Re the patent on lithium, I have mixed feelings.  Currently, a beekeeper could legally and very inexpensively feed lithium to his colonies as a nutritional supplement, since it is not currently registered as a pesticide.  But if a lithium salt eventually gets registered as a miticide, then it would no longer be legal to feed it if one's intent was to kill varroa.

Its funny  how we complain about notices and stupid stuff like "DO NOT EAT" on Tide soap pods,  and then in turn have to be make a law to stop things like this.



The comment made on one site was "it’s the stuff they use in swimming pools"

The sad part is I read the study this morning,  and as I read it, the trials were on adult bees only,  and at levels to kill mites,  adult bee longevity suffered greatly.

To feed that to a hive with no data on queen or brood  effects,  let alone the testing of comb and honey  seems extremely risky.

It also says something about the desperation level of some beekeepers RE mite control.


Charles

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