>Yes, but maybe you can explain why a beekeeper would place his hives adjacent to a corn field, knowing they could get dusted? Pete, in some areas of the U.S., it is virtually impossible NOT to put your hives next to a corn field. But a more explanatory answer is that from what I hear speaking to beekeepers in corn areas is that it is like rolling the dice--in most years, any planting dust issues are minimal. It is only under certain unusual circumstances that they suffer from significant kills. >It is way more difficult to keep bees. And I think it is a bit much to think that beekeepers can know what the hell is going on in all the fields adjacent to their beeyard. Stan, this is a common assessment of the situation for many commercial beekeepers. This is why I am strongly pushing for our bee industries to promote the concept to our regulators that ag lands must be "pollinator friendly." It is not only our honey bees that are getting slaughtered, but all pollinators and other beneficial insects. >Yes by putting the files on the shelf and hoping the problem will go away > Problems such as epidemics due to novel virus strains do "go away" on their own. Pesticide issues don't. That is why I am actively involved with the beekeepers who are addressing pesticide issues at the regulatory level. >Why do you Randy and others say ignore it and deal with pesticide effects in general. Bob, I apologize for making the erroneous assumption that those on the List also read my articles in ABJ and posted free to my website. If you had, you would see that I have never suggested that we ignore the planting dust issue. To the contrary, I have begged beekeepers to file incident reports time and again. It is only by filing such reports that the regulatory agencies are made aware that a problem exists. From the PMRA's website re incident reports considered major in severity filed in 2010: "Four incidents involved honey bee mortality." PMRA took action: "Bee mortality was reported at a commercial cranberry production site in an environment major incident (2010-3618), which included an analysis of a sample of dead bees. This analysis identified the presence of diazinon and its metabolite diazinon oxon. The PMRA determined that it was highly probable that the reported effects were due to exposure to the pesticide. According to the 2009 re-evaluation decisions (Re-evaluation Decision RVD2009-18), the use of diazinon on cranberries will be phased out and will no longer be registered in Canada. Bob, I've spent a good deal of face-to-face time with the EPA regulators, and a bit with some from the PMRA. They are pretty clear that we beekeepers have only ourselves to blame, since few were filing incident reports. Without such reports, a problem does not "officially" exist! The regulators have no justification for restricting the use of a popular pesticide unless there is a documented problem. Last year, due to unusual circumstances, there were a number of serious bee kills in Ontario, for which incident reports were filed. Both the PMRA and the EPA are seriously concerned about these, and have let the registrants know that they had better fix the problem pronto or face revocation of the registrations. I heartily support the agencies in moving rapidly (as far as bureaucracies are concerned) to fix the problem. -- Randy Oliver Grass Valley, CA www.ScientificBeekeeping.com *********************************************** 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