Bob mentioned: In certain areas such as Canada & the U.K. you can see the exact symptoms which are described as CCD but for some reason the powers that be refuse to use the word CCD. An attempt to comment on the above statement: The Colony kill in Canada as per our surveys and investigations don't fit the CCD as defined by our colleagues in the USA. I am following the discussion here about the single criterion that define CCD. Unfortunately dead Canadian colonies can be robbed. The second criterion regarding disappearance of bees, Jerry answered this already " bees are found in the hives in Canada". In Alberta I used a bee yard where we highly suspected CCD existed and placed packages in them in 2007. All colonies did very well. For the past three years, I conducted surveys and it is published under Alberta Agriculture website. I have also been conducting sampling and monitoring bees in commercial operations where high or low winter kill reported. 1000's of samples checked for Varroa and Nosema showed that at least 30 % of the colonies suffered from high levels of varroa mites and Nosema. Most of our Nosema is N. apis and about 20% is N ceranae. In fact, the sad part, we did monitor colonies after treatments where we found that treatments failed and it was too late to help these colonies. Our 2008 fall survey results predicted mortality matched what was reported by beekeepers the following spring. Please keep in mind that Checkmite failed to control Varroa in 2007 and Apistan already is no longer effective. Formic acid was not effective due to cold spring and early cold fall. Oxalic used and helped in some operations. In general, beekeepers were caught off guard and bees did not get the proper treatment on time. Therefore, mites levels were way high and consequently high winter kill was reported. We stuck with two ineffective miticides; Apistan and Checkmite. Therefore, we worked hard to convince our regulators to grant Apivar an emergency registration. As soon as Apivar registered in late fall 2008. Beekeepers used it to salvage what can be salvaged of bee colonies. Beekeepers who used Apivar on time to protect winter bees reported <15% winter kill. As we kept monitoring colonies, We found colonies treated with Apivar have mites less than 1%. Last comment, CND regulators have really nothing to gain from denying that there is CCD or NOT. CND beekeepers would have spoken up like any others beekeepers around the globe and complained. You Can ask the Canadian Honey Council. How much efforts done by the regulators to get Apivar registered and support the industry across Canada to keep healthy bees. No question CCD research in the USA has provided us with good information about bee health and management. We wish that we move to the next stage and develop means to protect our bees from happening again. medhat *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html