Aaron Morris wrote:
> In a post dissing BEE-L for misinformation, Bob writes:
>
>>Research has shown fluvalinate (Apistan) caused some
>>infertility in drones

> so this post may be the sort of misinformation to which Bob
> refers.

> Moral?  Know your sources, look before you leap, caveat emptor, or as Andy
> so well put it, "Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk."

I did a little research on this today and infertility can be caused by
many different things. All pesticides do not cause infertility. Some do
but they are mostly of the hormonal variety which have been bad boys
from the start, and most are no longer used.

Some of the "inert" ingredients in sprays can cause it. There are
websites dedicated to all the things that can cause it, including coffee!

With few exceptions, most of the infertility is not permanent but just a
decrease for a short time. And it does not mean the insect or person is
infertile, but just that sperm counts are down. There were some
interesting studies done on Canadian Farmers and infertility (don't ask
me why they had to study Canadians) and pesticides were generally not a
problem but riding tractors in the hot sun with warm jeans were.

So keep your drones off tractors and out of tight jeans and they should
be fine.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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