It saddens me to see people on this list piling on a bandwagon whose motto must be “let’s all trash Dr. Lu”. I agree with most all the technical objections that have been raised but the unprofessionalism cynicism, and almost gleefulness  with which they are raised dismays me. 
Lu’s lab has developed the capability for what appears to be some really good quantification of neonicotinoid levels in the environment. The limit of quantificqtion is said to be 0.1 ppB and the level of detection below that limit by about a factor of three. The analytical methods are described in a publication by Chen, Collins, and Lu  in the Journal of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Nov 2013, volume 405, issue 28 , pages 9251-9264 and the abstract can be seen at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24081565
Lu has more recently been eliciting  beekeepers to submit pollen samples for a State (MA)-wide survey of 8 neonicotinoids in pollen samples. These samples have been analyzed with an accuracy as stated above for most of the 8 neonicotinoids.  I have participated in this study and have been glad for the chance to be able to get samples analyzed from my own hives and have been glad for the willingness that Lu has expressed for me to share those results independently of any publication he might be planning. My results have convinced me that local levels are pervasive but low (average of 0.64 ppB for all 10 samples for all 8 neonicotinoids) but high enough to account for a drasticreduction in the quality of bee health and survivability that I have seen in our area (Carlisle, MA) that started in 2006 when the CCD crisis first came on the US scene.  
Recent papers by Yang, Goulson, Pettis, and others support the notion of chronic bee health effects and poor larvae development for sub lethal  neonic levels as low as 0.25 ppB and support the idea that these 0.64 ppB averages can account for reduced bee health and survivability in our Town in recent years.. I do not feel however that the neonics are the whole story and I had two cases of suspicious hive deaths during the course of these measurements that support that notion. I had one hive near a cornfield abscond during the peak of the Summer season with CCD-like symptoms- and yet the Lu measurements of neonicotinoids remained low. I had another hive near another cornfield where the returning pollen collecting bees  were confusingly squeezing into the pollen collection tray instead of going straight into the hive. There were maybe 50-100 confused, dead, or dying bees in the pollen collection basket. And yet the neonicotinoid levels STIL REMAINED LOW.  Clearly some other chemical agent was at work here. Fungicides ? 
			Ernie Huber
			Carlisle, MA

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