This company called Bee Vectoring Technology (BVT) recently got EPA regulatory approval for a novel application method using bees to spread a beneficial fungus used as a biological control against other more harmful fungi. Basically, BVT is proposing to use, what they are calling "commercially raised"  bumble bees and honey bees to apply fungicides and pesticides as part of an IPM program for commercial growers. 


>Bee Vectoring Technologies International recently received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval for Clonostachys rosea CR-7 (CR-7) for use as a fungicide on commercial crops. CR-7 is the first registered active ingredient for the Canadian-based company and the first active ingredient approved by the EPA for application via bees, known as “bee vectoring,” in which BVT is a global leader.

> Before bees buzz off to work, they trundle through a tray of powder placed by the hive exit. Then the bee just needs to do what it does best. Each time the bee lands on a flower, a little bit of the pesticide is knocked loose. Both bumblebees and honeybees are capable of spreading Vectorite up to 400 yards from their hive.> The EPA’s registration makes Vectorite with CR-7, EPA Registration. No. 90641-2, available immediately for sale as a registered fungicide for use on the labeled crops.

Here's the rationale: 

> Bee vectoring “has virtually no environmental impact,” said Roselyn Labbé, a greenhouse entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The natural pesticides that the bees are capable of spreading without harm to themselves, she said, “are all over nature anyway.”

Part of me thinks this idea is insane. I can't imagine bees "trundling through" a pesticide while leaving a colony is a good thing.  I think by emphasizing the use of commercially raised bees they are hinting at an industrial model where the bees are only good for one season. 

Is this being done anywhere in Canada?   


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT 

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html