject of a "cover up" is going to result in much evidence of the sort that would be "conclusive". > Finally, as many have pointed out, widespread > die-offs were reported in the 1800s, and every > few decades ever since. And the take-away here is that the die-offs have had different causes, and were poorly described, documented, and very poorly compared after the fact. **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************