Barry wrote:

>what tests that have been done on their bees would not support
>conjecturing that they are AHB.  If other breeders can manage to keep stock
>that is not Africanized while being surrounded by Africanized quarantined
>zones, then there is no reason to believe that the Lusby's couldn't do the
>same.

        Modern methods of analysing DNA fragments could by now have settled
into a reliable, sensitive test for whatever had been deemed 'Afro'
gene(s).  It is a dismal perversion of such technology that instead it's
largely deployed into attempts at commercialising dubious, ill-tested
crops, and then disputing whether a crop for human consumption contains
0.14% (as in the StarLink® case) or 0.04% (as in the Novartis NZ stunt) of
transgenic DNA.  The economics can be arranged so that assay fees are in
the range $6 - $30.
        In such a context it is very wrong for the Dubyuh regime to cut
budgets for the federal bee labs.  They should be enormously expanded (as
should my own govt's efforts on varroa & other bee research themes).
Neglect of bees is a most ominous sign of decadence in the overdeveloped
world.
        A kind friend brought me in 1987 the new English translation (by a
Russian woman and then one Cynthia Martin) of V V Rodionov & I A Shabarshov
1983 'The Fascinating World of Bees' (MOCKBA: Mir).  Methods, and chemicals
(e.g wormwood), were apparently useful that we'd never heard of thru the
iron curtain.  It would appear that more than just international trade in
Russian queens but also many other cross-pollinations could occur.  Why
don't we celebrate the end of the cold war by getting NATO to sponsor a
major confab on bees?
        As it is, discussion can be censored or closed off by one e-adept
person  -  a major drawback of this list.  But modern confab admin can
arrange a lot of translators, and I can't think of a more urgent need for
agriculture than a well conducted confab, leading to a book which resolves,
to some large extent, recent long-drawn-out controversies.  As Hayley Mills
urged ca1963, Let's Get Together.
        Such issues as were not resolved by this confab might at least be
organised for international cooperative research.  I have no doubt that
non-scientists would play a considerable part at every stage.  The reasons
for the scientific method (as ably expounded by Farmageddon re bells &
bees) are its proven efficiency & reliability; but it is not the sole way
of knowledge.

R

-
Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
   P O Box 28878  Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
                (9) 524 2949