Stan,
Excellent summary and appreciated. Thanks for the correction on the 30
vrs 45 days for greenhouse application.

I am not trying to defend imidacloprid, and have no problem with its
removal from the marketplace. My continued concern is to get the facts
in place when going after a large company pushing a product. Emotion is
easy and science is hard.

I appreciate Peter Dillon's work in that area. So I did a little more
net searching and found this.

http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/gaucho/manifestation_paris_us.htm

which ties in with Medhat Nzar's concerns and is  reasoned and rational.
And appears to be using data that is fairly clean and apolitical.
Interesting in it does tie in with the origional article that started
this whole thread.

I got into this whole thing because there were accusations made that
imidacloprid was the cause of colony deaths in Canada. It might be. My
guess is it is mites or other factors, since it does not track with what
has been seen in France but is consistant with observations I have with
colony deaths elsewhere, including the numbers.

Dealing with pesticides, perception is everything. Bayer has not lost in
France, nor have the beekeepers won. There is a moritorium, unless
things have changed. Bayer is winning in Canada and the US.

Good science is needed first, which is what Peter is doing. And I
realize that even that may not be enough, but at least it is a solid
foundation from which to fight.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, ME