I am reluctant to undertake answering the questions put by Mr Patton because (1) there are so many of them (2) I do not feel like acting as Mr Patton's research tool when everything he asks is available from one source or another (3) I do not feel there is genuine interest in the answers by Mr Patton (4) I'm pretty sure there is not interest by this list I repeat that if anyone *is* interested, and is not just trying to put me to a lot of work, I will be happy to correspond by email. I'll just get you started on your problem re: a statistical survey. You would need to know the number of hives, make assumptions re: infectability of the disease, the likelihood of importation, the weighting of the various vectors of introduction. Then it really becomes almost a straight mathematical exercise. Again, I apologise to the list for the intemperate thread that this has degenerated into. On the other hand, I don't want Mr Patton's writing to leave anyone thinking NZ is trying to hide anything it our attempts to achieve fair market access. Nick Wallingford President - Nat Beekeepers Assn of NZ (\ home [log in to unmask] {|||8- work [log in to unmask] (/