>The question as to whether the IAPV is actually a strain of KBV was brought
up.  It would seem that there will be testing to clarify this point.

This IS step one.

>A French chap claimed that since the banning of imidacloprid and fiprinol
spraying, the bees in France now are doing well.  No more massive die off.

Thats what I have been saying now for a very long time on BEE-L. I have
spoken with commercial beekeepers in France!  We have got to ban together
and try to stop the use of the above chemicals. I will say that the bees
when given a choice (plenty of pesticide free pollen like this year in my
area) will stay away from contaminated pollen ( perhaps the bees  somehow
know the pollen is not right? ) but in a drought year they will seek out the
contaminated pollen ( my own experiments!).

Forget about virus CCD for a minute and consider the above problem as big ag
keeps pumping higher amounts of the above chemicals into row crop areas.

Not simply going away without help. Big money maker for big ag!

Consider there is not solution for KBV or IAPV (other than spend years
breeding from survivors). No realistic solution. Give me 5 minutes in front
of a CCD meeting and I WILL get the real story out.

While our researchers are chasing a problem *without a realistic solution*
U.S. beekeepers *WILL* keep losing hives at higher numbers each year to the
systemic pesticide issue. Lets pull together and fight a *real problem* with
a *real solution*?

Wake up U.S. beekeepers!

>A point raised by a scientist I spoke to (not in the seminar) asked why
there was no AFB or EFB shown up in the samples tested and reported on in
the Science article.

Excellent point as EFB was found in many CCD hives and especially the first
CCD hives of Dave Hackenberg. The reason is simple. When beekeepers quit
using terramycin (and switched to Tylosin) they in effect were not treating
for EFB as Tylosin does not control EFB as did terramycin.

>Beekeepers from Down Under have reported a "disappearing disease" but not
on the scale of CCD, Pettis said during a press conference Wednesday.

>I spoke with Dr. Pettis about this, which we call "The Muck".  He was
interested in my theory and is thinking about it.  I have posted on this
before and it is available in the archives.  Suffice to say that it is not
like CCD.

Jeff Pettis has twisted many things to support CCD but he needs to get his
facts correct! Thanks Trevor!

> I heard the comment at Apimondia re a ban being put on Aussie bees as akin
to taking off the life jacket while floating in the water after the boat
sinks.

In the U.S. we say:
"Rushing to shut the gate after the cows have left the barn!"

>Anyway, just thought I should submit some thoughts prior to trying to catch
up on lost sleep due to helping organise Apimondia in Melbourne

Thanks! My Apimondia reports to date are similar to yours.
Example:
CCD is still a big mystery but could be solved (no guarentee and very
possibly no solution but excellent documentation!) with millions of dollars
and years of research!

bob


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