I lurk on a local bee groups yahoo account, I use to participate to help
the newbees, but had to quit when I tried to respond to a post on the
neonics. I was talking to a brick wall. They are now in full justification
mode with the Harvard study.

However I am a member of our County beekeepers group and attended last
Wednesday's monthly meeting. One of the Beekeepers brought an article from
the Boston Globe on the Harvard study. The difference in being able to talk
to the group about the study instead of an internet debate was stark. We
had a nice Q&A and everyone was reasonable and attentive. My main point to
them was that we do not have the answers on the neonics, but the poor
studies like the Harvard one does more to cloud the issue and mask any good
research that may have answers to the questions. Also, we have a major
disconnect in that many beekeepers in direct contact with the neonics have
no problems while some do and we do not know why. Plus, all the decent
studies to date either do not implicate the neonics or the problems are not
in the level of the CCD hype but seem marginal.

My main point was the neonics replace organophosphates, a derivative of
nerve gas, and are directed at insects and not harmful to humans, while
previous pesticides hurt both. Also, if you ban them, the replacement, the
pyrethrins, are not benign. One of the beekeepers knew of a local major bee
kill by pyrethrins which helped my point.

I bought up that some had problems pollinating pumpkins. One beekeeper told
of pollinating cucumbers before the current fuss and that they were murder
on bees. They had to shift the bees out of the fields and replace them with
a second set. It was a standar practice. He wonder if a lack of historical
perspective on the part of some pollinators might be clouding the issue
with the neonics. So I learned something.

In all a good, constructive meeting.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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