Bob writes: Penn State ( and the CCD team) in their writings as do many other researchers point to illegal use of miticides as the source of our problems. Strictly hypothesis which can not be proven! [Not so. In fact, they suggest that long term application of miticides may increase honey bees' resistance to pesticides.] coumaphos (and/or fluvalinate) tolerance in bees provides cross-resistance to pesticide exposures from other organophosphates and pyrethroids which may be affecting CCD-afflicted bees at sub-lethal doses. Honey bees, as compared to other insects, are notably lacking in detoxification enzymes which provide moderate levels of cross-resistance to pesticides. Any enhancement in these enzyme levels may greatly improve the ability of bees to tolerate the numerous pesticides they encounter in-hive or while foraging. we cannot make any definitive statement concerning which factors do or do not contribute to or cause CCD. This study suggests that future, longitudinal studies should focus on monitoring parasite (varroa mite), pathogen, and pesticide loads while quantifying pesticide tolerance in study populations. "Colony Collapse Disorder: A Descriptive Study" August 2009 Dennis vanEngelsdorp 1,2 (et al) 1 Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America, 2 Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America *********************************************** 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 Access BEE-L directly at: http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L