In responding to a Standing Senate Committee report related to bee health and sustainable food production in Canada, the federal government explained that the National Honey Bee Health Survey data “provide a comprehensive and systematic baseline assessment of national honey bee health using leading molecular biology techniques, which has never previously been attempted. The Government, through AAFC [Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada], recognizes the importance of bee health and in 2015, entered into a formal area of collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on this subject. Currently, analytical techniques for the detection of honey bee pathogens and pests are shared between USDA’s Agricultural Research Service laboratories in Beltsville, Maryland and AAFC’s national honey bee program in Beaverlodge, Alberta. Moreover, many techniques used in the U.S. and Canadian surveillance projects share common methodology.”  (May 2015, see https://sencanada.ca/content/sen/Committee/412/agfo/rep/GovResponseRep09May15-e.pdf) 

Our provincial apiarists and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency appear to have considerable confidence in our National Honey Bee Health Survey data, and it is my understanding that the data inform decisions related to the importation of honey bees from other countries. Surely the situation is no different in the U.S. E.g., in responding to the USDA-APHIS’ decision to close the U.S. border to further introduction of honey bee queens and packages from Australia in 2014(?), the Apiary Inspectors of America noted that “surveys conducted by USDA-APHIS and AIA members show that the Apis cerana honey bee and Slow Paralysis Virus which has been reported in Australia do not occur in the U.S.” (Appendix 5 in this doc - http://capabees.org/content/uploads/2012/11/2013-CAPA-AGM-Proceedings.pdf ) The Apiary Inspectors of America have confidence in test results that are based on methods very similar to those employed by the National Honey Bee Diagnostic Centre in Beaverlodge, Alberta.

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