>
> >Does the fact that
> the government approved the use of the product let the company that
> produced
> it off the hook liability wise?  If so then a company such as Bayer might
> only be interested in getting to that point and no further.


This is an obvious point, Steve, and makes it important for beekeepers
everywhere to report any problems with pesticides to their state regulators,
and to make sure that the reports make it to the EPA.  Legally (from the
Congressional Record) any report of a pesticide problem that is reported to
a responsible employee of the pesticide manufacturer must be reported to the
EPA.

The reporting problem is currently being addressed by the leaders of the
national associations.

I do not expect any for profit corporation to go much beyond the legal
requirements of expensive testing.  However, I find the Bayer
representatives to be more open to such additional testing than I expected.



>   >Finally, I think it is fair to ask what decibel level of complaint and
> alarm would be appropriate or necessary to get the wholehearted cooperation
> of a chemical company like Bayer.


I think that we're there.  Have you looked at the Bayer website?  They
really want to project an image of being a "green" company (I realize that a
"green" pesticide company appears to be an oxymoron).  They are keenly aware
of the European protests.

The scientists in the employ of Bayer, and those independents hired by Bayer
to perform research (whom, it can be argued may have a vested interest)
appear to do their best to perform unbiased research.  However, none will
say that there might be unexpected problems with a pesticide in the real
world (such as the high levels of imidacloprid reported from Florida
citrus).  Such problems must be investigated and confirmed, then the reason
for the high levels must be determined.  Only then can the label be changed
to prevent such occurrences.

If we simply followed the precautionary principle, it is likely that no
amount of testing would discover the problems that will occur in the real
world.  What is reasonable now is to test actual bee exposure to pesticides
in the real world.  Once we know what the bees are actually exposed to, then
we can petition the EPA to rewrite the label to change application
practices, to restrict the pesticide, or to ban it altogether.

Randy Oliver

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