>>The effort to remove apistan & checkmite from the market ( beekeepers not
>> researchers) has failed mainly because research done by Bayer and ZOE con
>> say their products do not build in wax to a high enough level to kill or
>> harm bees!

> Bob, you were doing really well before drifting back into the Twilight
> Zone

Would you liked the above better if I had left the word Bayer out? Bayer is 
part of the worlds beekeeping history.

Read & learn my friend.

The above subject was talked about at great lengths in the 90's. Possibly
before you started attending the national meetings randy. Zoe con reps said
over and over fluvalinate would not build up in comb to a level which would
harm bees nor be found in honey. Same with Bayer. Bayer pointed to coumaphos
being a powder and contact would mainly be with bees.

The beekeeper talk came mainly in the late 90's when fluvalinate resistant
mites were seen and Bayer was trying to introduce coumaphos strips ( as
being sold in Italy) into the U.S.. The USDA & EPA felt wax contamination
would not be a serious issue. I actually have some of those presentations on
tape I believe.

Then at the 2002 Savannah ABF convention  Jeff Pettis dropped his bombshell!
perhaps Allen remembers?

Pettis showed mass spec slides of wax contamination with LABEL  use of
apistan, label use of checkmite & brood wax on which both had been used.
Jaws dropped as beekeepers digested what Pettis was saying! How could this
happen! Changing brood comb is costly!

The makers of both apistan & checkmite had given us incorrect information as
well as the U.S.D.A..
I changed ALL my comb as did the Horace Bell operation. I have a picture of
3 acres of old comb at the Bell operation in Florida ( L. Cutts talks about
the comb cull constantly)

In conclusion my opinion is that beekeepers were lied to by the makers
saying the only worry was the mites becoming resistant to their products but
no danger of bee problems from wax contamination.

Back in 1998 I had a large commercial beekeeper friend in Sicily. he sent me
emails telling about the new miracle varroa treatment coumaphos. Kills 
varroa
better than fluvalinate did at the start. No wax contamination because a
powder. Three years later the same beekeeper was fighting mad at Bayer and
he relayed what Italian beeks were seeing.

No mention of wax contamination issues till the Pettis presentation in 2002
( I think I have the year correct)!

Back in those years only a handful of BEE-L members attended national
meetings. Allen, Aaron, Malcom, Jerry B. and I were regular attendees. Allen
warned me about coumaphos from the start and I wished I had listened!

So not from the twilight zone but from the era before Randy  came on the
front lines of national beekeeping.

I have said many times before that defending Bayer is not a popular position
with the worlds beekeepers.
Noting is impregnated in the checkmite strip. Simple a rubber strip covered
in a high grade coumaphos ( not available to the general public for obvious
reasons). Should have never been used in a bee hive!
Should have been pulled from the market years ago! Powdered coumaphos is
dangerous to handlers!
respirators need used and special gloves but most beekeepers (even today I
suspect) do not use a respirator and only apply with beekeepers gloves
allowing the chemical to penetrate the leather.

Chemical companies have always tried to display treatments like thymol,
formic & oxalic as inferior to their products. Resolutions by the ABF & AHPA
have went no place! U.S. beekeepers have pushed for years for formic and
oxalic use *as in Canada* but what we get is Apistan & checkmite still on
the market making registration of new products harder. The section 18 for
checkmite today PREVENTS the registration for the new formic strips in many
states. The states say beeks have already got a section 18 for use against
fluvalinate resistant varroa. Because of a large south Missouri based
beekeeper ( 8000 hives) wanting the section 18 for checkmite I was told a
section 18 for the new formic product will not be given.
Wake up Beekeepers! Stop asking for a section 18 in your state for
checkmite!

bob

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